CAT/C/71/D/834/2017
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
13 September 2021
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 834/2017*, **
Communication submitted by:
S.R. (represented by counsel, Rabinderei Savitri
Nandoe)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
The Netherlands
Date of complaint:
31 May 2017 (initial submission)
Document references:
Decision taken pursuant to rule 115 of the
Committee’s rules of procedure, transmitted to
the State party on 18 July 2017 (not issued in
document form)
Date of adoption of decision:
22 July 2021
Subject matter:
Deportation to Sri Lanka
Procedural issue:
Level of substantiation of claims
Substantive issue:
Risk of torture upon return to country of origin
(non-refoulement)
Article of the Convention:
3
1.1
The complainant is S.R., a national of Sri Lanka born in 1977. He claims that the
Netherlands would violate his rights under article 3 of the Convention if it removed him to
Sri Lanka. The State party has made the declaration pursuant to article 22 (1) of the
Convention, effective from 21 December 1988. The complainant is represented by counsel.
1.2
On 18 July 2017, the Committee, acting through its Rapporteur on new complaints
and interim measures, decided not to issue a request for interim measures under rule 114 of
its rules of procedure.
Facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
The complainant was working as a taxi driver in the Bandaranaike International
Airport in Katunayaka, just outside Colombo, using his own van. On 20 November 2010, he
was driving three Tamil customers from the Kotahena district to the airport when he was
* Adopted by the Committee at its seventy-first session (12–30 July 2021).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
Essadia Belmir, Claude Heller, Erdoğan İşcan, Liu Huawen, Ilvija Pūce, Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón,
Sébastien Touzé, Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov and Peter Vedel Kessing.
GE.21-12769(E)