CAT/C/54/D/491/2012
expressed herself better in Oromo and felt inhibited speaking about her difficulties in
Ethiopia, which were related to her Oromo ethnicity, in the presence of an Amharicspeaking Ethiopian. On 30 December 2010, the Office dismissed her second application
and ordered her expulsion from Switzerland. She appealed this decision before the Federal
Administrative Court and submitted as further evidence a copy of Oromia Times
documenting the celebration of the martyrs’ festival on 1 January 2011.
2.8
On 10 January 2012, the Federal Administrative Court upheld the decision of the
Federal Migration Office and dismissed the complainant’s appeal. The Court held that her
account regarding the reason why she left Ethiopia to go to Kuwait in 2006 were not
credible, as stated by the Office. In particular, the Court pointed out that she had
contradicted herself and given vague information. Notably, she had first stated that she was
a member of OLF and then of Mecha Tulema. She had also first argued that she was an
active member of OLF, and then she said that she was a sympathizer. As to the photographs
of her participating in OLF-Switzerland activities, the Court held that they did not prove
that she was active within the organization and that she would be at risk of torture or
persecution if returned to Ethiopia. Accordingly, the Court found that, although she was of
Oromo ethnicity and had a “certain proximity” with OLF, she failed to prove that she had a
well-founded fear of persecution if returned to Ethiopia. It ordered her to leave the State
party before 14 February 2012.
2.9
The complainant submits that she has exhausted all domestic remedies.
The complaint
3.1
The complainant asserts that Switzerland would violate her rights under article 3 of
the Convention by forcibly deporting her to Ethiopia, where she would “be at a real risk of
being subjected to State persecution and inhumane treatment” owing to her active
participation in Ethiopian dissident activities in Switzerland.
3.2
She claims that the Swiss authorities did not adequately assess the risk that she
would be subject to if returned to Ethiopia. They failed to assess her personal situation in
Ethiopia prior to her departure as well as her activities as a member of OLF-Switzerland in
the State party, which have been documented in pictures on Internet websites. Furthermore,
the Swiss authorities should have taken into account the current record of human rights
violations in Ethiopia against members of OLF, including students who participate in or
support its activities.
3.3
The complainant points out that there is no contradiction in being a member of
Mecha Tulema and a sympathizer of OLF because they are closely related. Indeed, it is for
that reason that Mecha Tulema was prohibited by the Government of Ethiopia.3 Upon her
arrival in Switzerland, the complainant became an active member of OLF-Switzerland and
it is likely that the Ethiopian authorities know about her activism in the State party. She
states that she had participated in a demonstration against the Government of Ethiopia
outside the United Nations Office at Geneva on 14 November 2011.4
3
4
4
The complainant refers to extracts of reports, including Canada, Immigration and Refugee Board of
Canada, Ethiopia: An organization called Mecha Tulema, including its objectives, structure and
status; the treatment of its leaders and members by the current government (1990–Sept. 2004), 23
September 2004; Human Rights Watch “Suppressing dissent human rights abuses and political
repression in Ethiopia’s Oromia region”, vol. 17, No. 7 (A), May 2005; and Amnesty International,
“Ethiopie. Craintes de torture/arrestations arbitraires/prisonniers d’opinion”, 27 September 2004.
The complainant refers to the documents submitted to the State party’s authorities with her second
asylum request (see paras. 2.6 and 2.7 above); she also submits to the Committee photographs of her
taking part in a demonstration in front of the United Nations Office at Geneva.