COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE DISCUSSES ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS

CAT
30th session
7 May 2003
Morning





The Committee against Torture met in a brief public session this morning to review organizational and other matters, discussing its contribution to the work of an Ad Hoc Committee on an international convention on the rights of persons with disabilities; whether or not the Committee should begin a policy of adopting general comments; what should be done about overdue reports; and what should be the content of a joint statement to be issued on 26 June, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
The majority of the eight Committee Experts present at the meeting said they were not in favour of an international convention on the rights of persons with disabilities - that a precise definition of "disability" had not been established; that resources were already limited in the United Nations human rights treaty-body system; and that such a convention would probably be ratified mostly by Western countries that already had established legal regimes on the subject. The Secretariat was asked to communicate that opinion to the relevant Ad Hoc Committee.
Responses from other human-rights-based committees and from three prominent non-governmental organizations indicated they were in favour of adoption by the Committee of general comments, said Committee Expert Fernando Mariño Menendez, who had been asked to look into the matter. The Commission on Human Rights' former Special Rapporteur on torture had written to suggest that the Committee draft a general comment on article 2 of the Convention against Torture, which stated that protection from torture was a non-derogable right.
The Committee decided to draft a general comment on the Convention's article 2, in combination with its article 4, waiting until after approval of the text of a Committee statement to be issued on 26 June, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which also would focus on the non-derogable nature of the Convention's prohibition of torture. Mr. Mariño Menendez was asked to develop a draft general comment.
Committee Expert Ole Vedel Rasmussen, who had looked into the matter of overdue with reports with Mr. Mariño Menendez, said the two had decided that the countries that should be contacted were those with reports more than five years overdue; 18 such countries had been sent letters reminding them of their duty to submit reports to the Committee, requesting information on progress and asking to hear about obstacles keeping them from meeting their reporting obligations. One letter had been received in response, from the Permanent Mission of Kenya, indicating that the matter had been communicated to the Kenyan Government. A report would be forthcoming, meanwhile, from Uganda, which held the "record" for an overdue report to the Committee, Mr. Rasmussen said; the Ugandan Government had assured him that compilation of the report would be finished when expected donor support materialized.
The Committee agreed that the topic of the general statement on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture would be the Convention's article 2, and Chairman Peter Thomas Burns was asked to draft a statement for consideration by the Committee before it adjourns on 16 May.
The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. to continue its examination of an initial report of Belgium.



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