CAT/C/66/D/820/2017
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
19 July 2019
English
Original: French
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention concerning communication No. 820/2017*, **, ***
Communication submitted by:
D.B. (represented by counsel, Alexandre
Mwanza)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Switzerland
Date of complaint:
9 April 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 13 April 2017 (not issued in
document form)
Date of present decision:
9 May 2019
Subject matter:
Expulsion to Togo
Procedural issues:
Exhaustion of domestic remedies
Substantive issue:
Risk of torture in the event of expulsion on
political grounds (non-refoulement)
Article(s) of the Convention:
3
1.1
The complainant is D.B., a national of Togo born on 27 August 1985. She is under
an expulsion order to Togo and considers that her expulsion would constitute a violation by
Switzerland of article 3 of the Convention. The complainant is represented by counsel, Mr.
Alexandre Mwanza.
1.2
On 13 April 2017, the Committee, acting through its Rapporteur on new complaints
and interim measures, decided to grant the complainant’s request for interim measures and
therefore requested the State party to refrain from expelling the complainant to Togo while
her complaint was under consideration by the Committee.
* Adopted by the Committee at its sixty-sixth session (23 April–17 May 2019).
** 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.
*** The text of an individual (dissenting) opinion of Committee member Abdelwahab Hani is appended
to the present decision.
GE.19-12298 (E)
081019 091019