CAT/C/64/D/680/2015
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
3 October 2018
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 680/2015*, **
Communication submitted by:
G.A. (represented by counsel, John Sweeney)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Australia
Date of complaint:
15 May 2015 (initial submission)
Date of present decision:
9 August 2018
Subject matters:
Risk of torture in the event of deportation to
country of origin (non-refoulement); prevention
of torture
Procedural issue:
Admissibility — manifestly unfounded
Substantive issue:
Deportation of the complainant from Australia to
Pakistan
Articles of the Convention:
3 and 22
1.1
The complainant is G.A., a national of Pakistan born in 1977. The complainant,
whose application for refugee status has been rejected by Australia, claims that if Australia
proceeds with his deportation to Pakistan it would violate its obligations under article 3 of
the Convention. The complainant is represented by counsel.
1.2
On 19 May 2015, pursuant to rule 114 of its rules of procedure, the Committee,
acting through its Rapporteur on new complaints and interim measures, asked the State
party not to expel the author while the complaint was being considered. On 31 March 2016,
the State party requested the Committee to lift its request for interim measures. On 29
December 2016, the Committee, acting through the same Rapporteur, decided to lift the
interim measures.
The facts as presented by the complainant
2.1
G.A., a Sunni Muslim, was born on 12 February 1977 in Koza Bandai village in the
Swat District of Pakistan. He is married with five children. In 1997, the complainant
opened a music store in the village of Derai, in the Swat Valley. In 1999, he started
working for a sea shipping company. He would work on a ship for periods of up to one year
and then come back to his village for a few months. In his absence, his brothers helped him
* Adopted by the Committee at its sixty-fourth session (23 July–10 August 2018).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
Essadia Belmir, Felice Gaer, Abdelwahab Hani, Claude Heller Rouassant, Jens Modvig, Ana Racu,
Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, Sébastien Touzé, Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov and Honghong Zhang.
GE.18-16387(E)