CAT/C/19/D/57/1996
page 3
2.2
Since 1990, P.Q.L. has been convicted three times for robbery and
sentenced to terms of three months', six months', and, finally, three years'
imprisonment. Immigration Canada issued a deportation order on 9 May 1995,
stating that P.Q.L. was a danger to public order. He should have been
released on 26 April 1996, after serving his sentence of three years'
imprisonment, but the immigration authorities ordered that he be kept in jail
while awaiting expulsion.
2.3
The author appealed to the Immigration Commission against the
deportation order, but the appeal was dismissed on 9 August 1995. He then
asked Immigration Canada to review his case, but on 6 May 1996 the Ministry of
Immigration concluded that there was no risk of him being subject to torture
or inhuman treatment by the Chinese authorities upon returning to China. With
this, it is submitted, all domestic remedies have been exhausted.
The complaint
3.1
The applicant argues that his life would be in danger should he return
to China. He states that there are substantial grounds for fearing that he
could be imprisoned and ill-treated by the Chinese authorities because of his
past convictions in Canada. He refers to the Chinese Criminal Code, article 7
of which states that any crime committed outside China's territory is
punishable, even if it has already been tried in the foreign country
concerned. He further states that acts of robbery are punished by
disproportionate sentences such as 10 years or life imprisonment and even the
death penalty.
3.2
P.Q.L. also states that he fears persecution by the Chinese authorities
because of his Vietnamese origins. He states that minorities' rights are not
respected in China.
3.3
The author refers to the existence of systematic violations of human
rights in China. In support of that assertion, he submits reports from
Amnesty International referring, in particular, to arbitrary imprisonment, the
use of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners and the death penalty in China,
as well as to reports from Human Rights Watch/Asia and other institutions and
to newspaper articles.
3.4
He further states that China is not party to any treaty protecting human
rights which would permit him to address any United Nations body, and that it
would not, therefore, be possible for him to obtain any protection if his
rights were violated in China.
3.5
Finally, the applicant states that China is a completely unknown country
to him because he was very young when he came to Canada. The parting caused
by the deportation would cause irreparable harm to him and his family. The
author produces affidavits from members of his family in support of this
allegation.