available against the decision of the District Court and that accordingly it is not aware of any objections to the admissibility of the communication. 4.2 As to the merits, by letter of 18 February 2000, the State party argues that, taking into account the observations made by the authors during their asylum procedure viewed in the light of the general situation in Sri Lanka, there is no reason to assume that substantial grounds exist for believing that the authors would run a real and personal risk of being subjected to torture if returned. Accordingly it considers the communication ill-founded. 4.3 The State party notes at the outset that under its law, due to a high population density and consequent problems, aliens are admitted only if its international obligations, essential Dutch interests or compelling humanitarian reasons require it. The process governing asylum is that the applicant is interviewed twice after submitting an application, by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), if necessary with interpreters. Applicants may avail themselves of legal assistance at both interviews. Written reports are drawn up upon which the applicant may comment and submit corrections and additions. In reaching a decision, INS is assisted by country reports issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which draws on NGO sources and reports from Dutch missions. If an objection to a decision is rejected, the Advisory Commission is consulted in cases concerning a fear of persecution. The Commission hears the applicant, invites UNHCR to comment, and makes a recommendation to the Secretary of Justice. A final appeal from the Secretary's decision is possible to the District Court (Arrondissementsrechtbank). Legal aid is available throughout the appeal procedure. 4.4 The State party then goes on to set out its understanding of the general human rights situation in Sri Lanka, based on the relevant November 1998 country report issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The report notes areas of instability and human rights violations in the conflict areas, including brief detentions of many Tamils. However, it is the a view of the State party and other European Union member States that the situation in Government-controlled areas is not such that the return to these areas of persons whose cases have carefully been considered would, by definition, be irresponsible. The State party emphasizes that the Tamil human rights situation is taken into account by the Secretary of Justice in each individual case, as it is in the District Court's reviews of those decisions. 4.5 In a series of decisions, the District Court has held the Secretary to have acted "in all reasonableness" in judging that the overall situation in Sri Lanka no longer entails particular hardship for returnees. Regarding torture in particular, the Court has held that, even assuming severely under-reported data on torture cases in the Ministry's report, there would be no significant