CAT/C/68/D/718/2015
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
26 December 2019
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 718/2015*, **
Communication submitted by:
S.P. (represented by Companion House)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Australia
Date of complaint:
18 November 2015 (initial submission)
Document references:
Decision taken pursuant to rules 114 and 115 of
the Committee’s rules of procedure, transmitted
to the State party on 2 December 2015 (not
issued in document form)
Date of adoption of decision:
22 November 2019
Subject matter:
Deportation to Sri Lanka
Procedural issue:
Admissibility – manifestly ill-founded
Substantive issue:
Risk of torture in the event of deportation to
country of origin (non-refoulement)
Article of the Convention:
3
1.1. The complainant is S.P., a national of Sri Lanka born in 1985. His request for asylum
in Australia was rejected and he risked forcible removal to Sri Lanka. The complainant
asserts that if Australia were to proceed with his deportation, it would violate its obligations
under article 3 of the Convention. The State party made the declaration under article 22 (1)
of the Convention on 28 January 1993. The complainant is represented by counsel.
1.2
On 2 December 2015, pursuant to rule 114, paragraph 1, of its rules of procedure, the
Committee, acting through its Rapporteur on new complaints and interim measures,
requested the State party not to deport the complainant to Sri Lanka while the communication
was being considered by the Committee. On 19 December 2016, the Committee granted the
request of the State party to lift the interim measures. In August 2017, the State party removed
the complainant to Sri Lanka.
The facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
The complainant, a national of Sri Lanka of Tamil ethnicity, was born in the district
of Jaffna, Northern Province, Sri Lanka. From May to October 2009, the complainant lived
* Adopted by the Committee at its sixty-eighth session (11 November–6 December 2019).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
Felice Gaer, Abdelwahab Hani, Claude Heller Rouassant, Jens Modvig, Ana Racu, Diego RodríguezPinzón, Sébastien Touzé and Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov.
GE.19-22536(E)
*1922536*