CAT/C/45/D/349/2008
complainant regarding the possibilities of escaping from the PKK. During her asylum
procedure, she stated that she was not allowed to leave the PKK and described the
consequences for those who tried to escape. However, she also stated that she was allowed
to see her uncle outside the guerrilla area and that the rules were changed in 2004 so that
those who wanted to leave could do so.
Complainant’s comments
4.1.
On 15 April 2009, the complainant disputed the State party’s arguments on the
admissibility and merits of the complaint.
4.2. She provides a statement from the Diyarbakir Branch of the Human Rights
Association in Turkey, dated 13 August 2008 to support her claims. This statement
indicates that cruel and inhuman treatment is often used by the security forces; that people
who had been denied refugee status and deported back to Turkey are frequently arrested
upon arrival at the airports and questioned with the use of physical force and psychological
pressure. It submits that there is a warrant against the complainant, issued on the basis of
her being a member of an armed terrorist organization and quotes the number of the
criminal case initiated against her by a prosecutor in Diyarbakir (2005/298). The statement
declares that complaints lodged with them about torture in the region have been steadily
increasing since 2004 and that these had increased by 260% between 2007 and 2008 alone
(172 and 434 torture complaints registered respectively in 2007 and in 2008). With regard
to former PKK members, the Association claims that they are forced to confess, provide
information about the PKK and the locations of its bases and participate in combat against
their former comrades. Additionally, the Association states that in the event that both the
complainant and her husband are returned and arrested, their child will be left to live in the
streets.
4.3. The complainant also provides copies of decisions of the Migration Board and the
Migration Court on cases similar to the complainant’s case, where former PKK members
had been granted refugee status in Sweden. She maintains that according to their own
practice the authorities should have granted asylum to the complainant.
Issues and proceedings before the Committee:
Admissibility considerations
5.1. Before considering a claim contained in a communication, the Committee must
decide whether or not it is admissible under article 22 of the Convention. The Committee
has ascertained, as it is required to do under article 22, paragraph 5 (a, and b), that the same
matter has not been, and is not being, examined under another procedure of international
investigation or settlement and that all available domestic remedied have been exhausted.
5.2. As to the complainant’s allegation that if returned to Turkey she would be killed by
the PKK in retaliation for leaving the organization without permission, the Committee
considers that the issue of whether the State party has an obligation to refrain from
expelling a person who might risk pain or suffering inflicted by a non-governmental entity,
without the consent or acquiescence of the Government, falls outside the scope of article 3
of the Convention.2 Thus, the Committee finds that this claim is inadmissible in accordance
with rule 107 (c) of the Committee's rules of procedure.
5.3. The Committee takes note of the State party’s contention that the communication is
manifestly unfounded and therefore inadmissible, as the complainant’s assertion that she is
2
6
See G.R.B v Sweden, 83/1997, Views adopted on 15 May 1998.