4.4
The State party maintains that the procedure provided for by the Convention should not
permit the complainant to escape the consequences of his own negligence and his failure to avail
himself of available domestic remedies. It emphasizes that, even where a person risks inhuman
or degrading treatment in the event of being sent home, he must respect the forms of and
deadlines for domestic procedures before making application to international bodies.
4.5
The State party adds that such a person can also submit an application for a pre-removal
risk assessment. If the application is granted, the individual may be authorized to remain in
Canada.
4.6
The State party asserts that the communication does not meet the minimum requirements
for compatibility with article 22 of the Convention. There are no substantial grounds for
believing that someone is at risk of torture unless it is established that he or she personally will
run such a risk in the State to which he or she will be returned. The Convention requires States
parties to protect persons who are exposed to a foreseeable, real and personal risk of torture. The
State party cites the decision in Aemi v. Switzerlanda in which the Committee established that
expulsion of the complainant would have the foreseeable consequence of exposing him to a real
and personal risk of torture. The State party also refers to the Committee’s general comment
No. 1 on the implementation of article 3 of the Convention.b
4.7
As for the human rights situation in Mexico, the State party points out that the situation
has considerably improved since the complainant left, and in this connection refers to a number
of reports of 2001 (Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Special Rapporteur on the question
of torture, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions). It adds that
Mexico is a party to the Convention against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and its first Optional Protocol, besides the American Convention on Human
Rights, the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture, and the Inter-American
Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons.
4.8
The State party refers to the decision by the Refugee Protection Division, which, after
having heard the complainant, concluded that his testimony contained significant gaps. It
remarks that the complainant was vague about his uncle’s rank in the army (which appears to
have undermined his credibility), the unlikely circumstances of his uncle’s desertion, the
submission of a photograph supposedly taken following an assault which shows no injury, and
the implausibility of a false EZLN card being made and given to the complainant, as it has never
been established that the group issues identity cards to its members. According to the State
party, if the army had forced the complainant to sign the card to prove his membership of EZLN,
it would have kept it as evidence. The Federal Court considered all the findings of the Refugee
Protection Division and found no reason to intervene.
4.9
The State party points out that the complainant was not a political activist when he lived
in Mexico. It notes that the Refugee Protection Division was better placed than the Committee
to draw conclusions as to the complainant’s credibility.
4.10 According to the State party, the communication does not disclose any compelling
circumstance substantiating the possibility of a real and foreseeable personal risk of torture, and
is therefore inadmissible as incompatible with article 22 of the Convention.
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