On 8 August 2018, the Committee against Torture adopted its concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of the Russian Federation, including important asylum-related recommendations.
The Committee addressed concerns regarding reports of extraditions and expulsions of foreign persons to countries where they would be at risk of serious harm and ill-treatment. Regarding the issue of access to asylum procedures, the Committee noted that there have been frequent reports of failures to register and interview asylum applicants, including in cases of serious vulnerability, such as torture victims. Moreover, it indicated that such lack of access to asylum procedures may increase the risk of refoulement, and invites the state to ensure compliance with its international obligations.
Finally, the absence of statistical information on extraditions, as well as on the outcomes of remedies against decisions to extradite, also emerges as an issue of concern for the Committee. In this vein, the Russian state is encouraged to establish a statistical data collection system and, more notably, to ensure an opportunity for effective and impartial reviews of removal decisions.