UN Committee against Torture to review Ecuador

Spanish

GENEVA (3 November 2016) - The UN Committee against Torture is due to review Ecuador on 8 and 9 November in Geneva. Ecuador has ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and so is required to be reviewed regularly by the Committee.

Among the possible issues for discussion between CAT members and a delegation from the Ecuadorian Government are:

• Excessive use of force by police against demonstrators, police brutality and ill-treatment of detainees;
• Steps taken to improve prison conditions
• Investigation of past human rights violations, in particular torture and enforced disappearances;
• January 2012 incident where trainee police officers were allegedly ill-treated and humiliated by their instructors;
• Ill-treatment of LGBT people, including so-called with “conversion” therapies;
• Measures to prevent and combat abuse and sexual violence against minors in educational institutions;
• Measures to ensure safety of the members of the national network of forensic experts;
• Anonymous threats and acts of intimidation against human rights defenders and journalists.

The review will take place at Palais Wilson in Geneva from 10:00-13:00 (4:00-7:00 in Quito) on 8 November and 15:00 to 18:00 on 9 November (9:00-12:00) and be webcast live at http://webtv.un.org/. The Committee will also hear from NGO representatives.

More information, including Ecuador’s submitted written report, at: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1085&Lang=en

The Committee has scheduled a press conference for Wednesday, 7 December at 12:30 at the Palais des Nations to discuss its findings on Ecuador and the other States being reviewed – Finland, Monaco, Sri Lanka, Namibia, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Cape Verde. These findings, officially known as concluding observations, will be published here on 7 December: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1085&Lang=en
         
ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact Liz Throssell +41 (0) 22 917 9466/ +41 79 752 0488 ethrossell@ohchr.org)

Media accreditation:    http://unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpPages)/70991F6887C73B2280256EE700379C58?OpenDocument

Background

Members of the CAT are independent human rights experts drawn from around the world, who serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States parties. The Committee’s concluding observations are an independent assessment of States’ compliance with their human rights obligations under the treaty. More information:  http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cat/pages/catindex.aspx

For your news websites and social media: Multimedia content & key messages relating to our news releases are available on UN Human Rights social media channels, listed below. Please tag us using the proper handles:
Twitter: @UNHumanRights
Facebook: unitednationshumanrights
Instagram: unitednationshumanrights
Google+: unitednationshumanrights
Youtube: unohchr