CAT/C/64/D/615/2014
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
12 September 2018
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 615/2014*, **
Communication submitted by:
Joyce Nakato Nakawunde (not represented by
counsel)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Canada
Date of complaint:
25 June 2014 (initial submission)
Document references:
Decision taken pursuant to rules 114 and 115 of
the Committee’s rules of procedure, transmitted
to the State party on 30 June 2014
Date of present decision:
3 August 2018
Subject matter:
Deportation to Uganda
Procedural issues:
Lack of substantiation of claims; non-exhaustion
of domestic remedies; incompatibility with the
Convention
Substantive issue:
Risk to life and of torture or ill-treatment in the
event of deportation to country of origin
Articles of the Convention:
1 and 3
1.1
The complainant is Joyce Nakato Nakawunde, a national of Uganda born on 13
April 1966. She submits the communication on her behalf and on behalf of her 11-year-old
daughter, Sanyu, born in Canada on 14 May 2004. The complainant, who claims to be a
lesbian, is subject to forcible removal from Canada to Uganda, as she overstayed her
student visa.1 She claims that her forcible removal to Uganda would constitute a violation
by Canada of articles 1 and 3 of the Convention. She fears that she will be arrested, tortured
and eventually killed by the Ugandan police and anti-gay mobs if returned. The
complainant is not represented by counsel.
* Adopted by the Committee at its sixty-fourth session (23 July–10 August 2018).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the consideration of the communication:
Essadia Belmir, Felice Gaer, Abdelwahab Hani, Claude Heller Rouassant, Jens Modvig, Ana Racu,
Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, Sébastien Touzé, Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov and Honghong Zhang.
1 The complainant did not apply for asylum in Canada. Her removal was ordered following a negative
decision on her application for pre-removal risk assessment of 15 June 2014. The notification from
the Canadian Border Services Agency dated 17 June 2014 informed her that her removal was
scheduled to take place on 8 July 2014, at 5 a.m.
GE.18-15137(E)