CAT/C/63/D/618/2014
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
8 June 2018
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 618/2014*, **
Communication submitted by:
I.P.W.F. (represented by counsel, John Phillip
Sweeney)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Australia
Date of complaint:
23 May 2014 (initial submission)
Date of present decision:
10 May 2018
Subject matter:
Deportation to Sri Lanka
Procedural issue:
Non-substantiation of claims
Substantive issue:
Risk of torture in the event of deportation to
country of origin (non-refoulement)
Articles of the Convention:
3 and 22
1.1
The complainant is I.P.W.F., a national of Sri Lanka born on 17 November 1981. He
sought asylum in Australia, but his application was rejected. He claims that his forcible
removal to Sri Lanka would constitute a violation by Australia of articles 1 and 3 of the
Convention. The complainant is represented by counsel.
1.2
In his communication of 23 May 2014,1 the complainant urged the Committee to
issue a request for interim measures in order to avert the imminent risk of his deportation to
Sri Lanka pending the Committee’s examination of his complaint. On 28 July 2014, the
Committee, acting through its Rapporteur on new complaints and interim measures,
decided not to issue a request for interim measures under rule 114 of the Committee’s rules
of procedure, as the complainant’s allegations of a risk of torture upon removal to Sri
Lanka were not sufficiently substantiated. On 18 August 2014, the Committee reiterated
that decision and informed the complainant accordingly. The complainant was removed to
Sri Lanka on 13 January 2015, since all his appeals against the negative decisions of the
Australian authorities were rejected.
The facts as presented by the complainant
2.1
The complainant is Sinhalese by ethnicity, and Roman Catholic by religion. He was
born in Mahawewe in the North Western Province of Sri Lanka. He is a fisherman by
* Adopted by the Committee at its sixty-third session (23 April–18 May 2018).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
1
Essadia Belmir, Felice Gaer, Abdelwahab Hani, Claude Heller Rouassant, Jens Modvig, Ana Racu,
Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, Sébastien Touzé, Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov and Honghong Zhang.
A revised version of the communication was submitted to the Committee on 21 July 2014.
GE.18-09394(E)