CAT/C/71/D/802/2017
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
2 September 2021
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 802/2017*, **
Communication submitted by:
Z (represented by counsel, John Sweeney)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Australia
Date of complaint:
1 February 2017 (initial submission)
Document reference:
Decision taken pursuant to rule 115 of the
Committee’s rules of procedure, transmitted to
the State party on 6 February 2017 (not issued in
document form)
Date of present decision:
21 July 2021
Subject matter:
Deportation to China
Procedural issues:
Admissibility – manifestly ill-founded;
admissibility – ratione materiae
Substantive issues:
Non-refoulement; torture
Article of the Convention:
3
1.1
The complainant is Z, a national of China born in the 1970s. She claims that by
removing her to China, the State party would violate her rights under article 3 of the
Convention. The State party has made the declaration pursuant to article 22 (1) of the
Convention, effective from 28 January 1993. The complainant is represented by counsel,
John Sweeney.
1.2
On 6 February 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
the Committee’s rules of procedure.
Facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
In 2006, the complainant began practising Falun Gong. In 2008, three individuals
identifying themselves as officials of the Fengman Public Security Bureau came to her home.
They performed a search and confiscated material relating to Falun Gong. They then took the
complainant to a detention centre in Jilin, where she was questioned by police officers. The
* 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, Ilvija Pūce, Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, Sébastien
Touzé, Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov and Peter Vedel Kessing. Pursuant to rule 109, read in
conjunction with rule 15, of the Committee’s rules of procedure, and paragraph 10 of the guidelines
on the independence and impartiality of members of the human rights treaty bodies (the Addis Ababa
guidelines), Liu Huawen did not participate in the examination of the communication.
GE.21-12211(E)