COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE HEARS RESPONSE OF HONDURAS

Committee against Torture
MORNING
7 May 2009



The Committee against Torture this morning heard the response of Honduras to questions raised by Committee Experts on the second periodic report of that country on how it is implementing the provisions of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Responding to a series of questions raised by the Committee members on 6 May, the delegation, which was led by Hugo Adalberto Suazo Ortiz, Vice Minister for Security and Investigation in the Ministry of Security of Honduras, said the new Criminal Code set out duration periods for pre-trial detention – in principle one year; two years where an offence carried a sentence of six years or over; and, in exceptional cases, it was possible to extend for six month periods the pre-trial detention, when necessary, on the order of the Supreme Court of Justice. Right now 51 per cent of those in the prison system were convicted persons, and 49 per cent were in pre-trial detention, which demonstrated that the new Criminal Code had already brought about a reduction in the percentage of those in pre-trial detention. Similarly, with regard to the total prison population, in 2007, there had been 13,000 persons in deprivation of liberty in national prison centres. Today, that number had been reduced to 10,953. Honduras had also been making a considerable effort to improve conditions for detainees and had increased the amount allocated for such persons in the budget.

Regarding violent deaths of women or "femicide", the Public Prosecutor's Office had set up a special unit on violent deaths with 25 prosecutors nationwide. One hundred per cent of the cases had been resolved and the necessary convictions had been obtained. The delegation agreed that Honduras was lagging behind in its investigations of forced disappearances. There had been some 30 cases in which reparations had been paid. The President had set up a compensation fund to provide civil compensation for such crimes. One of the major obstacles to prosecuting these cases was the lack of a specific crime in the Honduran Code. The Prosecutor's Office was recommending that this crime be typified in the Criminal Code. Nevertheless, in the meantime, they had been working on identifying victims and setting up a genetic database using data from victims' families so that identity of victims could be established when found. With respect to "maras" or youth gangs, there was an intention to modify the Criminal Code to declare unconstitutional the use of pre-trial detention in these cases.

In some additional questions and comments, Claudio Grossman, the Committee Chairperson serving as Rapporteur for the report of Honduras, appreciated that there was no death penalty in Honduras. He also hoped that the new Criminal Code would lead to a reduction in the high rate of pre-trial detentions. Impunity remained a core issue. Another major issue was disappearances. Honduras still had not set up a central body to deal with disappearances and to convict those responsible. A lot also remained to be done with regard to compensation. Nora Sveaass, the Committee Expert serving as Co-Rapporteur, asked if there was an independent investigation mechanism for crimes committed by the police and if any investigations had been brought into the actions of the infamous "Battalion 316", which had operated 30 years ago and was known for numerous killings and serious torture.

The Committee will submit its conclusions and recommendations on the report of Honduras towards the end of the session on Friday, 15 May.

As one of the 146 States parties to the Convention against Torture, Honduras is obliged to provide the Committee with periodic reports on the measures it has undertaken to fight torture.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will consider the issue of follow-up to individual communications and to its concluding observations on State party reports.

Response of Honduras

Responding to a series of questions raised by Committee Experts on 6 May, the delegation of Honduras, with regard to concerns that the definition of torture in Honduran legislation did not include the elements in article 1 of the Convention with regard to severity and discrimination, noted that, nevertheless, the crime carried a sentence of up to 15 years, which was very substantial, and could be 15 to 20 years if death occurred as a result.

International conventions were also considered a part of domestic law, and courts could therefore directly invoke the Convention to cover the element of discrimination. The delegation said it would bring these discrepancies to the attention of Government and work to harmonize criminal law with the Convention.

Concerning the defence of due obedience (superior orders), the Constitution stipulated that no official was obliged to fulfil illegal orders. The Criminal Code, which set out the defence of due obedience, also contained restrictions, including that the order did not undermine rights set out in the Constitution and in international treaties. Therefore it was explicitly prohibited to carry out orders that involved human rights violations or torture in Honduran law.

Regarding pre-trial detention, the new Criminal Code set out duration periods for this detention – in principle one year; two years where an offence carried a sentence of six years or over; and, in exceptional cases, it was possible to extend for six month periods the pre-trial detention, when necessary, on the order of the Supreme Court of Justice. Pregnant women, women who were breastfeeding and those that were terminally ill could not be held in pre-trial detention.

The old code spoke of detention "pending inquiries", the new code had a provision for judicial detentions, for essentially the same purpose, which could not exceed six days.

Right now there were 10,000 persons in the prison system, with 51 per cent being convicted persons, and 49 per cent in pre-trial detention, which demonstrated that the new Criminal Code had already brought about a reduction in the percentage of those in pre-trial detention. The delegation recognized, however, that that figure was still high.

On legal aid, the delegation provided anecdotal evidence of the fact that the system was adequate, for example in the case of a former mayor of San Pedro Sula, who certainly had financial resources, but who declared he preferred to be represented by a public defender.

The delegation said the Government felt that the Council of the Judiciary, established under the Constitution, should be strengthened. A bill was before Congress in that regard.

Regarding the suspension of rights and the possibility of the suspension of habeas corpus, the Constitution enumerated which rights could be suspended, which met the conditions set out by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for such suspensions. In no case could the right to habeas corpus be suspended. Moreover, in any of the possible scenarios in which some rights could be suspended guarantees were still in place.

RAMON CUSTODIO LOPEZ, the National Commissioner for Human Rights, then spoke regarding periodic visits carried out by the National Commission for Human Rights to places of deprivation of liberty, noting that complaints made were kept in the database of the National Commission. There had been good results in most instances. Thanks to their visits, they had been able to stop a wave of extrajudicial executions in prisons although there was still an unresolved issue of improper checking of crime scenes in prisons. Regarding the 24-hour hotline, the calls concerned domestic violence, illegal detentions, or other human rights violations. Those manning the hotline were properly trained in human rights. The hotline was mostly staffed by law students.

There was a witness protection programme in Honduras, but economic resources were lacking and the law in force was currently not being strongly implemented.

Regarding violent deaths of women or "femicide", the delegation said that the Public Prosecutor's Office had set up a special unit on violent deaths with 25 prosecutors nationwide. One hundred per cent of the cases had been resolved and the necessary convictions had been obtained.

To combat impunity, the Government had set up a technical investigating unit, which monitored the human rights of Hondurans, the delegation said.

As regarded periodic visits of the Prosecutor's Office to places of deprivation of liberty, since 1999 the Office had been carrying out such visits on a regular basis, together with the CPRPT, once a week, with the aim of detecting any human rights violations as well as the legality of such detentions. It had been observed that 7 out of 10 detainees said they had been subjected to violence, which had given rise to a recommendation to the National Police to provide training for the staff involved in detention situations.

Honduras was lagging behind in its investigations of forced disappearances, the delegation agreed. There had been some 30 cases in which reparations had been paid. The President had set up a compensation fund to provide civil compensation for such crimes. One of the major obstacles to prosecuting these cases was the lack of a specific crime in the Honduran Code. The Prosecutor's Office was recommending that this crime be typified in the Criminal Code. Nevertheless, in the meantime, they had been working on identifying victims and setting up a genetic database using data from victims' families so that identity of victims could be established when found.

With respect to "maras" or youth gangs, the delegation said that there was an intention to modify the Criminal Code to declare unconstitutional the use of pre-trial detention in these cases.

Regarding murders in the prisons, there had been sentences handed down against the perpetrators and it indicated that there should also be improved conditions put in place. There was a draft law to develop a professional prison system and to set up a body to do that. It had been recognized that it was counterproductive to still have the prison system managed by security agents.

On the situation of human rights defenders, the Prosecutor's Office was investigating such cases, and interim measures had been adopted for human rights defenders who declared themselves to be under threat. This year, the Prosecutor's Office had obtained a conviction for a human rights defender murdered in 2006, and in the case of a human rights environmental defender, a conviction had been obtained as well.

With respect to political murders, the Government had a policy to handle such cases as it did with human rights cases, i.e. murders of human rights defenders, and there was a special unit tasked with this area.

As for the mentally ill in deprivation of liberty situations, they were working to identify such cases and were working with the Ministry of Health to ensure that the necessary resources were available. The question of whether there was sufficient space for these cases in psychiatric hospitals had been looked into. Some prisoners with mental disorders also received outpatient treatment. As the mentally ill were a particularly vulnerable group, in March 2009, in cooperation with the Supreme Court of Justice, a programme for public defence had been established to address the case of the mentally ill.

Regarding mass detentions, there was a bill to amend the Police Act, which covered this area.

The Government had no rehabilitative services for victims of torture. One non-governmental organization, the Centre for the Prevention and Treatment of Torture, provided such services, but the Government did not have facilities to provide such services at present, the delegation said.

On vaginal inspections for women being imprisoned, the delegation said that, at present, to enter prisons there was a body search procedure specifically for women. It was a superficial search performed by female staff. In cases where it was necessary to perform a thorough body search of private body parts, that was done by a doctor and when a prison doctor was not present a local doctor was called in.

Regarding professionalization of prison staff, there had been 1,000 officers for prisoners trained in human rights, which were provided by personnel of the Centre for the Prevention and Treatment of Torture. The National Protective Services had an Inspector General who also carried out inspections.

Addressing the issue of overcrowding in prisons, the delegation noted that, in 2007, there had been 13,000 persons in deprivation of liberty in national prison centres. Today, that number had been reduced to 10,953. Honduras had also been making a considerable effort to improve conditions for detainees and had increased the amount allocated for such persons in the budget.

Concerning violence against children, and specifically in indigenous communities, one of the problems was a lack of birth registration for those children. In 2008 the Government had identified some 100,000 such children that were not civilly registered and had established a mobile programme to get those living in remote communities registered.

Today there were no minors that were in pre-trial detention for having tattoos on their bodies. They were trying to speed up alternative measures for dealing with youth gangs. A special unit had also been set up in the Prosecutor's Office to deal with deaths of minors.

On issues related to the protection of women, the delegation noted that the Palermo Protocol on trafficking had been submitted by the President to Congress for approval. In addition, a Gender Unit would be opened in the Public Prosecutor's Office, among others, to ensure implementation of the law on domestic violence. A National Women's Policy, 2008-2015, was also being promulgated, defining priority areas for action.

The national preventive mechanism was currently being set up. It was intended to provide that mechanism with the proper budget to carry out its functions, given the financial limitations of Honduras.

Regarding the criteria for appointing the direction of the national preventive mechanism, the directing board would be made up of three experts who would serve for three-year terms with the possibility of only one reappointment. One expert would be appointed by the Executive; one by Congress; and one by civil society organizations. The expert had to be Honduran, over 30 years of age, secular, have a university degree, have a minimum of five years' experience in the human rights field and be of high integrity.

On allegations of members of private security firms being engaged to act as "hit men", the delegation said that there was extensive monitoring of such firms, and the staff was checked thoroughly if they were to be used in police operations. It should be noted that some of those staff were former police and military officers.

Questions by Committee Experts

CLAUDIO GROSSMAN, the Committee Chairperson serving as Rapporteur for the report of Honduras, appreciated that there was no death penalty in Honduras. He also hoped that the new Criminal Code would lead to a reduction in the high rate of pre-trial detentions.

Impunity, as recognized in the report and the attempts to address it, remained a core issue, Mr. Grossman said. Another major issue was disappearances. Honduras still had not set up a central body to deal with disappearances and to convict those responsible. A lot also remained to be done with regard to compensation.

A particular case of concern was one in which police officers under investigation for extrajudicial executions had escaped from their detention facilities.

Other remaining concerns were reports of forced confessions; inadequate prison conditions and overcrowding; and treatment of detainees.


NORA SVEAASS, the Committee Expert serving as Co-Rapporteur for the report of Honduras, emphasized her hope that cases of violations against human rights defenders were prioritised.

On disappearances, Ms. Sveaass noted that Honduras had ratified the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

Regarding reports that civilians were used in the armed forces, Ms. Sveaass asked if there was a militarization of police duties. In addition, what independent investigation mechanism existed for crimes committed by the police?

Regarding the infamous Battalion 316, which had operated 30 years ago and was known for numerous killings and serious torture, had any action been taken to investigate those crimes?

Additionally, while she understood the Government had no such facilities for torture victims, were there any rehabilitation facilities victims of trafficking, in particular women victims, Ms. Sveaass asked.

Committee Experts also reiterated concerns about excessively long pre-trial detention periods; treatment of juveniles in the justice system; and the lack of progress in investigating disappearances.
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