CAT/C/67/D/854/2017
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
11 September 2019
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 854/2017*, **
Communication submitted by:
A (represented by counsel, Philip Grant of
TRIAL International)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Date of complaint:
1 November 2017 (initial submission)
Document references:
Decision taken pursuant to rule 115 of the
Committee’s rules of procedure, transmitted to
the State party on 10 May 2016 (not issued in
document form)
Date of present decision:
2 August 2019
Subject matter:
Right to fair and adequate compensation
Procedural issues:
None
Substantive issues:
Right to a remedy and compensation
Articles of the Convention:
14 (1) in conjunction with 1 (1)
1.
The complainant is A, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, born in the former
Yugoslavia in 1961. She claims that the State party has violated her rights under article 14
(1) in conjunction with article 1 (1) of the Convention against Torture. 1 The complainant is
represented by counsel.2
The facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
In 1992, the complainant and her 10-year-old daughter lived in Semizovac, within
Vogosca Municipality, an area that was controlled by the forces of the Army of Republika
Srpska (Vojska Republike Srpske, VRS) during the non-international armed conflict in
* Adopted by the Committee at its sixty-seventh session (22 July–9 August 2019).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
1
2
Essadia Belmir, Felice Gaer, Abdelwahab Hani, Claude Heller Rouassant, Jens Modvig, Ana Racu,
Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, Sébastien Touzé and Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov.
Yugoslavia ratified the Convention on 10 September 1991. Bosnia and Herzegovina acceded to the
Convention on 1 September 1993. On 4 June 2003, Bosnia and Herzegovina made a declaration
recognizing the competence of the Committee to receive communications from individuals in
accordance with article 22.
The complainant requested anonymity and strict confidentiality.
GE.19-15557(E)