CAT is an international treaty that was signed into law by a number of participating countries in the mid-1980s. The United States later became one of these countries. Broadly, CAT was intended to reduce the incidence of torture in the world. Article 3 prohibits the United States from removing the applicant to a country in which it is more likely than not that he would be subjected to torture. It is important to note that Article 3 does not prohibit the United States from removing that applicant to another safe country.
CAT provides two forms of relief against removal.
These forms of relief are called 'withholding of removal' and 'deferral of removal'. They may be contrasted with the withholding of removal provisions which are already in place in U.S. law under the Geneva Convention. Both are mandatory forms of relief because each stems from a treaty obligation. Both have no filing deadline. The applicant will succeed in either type of case if it is likelier that not that he will suffer harm which constitutes a protected ground.