CAT/C/68/D/855/2017
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
24 December 2019
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 855/2017*, **
Communication submitted by:
Susith Wasitha Ranawaka (represented by
counsel, Michaela Byers)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Australia
Date of complaint:
20 November 2017 (initial submission)
Document references:
Decision taken pursuant to rule 115 of the
Committee’s rules of procedure, transmitted to
the State party on 30 November 2017 (not issued
in document form)
Date of adoption of decision:
5 December 2019
Subject matter:
Risk of torture in the event of deportation to
country of origin (non-refoulement); prevention
of torture
Procedural issue:
Admissibility – manifestly ill-founded
Substantive issue:
Deportation of the complainant to Sri Lanka
Articles of the Convention:
3 and 22
1.
The complainant is Susith Wasitha Ranawaka, a national of Sri Lanka born on 16
September 1977. He was born in Matara, Southern Province, and is of Sinhalese ethnicity
and Buddhist faith. His asylum application in Australia was rejected, and he is subject to a
deportation order to Sri Lanka. He claims to face a risk of torture upon return to Sri Lanka,
in violation of article 3 of the Convention. The State party has made the declaration
pursuant to article 22 (1) of the Convention, effective from 28 January 1993. The
complainant is represented by counsel.
The facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
From 2003 to 2012, he worked in factory management for the Henegama Akuressa
Tea Cooperative in Sri Lanka. His uncle, Bandu Ranawaka, had influence in the
cooperatives, as he was a Chairperson of the National Cooperative Development Board and
the National Cooperative Council. The complainant, his father and his uncle, Bandu had
been militants of the Sri Lankan Freedom Party. By 2004, the Sri Lankan Freedom Party
* Adopted by the Committee at its sixty-eighth session (11 November–6 December 2019).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
Essadia Belmir, Felice Gaer, Abdelwahab Hani, Claude Heller Rouassant, Jens Modvig, Ana Racu,
Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, Sébastien Touzé and Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov.
GE.19-22380(E)