COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE CONSIDERS INITIAL REPORT OF COSTA RICA ON COMPLIANCE WITH CONVENTION

CAT
26th session
10 May 2001
Morning




The Committee against Torture this morning started its consideration of an initial report of Costa Rica on how that country is implementing the provisions of the International Covenant on Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Introducing the report, Nora Ruiz de Angulo, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that her country was devoted to the promotion and protection of human rights of all persons living under its jurisdiction. She said that the history of Costa Rica was guided by the protection of human life, and it was chosen as a land of refuge for those who were politically persecuted elsewhere.

Alejandro Gonzalez Poblete, the Committee member who served as Rapporteur to the report of Costa Rica, said that the report was prepared in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee and it fully reflected and provided information on an article-by-article basis. He raised a number of questions pertaining to the duration of incommunicado detention, police custody and extradition of an offender, among other things.

Ole Vedel Rassmussen, Committee Expert and Co-Rapporteur to the report of Costa Rica, said that Costa Rica had survived without an army since it had abolished it in 1949. But it would be a serious mistake to use an army-like force to fight drug-trafficking because it might end up violating human rights. He also queried the delegation on a number of issues including training of prison and police officers, complaints procedures and the right of victims to compensation.

The delegation will return to the Committee at 3.30 p.m on Friday, 11 May, to give its response to the questions raised by members of the Committee this morning.

The Costa Rican delegation was also made up of Christian Guillermet and Alejandro Solano, both from the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica in Geneva.

Costa Rica is among the 123 States parties to the Convention against Torture and as such it must provide periodic reports to be considered by the Committee, summarizing the efforts it has made in implementing the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will offer its concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Bolivia before hearing the response of Kazakhstan.

Initial Report of Costa Rica

The report (document CAT/C/24/Add.7) covers a wide range of measures taken and activities carried out by the Government and other institutions aimed at implementing the Convention. The 135-page report enumerates the administrative, legislative and juridical steps adopted on an article-by-article basis as well as other measures taken to give effect to the undertakings arising from the Convention. It says that human rights in general, including the right to physical and moral integrity and the right not to be tortured, were secured for all the country's inhabitants, whether citizens or foreigners, men or women, in a broad constitutional and legal framework.

According to the report, the existing criminal code of Costa Rica does not define torture as such. However, a draft law will be inserted in the criminal code incorporating the crime of torture into the text of the code. The criminal code specifically prohibits crimes such as homicide, causing grievous bodily harm and the sequestration of prisoners, which could involve the practice of torture; there was no definition of torture itself. The act of inflicting on a person pain or physical or mental suffering in order to obtain information or a confession was punishable by imprisonment of three to ten years. If the act was committed by a police official, the penalty shall be five to twelve years imprisonment and suspension from office for two to eight years.

For persons deprived of their liberty, Costa Rican law prescribes a range of institutions to ensure that their rights are safeguarded, the report says. The external institutions are the Constitutional Chamber, through the remedies of amparo and habeas corpus; the Office of the Ombudsman, the criminal court review, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Committee on Human Rights and the other organs of the United Nations. The Ombudsman may institute investigations on its own initiative into situations which come to its notice and which are suspected of violating the human rights of prisoners. The Women's Legal Defence unit of the Office of the Ombudsman handled and investigates, from a gender prospective, alleged violations of the human rights of women prisoners. Prisoners can have recourse to the office of the Comptroller of Services of the Ministry of Justice.

There are difficulties in some parts of the country, as regards evictions and land ownership, where territorial delimitation and land occupation are causing some conflict, the report notes. The most striking example is the Pavones region, in the south of the country, where a Costa Rican citizen and a United States citizen were killed in 1997. The case was resolved recently, and the Costa Rican involved in the death of the United States citizen was acquitted, the courts having decided that it was a case of self-defence.

In 1997, the total prison population was 5,454, representing a proportion of 159 per 100,000 of the population, the report indicates. In 1999, it was 7,676. Between 1992 and 1999, Costa Rica's prison population grew from 3,375 to 8,526, representing an increase of 155 per cent in a period of seven years, the largest increase in Latin America. As regards death occurring in the national prison system in recent years, 72 individuals have died as a result of homicide, suicide, accidental death, or from natural death.

Introduction of Report

NORA RUIZ DE ANGULO, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that her country was devoted to the promotion and protection of human rights of all persons living under its jurisdiction.

Ms. de Angulo said that the history of Costa Rica had been guided by the protection of human life. In 1864, the Government upheld the granting of political asylum to an individual from a neighbouring country and made the nation the land of choice for those suffering from political persecution. In addition, the 1949 Constitution stipulates that the human life was inviolable. Costa Rica's Constitution further stated that the territory of Costa Rica should be an asylum for everyone persecuted for political reasons.

Because of economic constraints, the plans to improve the prison system had been slowed down, Ms. de Angulo said. During recent years the prison population had grown by 1,354 prisoners. The prison population had grown by 156 per cent. The Government had taken measures to improve the prison infrastructure and additional units had been built. A complaints mechanism had been put in place in the prison system and officials made a thorough investigation of all complaints.

In conclusion, Ms. de Angulo said that Costa Rica reiterated its will to implement its own laws and to abide by international treaties in order to discharge its obligations.

Discussion

ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ POBLETE, Committee Expert and Rapporteur to the report of Costa Rica, said that the report was prepared in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee and it fully reflected and had provided information on an article-by-article basis.

With regard to the arrest of an individual, it was stated that a 24-hour detention was allowed for a person before he was brought to the courts, but could the arrest period be extended? If so, what was the maximum period of detention in the police station? How long could a person remain in incommunicado detention?

Concerning article 3 of the Convention, the report said that the granting of asylum was a prerogative of the executive branch of the Government, it was a discretionary decision by the President and the Minister of Foreign Relations; the general guideline in granting asylum was to safeguard the physical integrity of a person in danger of losing his life, by contrast with those who seek to rely on that right in order to evade justice. The delegation was asked to provide further explanation.

Mr. Poblete said the reference to customary law and indigenous communal rules in the implementation of article 4 of the Convention needed further explantation.

Costa Rican courts could refuse any act of extradition in application of article 5 of the Convention on the grounds that the alleged offender of a crime was a national of Costa Rica. Could an alleged offender of another State be extradited if there was sufficient grounds that he was facing torture?

The report said that under article 7 of the Convention, extradition would not be allowed if the Costa Rican courts decided that the subject was to be tried within the country. Proceedings against him would follow the domestic rules, with the procedural guarantees and remedies allowed by Costa Rican law. How could the courts assess the situation if there was no definition of torture in the Costa Rican legislation?

OLE VEDEL RASMUSSEN, Committee Expert and Co-Rapporteur to the report of Costa Rica, said that Costa Rica had survived without an army since it had abolished it in 1949. But it would be a serious mistake to use an army-like force to fight drug-trafficking because it might end up violating human rights.

With regard to prison training, the report said that as part of the organized effort on the part of the prison authorities to offer better training to the staff, the National Academy for Prison Officers was devising a project to establish a Master's degree in human rights within the prison system. What would happen if the project was not realized?

The prison system was under the Ministry of Justice, but what about the police? There was a suspicion that the police was under the same Ministry. Were the police and the prison under the same authority? If that was the case they should be under separate authorities.

Article 11 of the Convention required that the State party should keep under systematic review interrogation rules, instructions, methods and practices as well as arrangements for the custody and treatment of persons subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment in any territory under its jurisdiction. The report said that three police officers should be present during the interrogation of an individual. It seemed to be expensive to use such a high number officers. The police officers were all from the same office and they could not express different versions if allegation of coercion arisen.

Mr. Rasmussen said Costa Rica had registered a high number of complaints lodged in the office of the prosecutor general. What did the Government do about all those complaints? Did they find appropriate answers? How was the investigation system to a complaint lodged by a citizen? How could the Government deal with complaints against corruption? Were the units investigating complaints independent.

Other Committee members also asked questions on issues pertaining to the conditions of women in Costa Rican prisons; the kind of torture committed in the country in the absence of the definition of torture; and the position of the Government in ratifying the 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees. An Expert said that the use of electroconvulsive therapy was a degrading treatment. Whether it was applied with the consent of the patient or with his or her family’s consent, it remained to be a source of risk to physical integrity.




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