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COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE CONCLUDES THIRTY-THIRD SESSION
26 November 2004
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Committee against Torture
ROUND-UP 26 November 2004
Issues Concluding Observations on Reports of Argentina,
the United Kingdom and Greece
The Committee against Torture today concluded its two-week winter session and issued its concluding observations and recommendations on reports from Argentina, the United Kingdom and Greece which it reviewed during this session.
Those countries are among the 138 States parties to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and are bound by the terms of the treaty to submit periodic reports on efforts to ensure that such human rights violations do not occur on their territories. In addition to submitting the reports, the countries sent delegations before the Committee of 10 independent Experts to answer questions.
The Committee said that among the positive developments in the report of Argentina were the efforts made by the State party to combat impunity in respect of crimes against humanity committed under the military dictatorship. The Committee also welcomed with satisfaction the work accomplished by the National Commission for the Right to an Identity, which was entrusted with the task of locating children who disappeared under the military dictatorship. The Committee expressed its concern about the many allegations of torture and ill-treatment committed in a widespread and habitual manner by the State’s security forces and agencies and recommended, among other things, that the State party take vigorous steps to eliminate the impunity of the alleged perpetrators of acts of torture and ill-treatment.
Cited among positive developments in the fourth periodic report of the United Kingdom was the State party’s assurance that the United Kingdom Armed Forces, military advisers, and other public servants deployed on operations abroad were "subject at all times to English criminal law" including the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment. The Committee also noted as positive the State party’s reaffirmation of its unreserved condemnation of the use of torture. Among the Committee’s recommendations was for the State party to review, as a matter of urgency, the alternatives available to indefinite detention under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 and to ensure that the conduct of its officials, including those attending interrogations at any overseas facility, was strictly in conformity with the requirements of the Convention.
Positive developments in Greece, the Committee noted, included the ongoing efforts by the State party to revise its legislation and adopt other necessary measures so as to strengthen the respect for human rights in Greece and give effect to the Convention. The Committee also welcomed the new Prison Code, the new law on Legal Aid and the law on combating trafficking in human beings. Among its concerns was the lack of an effective independent system to investigate complaints and reports that allegations of torture and ill-treatment were not investigated promptly and impartially. It recommended that the State party strengthen existing efforts to reduce the occurrence of ill-treatment, including that which was racially motivated, by police and other public officials, and to review modalities of offering protection to street children while ensuring that those measures protected their rights.
In addition to reviewing country reports in public session, the Committee considered in private meetings information appearing to contain well-founded indications that torture was being systematically practiced in the territories of some States parties. And it examined communications from individuals claiming to be victims of violations by States parties of the provisions of the Convention. Such communications are accepted only if they concern the 51 States that have declared the Committee competent to receive complaints under article 22 of the Convention.
During the course of the session, Committee Experts also examined a draft document containing guidelines for States parties submitting their initial reports to the Committee.
At its closing meeting today, the Committee was briefed by two of its thematic Rapporteurs on developments with regard to its follow up procedures. Committee Expert Felice Gaer, who has been serving as Rapporteur for follow up to article 19 of the Convention concerning the submission of reports to the Committee, recalled that the Committee, at its thirtieth session in May 2003, had adopted and begun a procedure of follow up whereby States parties were required to provide information to the Committee within one year on items the Committee deemed as requiring immediate follow up. Since the inception of this procedure, 18 States parties had been requested to provide information under this arrangement, Ms. Gaer said. She added that she would provide additional information to the Committee at its next session. Speaking on the issue of follow up to individual communications was Committee Expert Sayed Kassem El Masry who reported that since the Committee’s last session, no new follow up information had been received in writing.
The Committee’s next session will be held from 2 to 21 May 2005 during which it is scheduled to examine reports from Albania, Bahrain, Canada, Finland, Switzerland, Togo and Uganda.
Conclusions and Recommendations on Country Reports
Among the positive developments in the report of Argentina were the efforts made by the State party to combat impunity in respect of crimes against humanity committed under the military dictatorship. In particular, the Committee welcomed the repeal in 2003 of executive decree No. 1581/01, which required the automatic rejection of requests for extradition in cases involving serious and flagrant violations of human rights under the military dictatorship. The Committee warmly welcomed the recent ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention in November 2004, and the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in February 2001. The Committee also warmly welcomed the promulgation enactment in January 2004 of the new Migration Act, which indicated that a foreigner may only be detained by a judicial authority. The Committee further welcomed with satisfaction the work accomplished by the National Commission for the Right to an Identity, which was entrusted with the task of locating children who disappeared under the military dictatorship.
The Committee expressed its concern about the many allegations of torture and ill-treatment committed in a widespread and habitual manner by the State’s security forces and agencies, both in the provinces and in the federal capital. It also was concerned about the disproportion between the high number of reports of torture and ill-treatment and the small number of convictions for such offences, as well as the unjustifiable delays in the investigation of cases of torture, which also contributed to impunity in this area. Moreover, it was concerned about the uneven application of the Convention in the various provinces of the State party, and the lack of machinery for accommodating the requirements of the Convention, which had the same status as the Constitution in Argentina, to the federal structure of the country. The Committee also expressed its concern about the reports of arrests and detention of children below the age of criminal responsibility, most of them "street children" and beggars, in police stations, where they were held together with adults, as well as on the alleged torture and ill-treatment suffered by such children, leading to death in some cases.
The Committee also expressed its concern about the allegations of torture and ill-treatment of certain vulnerable groups, such as members of the indigenous communities, sexual minorities and women; about the overcrowding and poor physical conditions prevailing in the prisons, and particularly the lack of hygiene, adequate food and appropriate medical care, which may be tantamount to inhuman and degrading treatment; and about the alleged reprisals, intimidation and threats received by persons reporting acts of torture and ill-treatment.
The Committee recommended that the State party take all necessary steps to prevent acts of torture and ill-treatment in the territory of the State of Argentina, and in particular that it should, among other things, take vigorous steps to eliminate the impunity of the alleged perpetrators of acts of torture and ill-treatment, and for that purpose carry out prompt, impartial and exhaustive investigations, try and convict the alleged perpetrators of torture and ill-treatment and properly compensate the victims. It also recommended that the State party improve the quality and enhance the capabilities of the State's security forces and agencies in respect of human rights, and specifically in respect of the requirements stemming from the Convention.
Among the Committee’s other recommendations was that the State party take effective steps to improve physical conditions in prisons, reduce the existing overcrowding and properly guarantee the fundamental needs of all persons in custody and take the necessary steps to guarantee the presence of independent, qualified medical personnel to carry out periodic examinations of persons in detention.
Cited among positive developments in the report of the United Kingdom was the responsiveness of the State party to some of the previous recommendations of the Committee, in particular the closure of certain prison facilities previously found to be problematic, the confirmation that no baton rounds had been fired by either the police nor the army in Northern Ireland since September 2002 and the dissolution of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Other positive aspects noted by the Committee were the establishment of an independent Police Complaints Commission for England, Wales and, in Northern Ireland, the office of the Police Ombudsman, and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, and the State party’s assurance that the United Kingdom Armed Forces, military advisers, and other public servants deployed on operations abroad were "subject at all times to English criminal law" including the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment. The Committee also noted as positive the State party’s reaffirmation of its unreserved condemnation of the use of torture; the early ratification by the State party of the Optional Protocol to the Convention, and its active pursuit through diplomatic activity, practical projects and research funding in support of universal ratification of the Convention and its Optional Protocol.
The Committee expressed its concern at remaining inconsistencies between the requirements of the Convention and the provisions of the State party’s domestic law which, even after the passage of the Human Rights Act, had left continuing gaps notably with regard to article 15 of the Convention concerning the prohibition of the use of evidence gained by torture. The Committee also expressed its concern at the State party’s limited acceptance of the applicability of the Convention to the actions of its forces abroad, in particular its explanation that "those parts of the Convention which are applicable only in respect of territory under the jurisdiction of a State party cannot be applicable in relation to actions of the United Kingdom in Afghanistan and Iraq".
With respect to Northern Ireland, the Committee was concerned about the absence of precise information on the necessity for the continued emergency provisions for that jurisdiction contained in the Terrorism Act 2000. Moreover, the Committee was concerned about reports of unsatisfactory conditions in the State party’s detention facilities including substantial numbers of deaths in custody, inter-prisoner violence, as well as reports of unacceptable conditions for female detainees in the Hydebank Wood prison.
Among the Committee's recommendations was for the State party to make public the results of all investigations into alleged conduct by its forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly those that revealed possible actions in breach of the Convention, and to provide for independent review of the conclusions where appropriate. The Committee also recommended that the State party should review, as a matter of urgency, the alternatives available to indefinite detention under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. The State party was recommended to provide the Committee with details on how many cases of extradition or removal subject to receipt of diplomatic assurances or guarantees had occurred since 11 September 2001, what the State party’s minimum contents were for such assurances or guarantees and what measures of subsequent monitoring it had undertaken in such cases.
The Committee further recommended that the State party should ensure that the conduct of its officials, including those attending interrogations at any overseas facility, was strictly in conformity with the requirements of the Convention and that any breaches of the Convention that it became aware of should be investigated promptly and impartially, and if necessary the State party should file criminal proceedings in an appropriate jurisdiction. It also recommended that the State party take all practicable steps to review investigations of deaths by lethal force in Northern Ireland that had remained unsolved, in a manner, as expressed by representatives of the State party, "commanding the confidence of the wider community".
Among the positive developments in the report of Greece were the ongoing efforts by the State party to revise its legislation and adopt other necessary measures, so as to strengthen the respect for human rights in Greece and give effect to the Convention. In particular the Committee welcomed, among other things, the new Prison Code which contained provisions intended to contribute to the improvement of living conditions in prisons and prevent inhuman treatment of prisoners; the new Law on Legal Aid, according to which lawyers must be appointed to elaborate and submit complaints on behalf of torture victims and on behalf of victims of trafficking and that the prison prosecutor had the duty to offer legal counselling to detainees; and the law on combating trafficking in human beings intended to criminalize trafficking and punish the perpetrators of such crimes by imposing heavy sentences. The Committee also welcomed the establishment of a Department for Children’s Rights in the National Commission for Human Rights and the statement made by the Greek delegation that it was prepared to consider modalities to increase cooperation with non-governmental organizations, including visits to detention centres.
The Committee noted with concern the absence of data with respect to the practical application of the numerous new legislative acts and seemingly insufficient steps undertaken to reduce the gap between legislation and practice and the procedures related to the expulsion of foreigners which might in some instances be in breach of the Convention. It was also concerned at the low percentage (0,06 per cent) of persons that had been granted refugee status in 2003; about the slow progress in adopting a code of ethics and other measures for the conduct for police interrogations to supplement the provisions of the Criminal Procedural Code, with a view to preventing cases of torture and ill-treatment, in accordance with article 11 of the Convention; and the lack of an effective independent system to investigate complaints and reports that allegations of torture and ill-treatment were not investigated promptly and impartially.
The Committee was also concerned about the continuing allegations of excessive use of force and firearms, including cases of killings and reports of sexual abuse, by the police and in particular border guards, many victims of which concerned Albanian citizens and members of other socially disadvantaged groups. The Committee regretted the fact that disaggregated statistical data in this respect were not available from the State party. Moreover, the Committee expressed its concern about occurrences of ill-treatment of the Roma by public officials in situations of forced evictions or relocation and about the inadequate measures taken to offer protection to children picked up by the Security Police and taken into State care during the period 1998 – 2003. In particular, with regard to the approximately 600 children taken to the Aghia Varvara children’s institution, 500 of which went missing, according to reports, and the lack of a prompt investigation into the cases by a judicial authority.
The Committee recommended, among other things, that the State party strengthen existing efforts to reduce occurrence of ill-treatment, including that which was racially motivated, by police and other public officials; to ensure that all personnel involved in the custody, detention, interrogation and treatment of detainees were trained with regard to the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment and took necessary measures to establish an effective, reliable and independent complaints system to undertake prompt and impartial investigations, including immediate forensic medical investigation, into allegations of ill-treatment or torture by police and other public officials, and to punish the offenders.
While the efforts of the State party to build new prisons were recognized in its long-term efforts to address overcrowding and poor conditions in prisons and other places of detention, the Committee recommended that the State party consider additional alternative means of reducing the prison population as urgent measures to address the situation in places of detention. It also recommend that the State party adopt legislation and other measures to combat violence against women, within the framework of plans to take measures to prevent such violence, including domestic violence, and to investigate all such allegations of ill-treatment and abuse. Moreover, the State party was recommended to review modalities of offering protection to street children, and in particular to ensure that those measures protected their rights.
Membership of the Committee
The Committee’s members are elected by States parties to the Convention and serve in their personal capacity. The current members of the Committee are: Guibril Camara (Senegal); Sayed Kassem el Masry (Egypt); Felice Gaer (United States); Claudio Grossman (Chile); Fernando Mariño Menendez (Spain); Andreas Mavrommatis (Cyprus); Julio Prado Vallejo (Ecuador); Ole Vedel Rasmussen (Denmark); Alexander M. Yakovlev (Russian Federation); and Yu Mengja (China).
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ROUND-UP 26 November 2004
Issues Concluding Observations on Reports of Argentina,
the United Kingdom and Greece
The Committee against Torture today concluded its two-week winter session and issued its concluding observations and recommendations on reports from Argentina, the United Kingdom and Greece which it reviewed during this session.
Those countries are among the 138 States parties to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and are bound by the terms of the treaty to submit periodic reports on efforts to ensure that such human rights violations do not occur on their territories. In addition to submitting the reports, the countries sent delegations before the Committee of 10 independent Experts to answer questions.
The Committee said that among the positive developments in the report of Argentina were the efforts made by the State party to combat impunity in respect of crimes against humanity committed under the military dictatorship. The Committee also welcomed with satisfaction the work accomplished by the National Commission for the Right to an Identity, which was entrusted with the task of locating children who disappeared under the military dictatorship. The Committee expressed its concern about the many allegations of torture and ill-treatment committed in a widespread and habitual manner by the State’s security forces and agencies and recommended, among other things, that the State party take vigorous steps to eliminate the impunity of the alleged perpetrators of acts of torture and ill-treatment.
Cited among positive developments in the fourth periodic report of the United Kingdom was the State party’s assurance that the United Kingdom Armed Forces, military advisers, and other public servants deployed on operations abroad were "subject at all times to English criminal law" including the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment. The Committee also noted as positive the State party’s reaffirmation of its unreserved condemnation of the use of torture. Among the Committee’s recommendations was for the State party to review, as a matter of urgency, the alternatives available to indefinite detention under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 and to ensure that the conduct of its officials, including those attending interrogations at any overseas facility, was strictly in conformity with the requirements of the Convention.
Positive developments in Greece, the Committee noted, included the ongoing efforts by the State party to revise its legislation and adopt other necessary measures so as to strengthen the respect for human rights in Greece and give effect to the Convention. The Committee also welcomed the new Prison Code, the new law on Legal Aid and the law on combating trafficking in human beings. Among its concerns was the lack of an effective independent system to investigate complaints and reports that allegations of torture and ill-treatment were not investigated promptly and impartially. It recommended that the State party strengthen existing efforts to reduce the occurrence of ill-treatment, including that which was racially motivated, by police and other public officials, and to review modalities of offering protection to street children while ensuring that those measures protected their rights.
In addition to reviewing country reports in public session, the Committee considered in private meetings information appearing to contain well-founded indications that torture was being systematically practiced in the territories of some States parties. And it examined communications from individuals claiming to be victims of violations by States parties of the provisions of the Convention. Such communications are accepted only if they concern the 51 States that have declared the Committee competent to receive complaints under article 22 of the Convention.
During the course of the session, Committee Experts also examined a draft document containing guidelines for States parties submitting their initial reports to the Committee.
At its closing meeting today, the Committee was briefed by two of its thematic Rapporteurs on developments with regard to its follow up procedures. Committee Expert Felice Gaer, who has been serving as Rapporteur for follow up to article 19 of the Convention concerning the submission of reports to the Committee, recalled that the Committee, at its thirtieth session in May 2003, had adopted and begun a procedure of follow up whereby States parties were required to provide information to the Committee within one year on items the Committee deemed as requiring immediate follow up. Since the inception of this procedure, 18 States parties had been requested to provide information under this arrangement, Ms. Gaer said. She added that she would provide additional information to the Committee at its next session. Speaking on the issue of follow up to individual communications was Committee Expert Sayed Kassem El Masry who reported that since the Committee’s last session, no new follow up information had been received in writing.
The Committee’s next session will be held from 2 to 21 May 2005 during which it is scheduled to examine reports from Albania, Bahrain, Canada, Finland, Switzerland, Togo and Uganda.
Conclusions and Recommendations on Country Reports
Among the positive developments in the report of Argentina were the efforts made by the State party to combat impunity in respect of crimes against humanity committed under the military dictatorship. In particular, the Committee welcomed the repeal in 2003 of executive decree No. 1581/01, which required the automatic rejection of requests for extradition in cases involving serious and flagrant violations of human rights under the military dictatorship. The Committee warmly welcomed the recent ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention in November 2004, and the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in February 2001. The Committee also warmly welcomed the promulgation enactment in January 2004 of the new Migration Act, which indicated that a foreigner may only be detained by a judicial authority. The Committee further welcomed with satisfaction the work accomplished by the National Commission for the Right to an Identity, which was entrusted with the task of locating children who disappeared under the military dictatorship.
The Committee expressed its concern about the many allegations of torture and ill-treatment committed in a widespread and habitual manner by the State’s security forces and agencies, both in the provinces and in the federal capital. It also was concerned about the disproportion between the high number of reports of torture and ill-treatment and the small number of convictions for such offences, as well as the unjustifiable delays in the investigation of cases of torture, which also contributed to impunity in this area. Moreover, it was concerned about the uneven application of the Convention in the various provinces of the State party, and the lack of machinery for accommodating the requirements of the Convention, which had the same status as the Constitution in Argentina, to the federal structure of the country. The Committee also expressed its concern about the reports of arrests and detention of children below the age of criminal responsibility, most of them "street children" and beggars, in police stations, where they were held together with adults, as well as on the alleged torture and ill-treatment suffered by such children, leading to death in some cases.
The Committee also expressed its concern about the allegations of torture and ill-treatment of certain vulnerable groups, such as members of the indigenous communities, sexual minorities and women; about the overcrowding and poor physical conditions prevailing in the prisons, and particularly the lack of hygiene, adequate food and appropriate medical care, which may be tantamount to inhuman and degrading treatment; and about the alleged reprisals, intimidation and threats received by persons reporting acts of torture and ill-treatment.
The Committee recommended that the State party take all necessary steps to prevent acts of torture and ill-treatment in the territory of the State of Argentina, and in particular that it should, among other things, take vigorous steps to eliminate the impunity of the alleged perpetrators of acts of torture and ill-treatment, and for that purpose carry out prompt, impartial and exhaustive investigations, try and convict the alleged perpetrators of torture and ill-treatment and properly compensate the victims. It also recommended that the State party improve the quality and enhance the capabilities of the State's security forces and agencies in respect of human rights, and specifically in respect of the requirements stemming from the Convention.
Among the Committee’s other recommendations was that the State party take effective steps to improve physical conditions in prisons, reduce the existing overcrowding and properly guarantee the fundamental needs of all persons in custody and take the necessary steps to guarantee the presence of independent, qualified medical personnel to carry out periodic examinations of persons in detention.
Cited among positive developments in the report of the United Kingdom was the responsiveness of the State party to some of the previous recommendations of the Committee, in particular the closure of certain prison facilities previously found to be problematic, the confirmation that no baton rounds had been fired by either the police nor the army in Northern Ireland since September 2002 and the dissolution of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Other positive aspects noted by the Committee were the establishment of an independent Police Complaints Commission for England, Wales and, in Northern Ireland, the office of the Police Ombudsman, and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, and the State party’s assurance that the United Kingdom Armed Forces, military advisers, and other public servants deployed on operations abroad were "subject at all times to English criminal law" including the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment. The Committee also noted as positive the State party’s reaffirmation of its unreserved condemnation of the use of torture; the early ratification by the State party of the Optional Protocol to the Convention, and its active pursuit through diplomatic activity, practical projects and research funding in support of universal ratification of the Convention and its Optional Protocol.
The Committee expressed its concern at remaining inconsistencies between the requirements of the Convention and the provisions of the State party’s domestic law which, even after the passage of the Human Rights Act, had left continuing gaps notably with regard to article 15 of the Convention concerning the prohibition of the use of evidence gained by torture. The Committee also expressed its concern at the State party’s limited acceptance of the applicability of the Convention to the actions of its forces abroad, in particular its explanation that "those parts of the Convention which are applicable only in respect of territory under the jurisdiction of a State party cannot be applicable in relation to actions of the United Kingdom in Afghanistan and Iraq".
With respect to Northern Ireland, the Committee was concerned about the absence of precise information on the necessity for the continued emergency provisions for that jurisdiction contained in the Terrorism Act 2000. Moreover, the Committee was concerned about reports of unsatisfactory conditions in the State party’s detention facilities including substantial numbers of deaths in custody, inter-prisoner violence, as well as reports of unacceptable conditions for female detainees in the Hydebank Wood prison.
Among the Committee's recommendations was for the State party to make public the results of all investigations into alleged conduct by its forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly those that revealed possible actions in breach of the Convention, and to provide for independent review of the conclusions where appropriate. The Committee also recommended that the State party should review, as a matter of urgency, the alternatives available to indefinite detention under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. The State party was recommended to provide the Committee with details on how many cases of extradition or removal subject to receipt of diplomatic assurances or guarantees had occurred since 11 September 2001, what the State party’s minimum contents were for such assurances or guarantees and what measures of subsequent monitoring it had undertaken in such cases.
The Committee further recommended that the State party should ensure that the conduct of its officials, including those attending interrogations at any overseas facility, was strictly in conformity with the requirements of the Convention and that any breaches of the Convention that it became aware of should be investigated promptly and impartially, and if necessary the State party should file criminal proceedings in an appropriate jurisdiction. It also recommended that the State party take all practicable steps to review investigations of deaths by lethal force in Northern Ireland that had remained unsolved, in a manner, as expressed by representatives of the State party, "commanding the confidence of the wider community".
Among the positive developments in the report of Greece were the ongoing efforts by the State party to revise its legislation and adopt other necessary measures, so as to strengthen the respect for human rights in Greece and give effect to the Convention. In particular the Committee welcomed, among other things, the new Prison Code which contained provisions intended to contribute to the improvement of living conditions in prisons and prevent inhuman treatment of prisoners; the new Law on Legal Aid, according to which lawyers must be appointed to elaborate and submit complaints on behalf of torture victims and on behalf of victims of trafficking and that the prison prosecutor had the duty to offer legal counselling to detainees; and the law on combating trafficking in human beings intended to criminalize trafficking and punish the perpetrators of such crimes by imposing heavy sentences. The Committee also welcomed the establishment of a Department for Children’s Rights in the National Commission for Human Rights and the statement made by the Greek delegation that it was prepared to consider modalities to increase cooperation with non-governmental organizations, including visits to detention centres.
The Committee noted with concern the absence of data with respect to the practical application of the numerous new legislative acts and seemingly insufficient steps undertaken to reduce the gap between legislation and practice and the procedures related to the expulsion of foreigners which might in some instances be in breach of the Convention. It was also concerned at the low percentage (0,06 per cent) of persons that had been granted refugee status in 2003; about the slow progress in adopting a code of ethics and other measures for the conduct for police interrogations to supplement the provisions of the Criminal Procedural Code, with a view to preventing cases of torture and ill-treatment, in accordance with article 11 of the Convention; and the lack of an effective independent system to investigate complaints and reports that allegations of torture and ill-treatment were not investigated promptly and impartially.
The Committee was also concerned about the continuing allegations of excessive use of force and firearms, including cases of killings and reports of sexual abuse, by the police and in particular border guards, many victims of which concerned Albanian citizens and members of other socially disadvantaged groups. The Committee regretted the fact that disaggregated statistical data in this respect were not available from the State party. Moreover, the Committee expressed its concern about occurrences of ill-treatment of the Roma by public officials in situations of forced evictions or relocation and about the inadequate measures taken to offer protection to children picked up by the Security Police and taken into State care during the period 1998 – 2003. In particular, with regard to the approximately 600 children taken to the Aghia Varvara children’s institution, 500 of which went missing, according to reports, and the lack of a prompt investigation into the cases by a judicial authority.
The Committee recommended, among other things, that the State party strengthen existing efforts to reduce occurrence of ill-treatment, including that which was racially motivated, by police and other public officials; to ensure that all personnel involved in the custody, detention, interrogation and treatment of detainees were trained with regard to the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment and took necessary measures to establish an effective, reliable and independent complaints system to undertake prompt and impartial investigations, including immediate forensic medical investigation, into allegations of ill-treatment or torture by police and other public officials, and to punish the offenders.
While the efforts of the State party to build new prisons were recognized in its long-term efforts to address overcrowding and poor conditions in prisons and other places of detention, the Committee recommended that the State party consider additional alternative means of reducing the prison population as urgent measures to address the situation in places of detention. It also recommend that the State party adopt legislation and other measures to combat violence against women, within the framework of plans to take measures to prevent such violence, including domestic violence, and to investigate all such allegations of ill-treatment and abuse. Moreover, the State party was recommended to review modalities of offering protection to street children, and in particular to ensure that those measures protected their rights.
Membership of the Committee
The Committee’s members are elected by States parties to the Convention and serve in their personal capacity. The current members of the Committee are: Guibril Camara (Senegal); Sayed Kassem el Masry (Egypt); Felice Gaer (United States); Claudio Grossman (Chile); Fernando Mariño Menendez (Spain); Andreas Mavrommatis (Cyprus); Julio Prado Vallejo (Ecuador); Ole Vedel Rasmussen (Denmark); Alexander M. Yakovlev (Russian Federation); and Yu Mengja (China).
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