comply with the Convention,”8 measures that
may be political or legislative;
presented to the Committee solely for the purpose of
describing the background to the complaints lodged
in Senegal.
The State party should either extradite
Hissène Habré or submit the case to the
competent authorities for the institution of
criminal proceedings;
5.2 The complainants go on to observe that the
State party’s interpretation of the expression “subject
to its jurisdiction”, appearing in article 22 of the
Convention would effectively render any appeal to
the Committee on Torture meaningless.
If the State party neither tries nor extradites
Hissène Habré, it should compensate the
complainants for the injury suffered, by virtue
inter alia of article 14 of the Convention. The
complainants also consider that, if necessary,
the State party should itself pay this
compensation in lieu of Hissène Habré,
following the principle established by the
European Court of Human Rights in the case
of Osman v. United Kingdom;9
5.3 In this connection, the complainants point out
that article 1 of the Optional Protocol to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
is drafted in the same terms as article 22 of the
Convention and has on several occasions been
discussed by the Human Rights Committee, which
has interpreted the clause in an objective, functional
manner: an individual should be considered subject
to the jurisdiction of a State if the alleged violations
result from an action by that State. It matters little
whether the author of the communication is, for
example, a national of that State or resides in its
territory. 10 In the Ibrahima Gueye et al. v. France
case, the complainants, of Senegalese nationality and
living in Senegal, were found by the Human Rights
Committee to be subject to French jurisdiction in the
matter of pensions payable to retired soldiers of
Senegalese nationality who had served in the French
army prior to the independence of Senegal, although
the authors were not generally subject to French
jurisdiction. 11 The fact of being subject to the
jurisdiction of a State within the meaning of article
22 of the Convention must be determined solely on
the basis of consideration of the facts alleged in the
complaint.12
The State party should compensate the
complainants for the costs they have incurred
in the proceedings in Senegal; and
Pursuant to article 111, paragraph 5, of the
Committee’s rules of procedure, the State
party should inform the Committee within 90
days of the action it has taken in response to
the Committee’s views.
The State party’s admissibility observations
4.
On 19 June 2001, the State party transmitted
to the Committee its observations on the
admissibility of the communication. It maintains that
the communication could be considered by the
Committee only if the complainants were subject to
the jurisdiction of Senegal. The torture referred to by
the complainants was suffered by nationals of Chad
and is presumed to have been committed in Chad by
a Chadian. The complainants are not, therefore,
subject to the jurisdiction of the State party within
the meaning of article 22, paragraph 1, of the
Convention since, under Senegalese law, in
particular article 699 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure, a complaint lodged in Senegal against
such acts cannot be dealt with by the Senegalese
courts, whatever the nationality of the victims. The
State party is consequently of the opinion that the
communication should be declared inadmissible.
5.4 It follows, in the present case, that the
complainants should be considered subject to the
jurisdiction of the State party inasmuch as the facts
alleged against Senegal under the Convention
concern judicial proceedings before the Senegalese
courts. Thus, contrary to the contention of the State
party, it matters little that the torture occurred in
another country or that the victims are not
Senegalese nationals. To establish that the
complainants are subject to Senegalese jurisdiction
in the present instance, one has only to establish that
the communication concerns acts that fell under
The complainants’ comments
10
See Primo Jose Essono Mika Miha v. Equatorial
Guinea, communication N° 414/1990 submitted to the
Human Rights Committee, A/49/40, vol. II (1994), annex
IX, part O (pp. 96–100). The complainants also point out
that the nationality of the author of a communication is not
sufficient to establish that the author is subject to that
State’s jurisdiction (see H.v.d.P. v. Netherlands,
communication N° 217/1986, A/42/40 (1987), annex IX,
part C (pp. 185–186), para. 3.2.
11
Communication N° 196/1985, A/44/40 (1989), annex X,
part B (pp. 189–195).
12
See Sophie Vidal Martins v. Uruguay, communication
N° 57/1979, A/37/40 (1982), annex XIII (pp. 157–160).
5.1 In a letter dated 19 July 2001, the
complainants first stress that, contrary to what is
indicated by the State party, the substance of the
alleged violation by Senegal is not the torture they
underwent in Chad but the refusal of the Senegalese
courts to act upon the complaint lodged against
Hissène Habré. The incidents of torture were
8
Communication N° 34/1995, Seid Mortesa v.
Switzerland (para. 11).
9
ECHR/87/1997/871/1083, 28 October 1998.
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