CAT/C/67/D/775/2016
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
4 September 2019
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 775/2016*, **
Communication submitted by:
X (represented by counsel, Roman Schuler)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Switzerland
Date of complaint:
24 October 2016 (initial submission)
Document reference:
Decision taken pursuant to rules 114 and 115 of
the Committee’s rules of procedure, transmitted
to the State party on 25 October 2016 (not issued
in document form)
Date of present decision:
5 August 2019
Subject matter:
Deportation to Ethiopia
Procedural issues:
None
Substantive issues:
Non-refoulement; torture
Article of the Convention:
3
1.1
The complainant is X, a national of Ethiopia born in 1977. He claims that by
removing him to Ethiopia, the State party would violate his rights under article 3 of the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment. The State party made the declaration pursuant to article 22 (1) of the
Convention on 2 December 1986. The complainant is represented by counsel.
1.2
On 25 October 2016, the Committee against Torture, acting through its Rapporteur
on new complaints and interim measures, requested that the State party refrain from
removing the complainant to Ethiopia while his complaint was being considered by the
Committee. On 27 October 2016, the State party reported that the complainant’s removal
had been suspended in accordance with the Committee’s request.
The facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
The complainant grew up in Addis Ababa. His parents worked for the Derg regime
of Mengitsu Haile Mariam. The complainant’s father was killed in 1979 during a dispute
with resistance fighters from the Tigray region. Thereafter, the complainant’s mother
* Adopted by the Committee at its sixty-seventh session (22 July–9 August 2019).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
Felice Gaer, Abdelwahab Hani, Claude Heller Rouassant, Jens Modvig, Ana Racu, Diego RodríguezPinzón, Sébastien Touzé and Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov.
GE.19-15116(E)