CCPR/C/133/D/3212/2018
United Nations
International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights
Distr.: General
21 December 2021
Original: English
Advance unedited version
Human Rights Committee
Views adopted by the Committee under article 5 (4) of
the Optional Protocol, concerning communication No.
3212/2018*,**
Communication submitted by:
Alleged victims:
Thileepan Gnaneswaran (represented by
counsel, Umesh Perinpanayagam)
The author
State party:
Australia
Date of communication:
16 July 2018 (initial submission)
Document references:
Decision taken pursuant to rule 92 of the
Committee’s rules of procedure, transmitted
to the State party on 17 July 2018 (not issued
in document form)
Date of adoption of Views:
27 October 2021
Subject matter:
Deportation of a husband/father to Sri Lanka
Procedural issues:
Lack of substantiation; interim measures
Substantive issues:
Torture; cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment; family rights;
separation of children from parents
Articles of the Covenant:
7; and article 17 in conjunction with article
23;
Articles of the Optional Protocol:
2
1.1
The author of the communication is Thileepan Gnaneswaran, a national of Sri Lanka
born in 1988. He claims that the State party has violated his rights under article 7 and article
17 in conjunction with article 23 of the Covenant. The Optional Protocol entered into force
for Australia on 25 December 1991. The author is represented by counsel.
1.2
On 17 July 2018, pursuant to rule 92 of its rules of procedure (now rule 94), the
Committee, acting through its Special Rapporteur on New Communications and Interim
Measures, requested the State party to refrain from deporting the author to Sri Lanka while
his case was under consideration by the Committee. On 3 August 2018, the State party
informed the Committee that at the time the interim measures request was received, the
author was no longer under its jurisdiction or control because he had already been deported
* Adopted by the Committee at its 133rd session (11 October - 5 November 2021).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
Wafaa Ashraf Moharram Bassim, Yadh Ben Achour, Arif Bulkan, Mahjoub El Haiba, Furuya
Shuichi, Carlos Gomez Martinez, Duncan Laki Muhumuza, Photini Pazartzis, Vasilka Sancin, José
Manuel Santos Pais, Changrok Soh, Kobauyah Tchamdja Kpatcha, Hélène Tigroudja, Imeru Tamerat
Yigezu, and Gentian Zyberi.