CCPR/C/79/D/910/2000 Page 13 Individual opinion by Committee member Hipolito solari-yrigoyen (dissenting) I disagree with the present communication on the grounds set forth below. 12. The Committee notes the fact that the Optional Protocol entered into force for the State party on 30 June 1988, that is, subsequent to the release and exile of the author. At the same time the Committee recalls its admissibility decision according to which it would need to be decided on the merits whether the alleged violations of articles 7, 9, 10 and 14 continued, after the entry into force of the Optional Protocol, to have effects that of themselves constitute a violation of the Covenant. In this regard, the author says that he has been forced into exile and to live apart from his family and relatives. In the view of the Committee, this claim should be understood as referring to the alleged violations of the author’s rights in 1985-1987, which relate to such continuing effects of the original grievances that in themselves would amount to a violation of article 12 and other related provisions of the Covenant which permanently prevent his safe return to Togo. 12.1 The Committee observes that in its first presentation, on 2 March 2000, the State party denied that the author had been forced into exile, but that subsequently, after his detailed and specific comments made on 22 August 2000, it has not provided any explanation or made any statement which would clarify the matter, in accordance with its obligations under article 4.2 of the Optional Protocol. By means of a simple statement it could have rebutted the author’s claim that he is unable to return safely to Togo and offered assurances regarding his return, but it did not do so. It should be borne in mind that only the State party could offer such guarantees to put an end to the ongoing effects which underlie the author’s exile by arbitrarily depriving him of his right to return to his own country. In its presentations made on 27 November 2000 and 1 October 2001 and 2002, the State party confined itself to rejecting the admissibility of the complaint as far as the author is concerned. It should be borne in mind that the State has supplied no new elements which would indicate that the continuing effects of the events which occurred before 30 June 1988 have ceased. 12.2 It is necessary to ask whether the time which elapsed between the date when the Optional Protocol entered into force for the State party and the date when the complaint was submitted might undermine or nullify the argument relating to continuing effects which mean that the author’s exile is involuntary. The answer is no, since exiles have no time limits as long as the circumstances which provoked them persist, which is the case with the State party. In many cases these circumstances have persisted longer than the normal human life span. Moreover, it cannot be forgotten that forced exile imposes a punishment on the victim with the aggravating factor that no judge has provided the accused with all the guarantees of due process before imposing the punishment. The punishment of exile, in short, is an administrative punishment. It is in addition a manifestly cruel one, as society has considered since the remotest times because of the effects on the victim, his family and his emotional and other ties when he is forcibly uprooted. 12.3 Article 12 of the Covenant prohibits forced exile, stating that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country. In General Comment No. 27, the Committee stated that the reference to the concept of arbitrariness covers all State action,