CCPR/C/127/D/2276/2013
1.2
On 23 July 2013, pursuant to rule 94 of its rules of procedure, the Committee, acting
through its Special Rapporteur on new communications and interim measures, requested
the State party to refrain from removing the author to Sri Lanka pending the examination of
the communication.
1.3
The communication was suspended from 30 April 2014 to 22 July 2015, pending the
determination of the author’s application for a pre-removal risk assessment, and from 1 July
2016 to 25 February 2019, pending a second risk assessment application and subsequent
application for judicial review.
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
The author of the communication is of Tamil ethnicity and Hindu faith. In Sri Lanka
he lived with other family members in a village in the Kilinochchi district, in the northern
province of Sri Lanka, close to an army camp. In December 2008, there was heavy fighting
in the area between the army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), such that
the villagers were displaced to another village. In July 2009, because of the ongoing
fighting, the villagers were taken to a displaced persons camp, where they remained until
January 2010. In November 2009 and January 2010, while in the camp, the author was
questioned by the Criminal Investigation Department concerning his alleged membership or
support of LTTE. During the interrogation he was beaten, but was released after the
questioning.
2.2
In February 2010, after the author’s return to his home village, three Criminal
Investigation Department officers detained him and his sister. They were taken to a military
camp, where they were subjected to beatings and were questioned about their alleged
involvement with LTTE, after which they were released. In March 2010, the author and his
sister moved to Nelliady in the Jaffna district, where the author found a job as a storekeeper.
In April 2010, agents of the Criminal Investigation Department came to the shop and
detained the author for one day. He was again subjected to beatings and was questioned.
2.3
In January 2011, the author moved to Colombo, where he stayed until his departure
for Canada. In April 2011, members of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party detained him
for five days, demanding money in return for his release. The author was targeted because
he had family members living abroad. He was released against the payment of 500,000 Sri
Lanka rupees (approximately $4,500) by his family.
2.4
On 13 June 2011, the author left Sri Lanka intending to go to Canada, where he had
three siblings. He transited through the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Panama and Haiti,
and he was finally smuggled to the United States of America by boat, where he arrived on
13 August 2011 and was detained as an irregular migrant. He filed an application for
refugee protection in the United States. However, upon release from detention he made his
way to the Canadian border. On 3 October 2011, he applied for asylum in Canada, stating
that he feared persecution in Sri Lanka as a young male Tamil from a northern part of the
country. He also stated that on an unspecified date, he had been wounded in a shelling
attack that had left scars on his body, and he argued that individuals with such scars are
often accused of being LTTE members by authorities of Sri Lanka.
2.5
On 15 November 2012, the Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and
Refugee Board rejected the author’s application for asylum. The Division noted that, in his
application for asylum in the United States, the author had stated that he had fled Sri Lanka
because he was at risk of extortion by the authorities, since his family owned land and
businesses. When asked by the United States immigration authorities if he had ever been
arrested, the author had answered in the negative, but clarified that he had been held in a
government camp for six months because of the war. The Refugee Protection Division,
however, noted that in statements made in his application for asylum in Canada, the author
had indicated that he had been detained by the Sri Lanka Criminal Investigation
Department on several occasions, the last one being in April 2010. The Division concluded
that the author’s claims as to what had allegedly occurred between February 2010 and April
2011 were not credible, as the author had not mentioned the alleged incidents in his
application for asylum in the United States and had been unable to provide plausible
explanations for the inconsistencies. The Division concluded that the author would not be at
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