Issues and Proceedings before the Committee 7.1 Before considering any claims contained in a communication, the Committee against Torture must decide whether or not it is admissible under article 22 of the Convention. In this respect the Committee has ascertained, as it is required to do under article 22, paragraph 5 (a) of the Convention, that the same matter has not been and is not being examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement. The Committee also notes that the exhaustion of domestic remedies is not contested by the State party. It further notes the State party's view that the communication should be declared inadmissible ratione materiae on the basis that the Convention is not applicable to the facts alleged, since the treatment, the petitioner may or may not suffer if he is returned to Somalia does not foreseeably or necessarily amount to torture, set out in article 1 of the Convention, and would, in any event, not be inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or person acting in an official capacity. The Committee, however, is of the opinion that the State party's argument ratione materiae raises an issue which cannot be dealt with at the admissibility stage. As the Committee sees no further obstacles to admissibility, it declares the communication admissible. 7.2 The Committee must decide whether the forced return of the petitioner to Somalia would violate the State party's obligation, under article 3, paragraph 1 of the Convention, not to expel or return (refouler) an individual to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture. In order to reach its conclusion the Committee must take into account all relevant considerations, including the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights. The aim, however, is to determine whether the individual concerned would personally risk torture in the country to which he or she would return. It follows that the existence of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights in a country does not as such constitute sufficient grounds for determining whether the particular person would be in danger of being subjected to torture upon his return to that country; additional grounds must be adduced to show that the individual concerned would be personally at risk. Conversely, the absence of a consistent pattern of gross violations of human rights does not mean that a person cannot be considered to be in danger of being subjected to torture in his or her specific circumstances. 7.3 The Committee notes the petitioner's claim that he faces a real risk of being tortured if returned to Somalia on the basis of his father's position as a police officer in the previous government, his own position at the UNOSOM and his vulnerability as a member of the Shikal clan. In support of his claim, he outlines past incidents of torture against himself and his family. The Committee observes that the State party does not deny that these incidents may have occurred but