لجنة مناهضة التعذيب تفتتح دورتها الثالثة والخمسين

3 November 2014

The Committee against Torture this morning opened its fifty-third session, hearing a statement by the Director of the Human Rights Treaties Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and adopting its agenda. 

Ibrahim Salama, Director of the Human Rights Treaties Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that this session of the Committee came at a time of reflection on the achievements and challenges in the 30 years since the Convention against Torture had been adopted.  It also came at a time of change as the Committee moved ahead into the implementation of General Assembly resolution 68/268 on the strengthening of the treaty bodies system, which had made numerous suggestions on the harmonization and accessibility of the system. 

Mr. Salama commended the Committee against Torture for its pioneering work on the simplified reporting procedure which had been accepted by at least other five treaty bodies, and stressed that a harmonized approach to the issue of reprisals should prove more effective in counteracting the damaging effect of reprisals on the free collaboration of civil society with the treaty bodies.  In that sense, he welcomed the decision of the Chairs of the treaty bodies to prepare a joint policy on reprisals. 

Taking advantage of the momentum created by General Assembly resolution 68/268, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights looked forward to further improving the quality and efficiency of the treaty bodies system and its delivery, said Mr. Salama and reminded the Committee that the Secretary-General had been tasked by the General Assembly to report back every two years on the progress achieved by the treaty bodies in achieving greater efficiency and effectiveness in their work.  The Committee would actively participate in a workshop on gender-sensitive monitoring and the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules) organized by Penal Reform International, and this would be enable the discussion of concrete recommendations for the prevention of torture and ill-treatment of female detainees.
 
Claudio Grossman, Chairperson of the Committee, welcomed the participation of the new High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein at the upcoming celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment on 4 November and, while expressing his hopes for the universal ratification of the Convention, stressed the prohibition of torture which existed in customary law and ius cogens.  The Committee had pioneered the simplified reporting procedure which had been accepted by 86 countries, said Mr. Grossman and stressed the need to evaluate its efficiency.   Reprisals against individuals cooperating with treaty bodies were unacceptable and the Committee had zero tolerance to attempts of repression against those cooperating with it.  The world was still not free from torture, regardless of all the efforts, and the thirtieth anniversary of the Convention represented an opportunity to renew the commitment to the full implementation of its provisions, concluded Mr. Grossman.

Committee Experts reiterated their concern about the issue of reprisals and asked Mr. Salama to update the Committee on what was being done on this issue by others and the progress made so far, particularly concerning the creation of a joint focal point on reprisals.  They also welcomed the participation of High Commissioner Zeid at the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and expressed concern about the existing budgetary gap.

In his responses, Mr. Salama agreed that the evaluation of the effectiveness of the simplified reporting procedure would have to be done and said that there was a formula to ascertain the needs for meeting times of treaty bodies and thus the need for resources.  Concerning reprisals, Mr. Salama said that there was a crisis among States concerning resolution 24/24 of the Human Rights Council and the resolution was in a limbo.  Turning to the question of the budgetary gap, which the High Commissioner for Human Rights found shocking, Mr. Salama hoped that resolution 62/268 by the General Assembly would shield the treaty bodies from further financial shocks and would enable greater allocation of resources.

During the session, the Committee will consider the reports of Sweden, Ukraine, Venezuela, Australia, Burundi, United States, Croatia and Kazakhstan.  The session will conclude on Friday, 28 November.

The Committee will next meet in public at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 4 November to start its consideration of the report of Sweden (CAT/C/SWE/6-7).

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For use of the information media; not an official record

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