CAT/C/65/D/811/2017
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
22 January 2019
English
Original: French
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication
No. 811/2017*, **
Communication submitted by:
M.G. (represented by counsel, Boris Wijkström
and Gabriella Tau)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Switzerland
Date of complaint:
3 March 2017 (initial submission)
Date of present decision:
7 December 2018
Subject matter:
Deportation to Eritrea
Procedural issue:
Exhaustion of domestic remedies
Substantive issue:
Risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment
Articles of the Convention:
3 and 16
1.1
The complainant is an Eritrean citizen born on 1 February 1989. He applied for
asylum in Switzerland, but his application was rejected on 1 March 2016. He is facing
deportation to Eritrea and considers that his return would constitute a violation by
Switzerland of articles 3 and 16 of the Convention. He is represented by Boris Wijkström
and Gabriella Tau of the Swiss Centre for the Defence of the Rights of Migrants.
1.2
On 8 March 2017, the Committee, acting through its Rapporteur on new complaints
and interim measures, requested the State party to refrain from deporting the complainant to
Eritrea while his complaint was being considered by the Committee. On 4 September 2017,
the State party requested the lifting of the interim measures on the grounds that the
complainant had not exhausted domestic remedies for lack of payment of the legal fees and
that there was no indication that he would face a specific and personal risk of torture in the
event of return to Eritrea. The Committee rejected the request on 13 August 2018.
The facts as presented by the complainant
2.1
The complainant is an Eritrean national of Bilen ethnicity. Given that he left school
in year 9,1 the Eritrean authorities arrested and detained him between 5 and 9 February
* Adopted by the Committee at its sixty-fifth session (12 November–7 December 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.
To help his family financially by tending to the livestock and working in the fields.
GE.19-01118 (E)
120319 130319