COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE BEGINS REVIEW OF REPORT OF NORWAY

CAT
28th session
6 May 2002
Morning




Government Delegation Queried on Use
of Pre-Trial Solitary Confinement


The Committee against Torture began its consideration this morning of a fourth periodic report of Norway, questioning a Government delegation, among other things, on practices for solitary confinement of some pre-trial detainees, noting that proposals had been made that would reduce the occurrence of solitary confinement but asking if it could be controlled by a law requiring court authorization and setting a maximum time limit, or if it could even be abolished.

Committee members remarked several times that the country's performance was impressive and said they had few questions to ask. They probed for further information on whether pre-trial detainees were allowed access to lawyers and otherwise informed of their rights from the onset of detention, and about asylum procedures.

Introducing the report, Petter F. Wille, Deputy Director-General of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said among other things that the Ministry of Justice would soon circulate for comment a proposal to incorporate a specific provision against torture into domestic law, in conformity with article 1 of the Convention; and that a proposal had been submitted to Parliament intended to reduce overall use of solitary confinement, to strengthen judicial supervision of the practice, and to reduce the time spent on investigating and adjudicating criminal cases.

Other members of the delegation were Toril Oie, Director-General of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Elin Widsteen and Helen Wenger, Senior Executives of the Ministry.

The delegation will respond to the Committee's questions at 3:30 p.m on Tuesday, 7 May. As one of the 129 States parties to the Convention against Torture, Norway must submit periodic reports on efforts to implement the treaty.

The Committee will reconvene in private session at 3 p.m. but is expected to hold a public meeting later in the afternoon to continue discussion of proposed amendments to its rules of procedure relating to article 22 of the Convention.


Report of Norway

The fourth periodic report of Norway (CAT/C/55/Add.4) provides new information relating to implementation of various articles of the Convention. It notes among other things that from 1996-98, the country's special investigative bodies (SIB) had 1,998 cases reported to them, of which 407 related to the use of force by police, and in 129 of those cases, the investigating bodies found reasons to believe that a criminal offense had taken place. Eighteen of the cases related to police brutality. A 1999 report of the Police College on cases investigated by SIB revealed that some 50 per cent of the cases had been decided without prior questioning of the suspect or witnesses, and in more than 90 per cent of cases SIB recommended that the Public Prosecutor not prosecute, and that the majority of cases were dropped because a legal offense was not considered to be proven. The Ministry of Justice subsequently called for an evaluation of the quality of SIB investigations, and the report of a working group on the matter should soon be available.

The report also says that in a case of conflict between the Norwegian Immigration Act and the Convention against Torture, the Convention prevails; that Norway ratified the Rome Statute for an International Criminal Court on 16 February 2000; that training on ethics is provided to prison service personnel and human rights training is provided to police personnel, and that recommendations were expected concerning human rights instruction for military personnel; that the relatively extensive use of force in Norwegian psychiatric care has been a subject of concern and four new statues have been adopted to promote a health and welfare policy based on respect for human dignity; and that a new institution would soon be opened to counter criticism of current practices relating to the occasional detaining of asylum-seekers, where such persons were kept in ordinary prisons.


Introduction of report

PETTER F. WILLE, Deputy Director-General of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the Ministry of Justice would soon circulate for comment a proposal to incorporate a specific provision against torture into domestic law, in conformity with article 1 of the Convention; and that a proposal had been submitted to Parliament intended to reduce overall use of solitary confinement, to strengthen judicial supervision of the practice, and to reduce the time spent on investigating and adjudicating criminal cases.

The Director-General of Public Prosecutions had published an information folder stating the rights laid down in the Criminal Procedure Act of persons remanded in custody, and the folder would routinely be given to remanded detainees at the outset of detention, Mr. Wille said. He added that a working group report submitted in December 2001 had recommended that complainants of misuse of authority by police should always be summoned for questioning by a special investigative body and that the policeman concerned should also be questioned in all cases where an investigation was to be carried out; and that necessary legislative measures for complying with the Statute of the International Criminal Court had been adopted by the Norwegian Parliament.


Discussion

Serving as rapporteur and co-rapporteur on the report of Norway respectively were Committee Experts YU MENGJIA and SAYED KASSEM EL MASRY.

Mr. Yu said, among other things, that it was encouraging to hear of steps toward incorporating a specific definition of torture into domestic law, and he hoped such an incorporation would be strictly based on the terms of the Convention, and all the relevant rules would be contained in one relevant statute. Among his questions were what were the contents of the report on the country's special investigative bodies that recently had been completed; and if those who had asylum applications turned down were aware of the availability of options and legal aid.

Mr. El Masry applauded the plan of action for human rights recently adopted by Norway, with its inclusion of training for medical personnel. He asked about steps to regulate and monitor the use of coercion in psychiatric care; about how effectively visits to detainees were allowed; about how effectively third parties were informed of pre-trial detention; about the possibility of abolishing solitary confinement in pre-trial situations except in truly exceptional cases; if explicit authorization by a court could be required for solitary confinement, based on a precise law, and including a precise maximum time limit; about allegations that time limits on pre-trial detention led to undue police pressure on detainees to obtain confessions; about allegations of police use of excessive force during arrest; if detainees were sometimes not allowed full access to lawyers from the outset of detention; if it might be established by law that no evidence elicited by torture or ill-treatment would be accepted in court, although no such allegations had ever been received; and if Norway was considering making its partial withdrawal of its reservation to article 14 of the Convention a full withdrawal.

Other Committee members also put questions. They asked among other things if detainees subject to solitary confinement might be held together in units or wards so that their isolation might be reduced; if there were difficulties in holding some asylum-seekers in facilities also housing detainees; if there were cases of sexual violence in prisons; and about the ethnic, indigenous and age-related composition of the prison population.





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