CAT/C/61/D/614/2014
concluded 1 that there was no new information in the communication that had not been
thoroughly considered through domestic processes. 2 The complainant was removed to Sri
Lanka on 25 June 2014.
The facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
The complainant is a Sri Lankan national of Tamil ethnicity. In 2005, he was filmed
and photographed as the lead actor in a play performed at his school, which was organized
by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The complainant had no other
involvement with LTTE.
2.2
Early in 2008, an unidentified armed gang came to his house and questioned him
about LTTE. There were four armed men and they questioned him at the gate to his house.
In June 2008, two men attempted to abduct the complainant by pretending to take him to
see his injured father at the hospital. Parents and schoolchildren surrounded him, which
saved him. After that incident, the complainant stopped attending school and began living
with a relative, but does not specify where. 3 As of October 2009, after armed gangs had
regularly visited his family, he went into hiding at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Jaffna. During
that period, both the Sri Lanka Army and paramilitary gangs visited his family. As the visits
had become less frequent and he missed his family, he returned home around 5 January
2011.
2.3
In May 2011, the Sri Lanka Army came into the complainant’s house to make a
house check and attempted to take his 16-year-old sister to another room against her wishes.
The complainant attempted to intervene with an air pump, as he suspected that the soldier
would rape his sister. The other soldiers attacked the complainant, kicking him and hitting
him with the air pump and with their rifle butts.
2.4
In June 2011, the complainant was abducted on his way to a local temple by a large
group of men in a white van. He was blindfolded and taken to a room where he was tied up.
Again, he was stomped on and beaten, including on his genitals. He was detained for six
days until his father paid a bribe for his release. During that period, he was sexually
assaulted for three days. The gang member who released him told him that he would tell the
others that the complainant had escaped. The complainant explains that this meant that the
gang would attempt to recapture him. The gang member also told him that he would be
killed if he were recaptured. Therefore, the complainant decided to return to St. Mary’s
Cathedral. Between 15 and 19 July 2011, he fled from Sri Lanka to Malaysia by aeroplane.
While he was there, the Sri Lanka Army and armed gangs went to his home in Sri Lanka
and interrogated his brother.
2.5
On 1 December 2011, the complainant arrived in Australia. On 21 January 2012, he
made a request for a Protection Obligations Evaluation. A delegate of the Minister for
Immigration and Citizenship refused the complainant’s asylum application on 6 March
2012. On 14 March 2012, the complainant was referred for an Independent Protection
Assessment; that application was rejected on 27 September 2012 on the ground that
Australia did not owe him protection obligations. The Independent Protection Assessment
Office found that the complainant did not meet the criteria for a protection visa (class XA)
set out in section 36 (2) of the Migration Act 1958, upholding the finding of the primary
decision maker that the complainant did not have a well-founded fear of persecution for the
purpose of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, of 1951,4 and therefore he did
not have a refugee status, and he did not enjoy complementary protection either.
1
2
3
4
2
No further information was provided as to which authorities of the State party had carried out the
assessment.
The State party’s authorities have consistently determined that the non-refoulement obligations of
Australia, including under article 3 of the Convention, were not engaged in relation to the
complainant.
The documents on file indicate that the complainant lived in his aunt’s home in Thevadi, and that no
one came to look for him in Thevadi, according to his accounts.
As amended by the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, of 1967.