CAT/C/71/D/865/2018
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
4 October 2021
English
Original: French
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 865/2018*, **
Communication submitted by:
K.M. (represented by counsel, Mr. Tarig Hassan)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Switzerland
Date of complaint:
31 July 2017 (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 21 March 2018 (not issued
in document form)
Date of adoption of decision:
27 July 2021
Subject matter:
Deportation to Ethiopia
Procedural issues:
Admissibility – manifestly ill-founded
Substantive issue:
Risk of torture if deported (non-refoulement)
Articles of the Convention:
3 and 22
1.1
The complainant is K.M., a national of Ethiopia born in 1964. He is subject to a
removal order and considers that his deportation to Ethiopia would constitute a violation by
the State party of article 3 of the Convention. The State party made the declaration under
article 22 (1) of the Convention on 2 December 1986. The complainant is represented by
counsel, Mr. Tarig Hassan.
1.2
On 4 August 2017, the Committee, acting through its Rapporteur on new complaints
and interim measures, decided not to accede to the complainant’s request for interim
measures. The complainant reiterated the same request on two further occasions, but these
requests were again denied by the Rapporteur, on 28 November 2017 and 20 March 2018.
The facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
The complainant is a member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. He was
a priest in the church while living in Ethiopia. Following the separation of the church into
two synods,1 the complainant came out in favour of one of the two branches and was forced
to leave the country as a result. After his arrival in Switzerland, the complainant joined 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:
1
Essadia Belmir, Claude Heller, Erdoğan İşcan, Liu Huawen, Ilvija Pūce, Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón,
Sébastien Touzé, Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov and Peter Vedel Kessing.
The Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Ethiopia and the Holy Synod of the
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in exile.
GE.21-14023 (E)
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