CAT/C/GC/4
and/or would be violated, creating irreparable harm, such as the person’s recruitment as a
combatant participating directly or indirectly in hostilities 57 or for providing sexual services.
IX. Non-State actors
30.
Equally, States parties should refrain from deporting individuals to another State
where there are substantial grounds for believing that they would be in danger of being
subjected to torture or other ill-treatment at the hands of non-State entities, including
groups that are unlawfully exercising actions that inflict severe pain or suffering for
purposes prohibited by the Convention, and over which the receiving State has no or only
partial de facto control, or whose acts it is unable to prevent or whose impunity it is unable
to counter.58
X. Specific requirements for the submission of individual
communications under article 22 of the Convention and
interim measures of protection
A.
Admissibility
31.
The Committee considers that it is the responsibility of the author of a
communication to provide exhaustive arguments for the complaint of alleged violation of
article 3 of the Convention in such a way that, from the first impression (prima facie) or
from subsequent submissions, if necessary, the Committee finds that it is relevant for
consideration under article 22 of the Convention and that it fulfils each of the requirements
established under rule 113 of the Committee’s rules of procedure.
32.
A State party’s obligations under the Convention apply from the date of the entry
into force of the Convention for that State party. However, the Committee will consider
communications on alleged violations of the Convention which occurred before a State
party’s recognition of the Committee’s competence under article 22 of the Convention
through the declaration provided for in article 22, if the effects of those alleged violations
continued after the State party’s declaration, and if such effects may constitute in
themselves a violation of the Convention.59
33.
With reference to article 22 (5) (a) of the Convention, which requires that the
Committee shall not consider any individual communication under that article unless it has
ascertained that the same matter has not been, and is not being, examined under another
procedure of international investigation or settlement, the Committee considers that “the
same matter” should be understood as relating to the same parties, the same facts and the
same substantive rights.60
34.
According to article 22 (5) (b) of the Convention, the complainant must have
exhausted all available domestic remedies, provided for in law and in practice, that bring
effective relief.61 Article 22 (5) (b) further provides that this shall not be the rule where the
application of the remedies is unreasonably prolonged or is unlikely to bring effective relief
57
58
59
60
61
10
See, for example, concluding observations on the initial report of Chad (CAT/C/TCD/CO/1), para. 34.
See, for example, S.S. Elmi v. Australia (CAT/C/22/D/120/1998), paras. 6.8 and 6.9; and M.K.M. v.
Australia (CAT/C/60/D/681/2015), para. 8.9.
See, for example, N.Z. v. Kazakhstan (CAT/C/53/D/495/2012), para. 12.3.
See, for example, A.A. v. Azerbaijan (CAT/C/35/D/247/2004), para. 6.8; E.E. v. the Russian
Federation (CAT/C/50/D/479/2011), para. 8.4; N.B. v. the Russian Federation
(CAT/C/56/D/577/2013), para. 8.2; M.T. v. Sweden (CAT/C/55/D/642/2014), para. 8.3; and Mr. U. v.
Sweden (CAT/C/56/D/643/2014), para. 6.4.
See, for example, Mr. Y. v. Canada (CAT/C/55/D/512/2012), para. 7.2; and Olga Shestakova v. the
Russian Federation (CAT/C/62/D/712/2015), para. 6.4.