CAT/C/46/D/375/2009
must take account of all relevant considerations, including the existence of a consistent
pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights. However, the aim of such an
analysis is to determine whether the complainant runs a personal risk of being subjected to
torture in the country to which he would be returned.
7.4
The Committee recalls its general comment on the implementation of article 3, that
the risk of torture must be assessed on grounds that go beyond mere theory or suspicion.
While the risk does not have to meet the test of being highly probable, the Committee
recalls that the burden of proof generally falls on the complainant, who must present an
arguable case that he faces a “foreseeable, real and personal” risk.3 Moreover, the
Committee specifies in its general comment that it is pertinent to know if the complainant
engaged in political activity within or outside the State concerned which would appear to
make him “particularly vulnerable” to the risk of being tortured.4
7.5
In assessing the risk of torture in the present case, and even though these claims
were not submitted to the Committee, it should be noted that the complainant told judicial
bodies of the State party that he had been arrested by security officers and detained for six
months for being a member of Oromo Neetsaanet Gymbaar. He also says that he was
subsequently wanted by the police. He does not say he was tortured during his detention or
at any other time. He has told the Committee that he is personally at risk of being tortured
in Ethiopia if returned there because of his political activities since he arrived in the State
party, particularly his political activities in Kinijit/CUDP, for which he is a representative
of the canton of Zurich. He says that he helps organize demonstrations by that movement
against the current Ethiopian regime, that he takes part in them and that many photographs
showing him at such demonstrations have been published on political websites or in
newspapers. For this reason, the complainant believes it highly likely that he has attracted
the attention of the Ethiopian authorities who monitor the activities of political opponents
abroad, and that they see him as a threat to internal security in Ethiopia.
7.6
The Committee has a duty to take account of the actual human rights situation in
Ethiopia, having noted that it continues to give grounds for concern in some respects, as
witnessed by reports on the arbitrary detention and repression of members of opposition
parties and human rights defenders.5 However, the Committee recalls that the existence of a
pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights in a country does not as such
constitute sufficient grounds for determining that a particular person would be in danger of
being subjected to torture on return to that country; additional grounds must be adduced to
show that the individual concerned would be personally at risk. In this respect, the
Committee notes that various authorities in the State party did examine the facts and
evidence produced by the complainant in his second asylum application, and which he
submitted to the Committee.
7.7
While under the terms of its general comment the Committee is free to assess the
facts on the basis of the full set of circumstances in every case, it recalls that it is not a
judicial or appellate body, and that it must give considerable weight to findings of fact that
are made by organs of the State party concerned.6 In the present case, the Committee has
noted the State party’s analysis that merely being a supporter or member of an opposition
3
4
5
6
6
See the Committee’s general comment No. 1 (footnote 8 above) and communication No. 203/2002,
A.R. v. The Netherlands, Views adopted on 21 November 2003, para. 7.3.
General comment No. 1 (footnote 8 above), para. 8 (e).
See, for example, the compilation prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights for the universal periodic review of Ethiopia, A/HRC/WG.6/6/ETH/2 (18
September 2009), para. 23 et seq.
General comment No. 1 (see footnote 8 above), para. 9.
GE.11-43945