5.3.1 Admissibility and Procedure There are no admissibility requirements in addition to those stated in section 3. Communications or complaints may be sent by the victim herself or on her behalf to the CAT Committee. If the Committee decides that a communication is admissible, the author of the communication and the State Party is informed. The Committee then examines the merits of the communication. The State Party has six months for the submission of its explanations or for the information about the measures it may have taken to remedy the situation. The complainants may also provide further information and be invited, if the Committee deems it necessary, to participate in its meetings. The individual communications are considered in private meetings and all documents are confidential. To protect the person(s) claiming the violation, the Committee may request the State Party concerned to take measures in order avoid irreparable damage to the alleged victim of the violation, pending the final decision of the Committee. When the Committee arrives at a decision, it is transmitted to the complainant and to the State Party concerned. The Committee invites the State Party to inform it of the measures it has taken in the light of that decision.179 5.3.2 Committee Against Torture (CAT) on Violence Against Women Although the Special Rapporteur on Torture has recognised sexual violence as a method of physical torture in 1986, 180 the CAT, like the HRC, has been slow to read women’s experience of violence as torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. It has however, in recent times been proactive in expressing concerns about sexual violence in classic contexts for torture such as detention 181 and for classic purpose of extracting information from women about male relatives. 182 Since at least 2004, the CAT has expressed concern over a range of different forms of violence such as female genital mutilation, 183 domestic violence 184 and the sexual harassment of girls 185 in its concluding observations on country reports, indicating that it considers that these may fall within the prohibitions of UNCAT. However, there have been very few individual complaints of rape or sexual violence as torture before the CAT. Indeed, Saadia Ali v. Tunisia 186 is among the cases that is classic in the sense of meeting all the elements of torture as defined in Article 1 of UNCAT. When the complainant, a dual French and Tunisian citizen, criticised a Tunisian court official while attempting to retrieve a document her brother needed for his forthcoming wedding, she was forcibly taken to a basement in the courthouse. A guard in the basement punched and kicked her, ripped off her scarf and dress so she was half-naked in front of about 50 men, dragged her by her hair, and beat her until she lost consciousness. After the incident, the petitioner tried unsuccessfully to file a complaint and seek domestic remedies under Tunisian law. The Committee against Torture found violations of Articles 1 (definition of torture), 12 (prompt and impartial investigation), 13 (right to complain), and 14 (right to 179 Information available at: http://www.claiminghumanrights.org/cat_conceivable_actions.html. 180 Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture UN Doc.E/CN.4/1986/15, para 119. 181 CAT, Concluding observations on the USA, contained in the Report of Committee against Torture, UN Doc. A/55/44(2000), para 179. 182 CAT, Concluding observations on the Egypt, contained in the Report of Committee against Torture, UN Doc. A/55/44(2000), para 209; CAT, Concluding observations on the Tunisia, contained in the Report of Committee against Torture, UN Doc. A/54/44(1999), para 99. 183 CAT, Concluding observations on the Cameroon, contained in the Report of Committee against Torture, UN Doc. CAT/C/CR/31/6, 5 February 2004, para 7. 184 CAT, Concluding observations on \Greece, contained in the Report of Committee against Torture, UN Doc. CAT/C/CR/33/2, 10 December 2004 para 5(k); Zambia, UN Doc. A/57/44, 25 August 2002, para 7(c). 185 CAT, Concluding observations on Greece, contained in the Report of the CAT, UN Doc. CAT/C/CR/33/2, 10 December 2004 para 5(h); Egypt, UN Doc. CAT/C/CR/29/4, 23 December 2003 paras 5 (d) and (e). 186 Saadia Ali v. Tunisia (CAT Comm. No. 291/2006 (2008). 50 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS TREATIES | REDRESS