- 137 - Communication No. 162/2000 Submitted by: Y.H.A. (name withheld) [represented by counsel] Alleged victim: The author State party: Australia Date of communication: 14 April 2000 The Committee against Torture, established under article 17 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Meeting on 23 November 2001, Having concluded its consideration of communication No. 162/2000, submitted to the Committee against Torture under article 22 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Having taken into account all information made available to it by the author of the communication, his counsel and the State party, Adopts its Views under article 22, paragraph 7, of the Convention. 1. The petitioner of the communication is Mr. Y.H.A. a Somali national from the Shikal clan, currently detained in a detention centre in New South Wales and seeking refugee status in Australia. He claims that forcible return to Somalia would constitute a violation by Australia of article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. He is represented by counsel. 1.2 On 20 April 2000, the Committee forwarded the communication to the State party for comments and requested, under rule 108, paragraph 9, not to return the author to Somalia while his communication was under consideration by the Committee. The State party has acceded to this request. Facts as submitted by the petitioner 2.1 The petitioner was born on 1 January 1967 in Mogadishu. He has a son who, at the time of this application to the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) was living with the petitioner’s father in Kenya. The petitioner’s mother is dead and he has four siblings, all living in Kenya with the exception of one living in the Netherlands. 2.2. From 1980 to 1987 the petitioner lived with his family in Galkayo, in the north-east of Somalia, where he was educated and trained as a mechanic. The family then returned to Mogadishu where the petitioner worked as a shopkeeper from 1989 to 1991.