A/74/44
complaint may be considered by the Committee if it concerns a State party to the
Convention that has not recognized the Committee’s competence under article 22.
52.
In accordance with rule 104, paragraph 1, of its rules of procedure, the Committee
established the post of Rapporteur on new complaints and interim measures, which is
currently held by Mr. Touzé.
53.
Complaints under article 22 of the Convention are considered in closed meetings.
All documents relating to the work of the Committee under article 22, that is, submissions
from the parties and other working documents of the Committee, are confidential.
54.
The Committee decides on a complaint in the light of all the information made
available to it by the parties. The findings of the Committee are communicated to the
parties and are made available to the public. The text of the Committee’s decisions
declaring complaints inadmissible or discontinuing the examination of a case are also made
public, without disclosing the identity of the complainant, but identifying the State party
concerned.
B.
Interim measures of protection
55.
Complainants frequently request preventive protection, particularly in cases
concerning imminent expulsion or extradition, where they allege a risk of violation of
article 3 of the Convention. Pursuant to rule 114, paragraph 1, of its rules of procedure, at
any time after the receipt of a complaint, the Committee, through its Rapporteur on new
complaints and interim measures, may transmit to the State party concerned a request that it
take such interim measures as the Committee considers necessary to avoid irreparable
damage to the victim(s) of the alleged violation(s). The State party is to be informed that
such a request does not imply a determination of the admissibility or the merits of the
complaint. During the reporting period, requests for interim measures of protection were
received in 53 complaints that were registered, of which 33 were granted by the Rapporteur
on new complaints and interim measures, who regularly monitors the compliance by States
parties with such requests.
C.
Progress of work
56.
At the time of adoption of the present report, the Committee had registered, since
1989, 932 complaints concerning 39 States parties. 11 Of those, 279 complaints had been
discontinued and 108 had been declared inadmissible. The Committee had adopted final
decisions on the merits on 383 complaints and found violations of the Convention in 150 of
them. Some 178 complaints were pending consideration. All the Committee’s decisions on
the merits, those declaring a complaint inadmissible and discontinuance decisions can be
found in the treaty body case law database (http://juris.ohchr.org/), on the OHCHR website
(www2.ohchr.org) and the Official Document System of the United Nations
(http://documents.un.org/prod/ods.nsf/home.xsp).
57.
At its sixty-fourth session, the Committee adopted decisions on the merits in respect
of seven communications. In A.N. v. Switzerland (CAT/C/64/D/742/2016), the Committee
found that the deportation of the complainant to Italy by the State party would violate
articles 3, 14 and 16 of the Convention. The Committee found that the forcible returns or
extraditions of the complainants would not constitute a violation of article 3 of the
Convention by the States parties in its decisions on B.N.T.K. v. Sweden
(CAT/C/64/D/641/2014), G.A. v. Australia (CAT/C/64/D/680/2015), S.A.M. v. Denmark
(CAT/C/64/D/693/2015), Z. v. Switzerland (CAT/C/64/D/738/2016), H.R.E.S. v.
Switzerland (CAT/C/64/D/783/2016) and Gharsallah v. Morocco (CAT/C/64/D/810/2017).
11
12
The complaints examined by the Committee in relation to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as well
as to Serbia and Montenegro, are attributed to Serbia for statistical purposes.
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