COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE ISSUES RECOMMENDATIONS ON REPORTS OF EGYPT AND LIECHTENSTEIN

AFTERNOON
HR/CAT/99/24
12 May 1999



Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Addresses the Committee


The Committee against Torture this afternoon issued its conclusions and recommendations on the reports of Egypt and Liechtenstein on how the two countries implemented the provisions of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Peter Burns, who served as the Committee’s rapporteur on the report of Egypt, noted several positive aspects, including the release of a large number of persons held under the Emergency Act of 1958, the compensation of hundreds of torture victims by the Egyptian civil courts, and the creation of the Office of Human Rights in the Public Prosecutor’s Department to investigate allegations of torture.

Mr. Burns recommended that Egypt take effective means to prevent torture in police and State Security Intelligence custody and that all perpetrators be vigorously prosecuted. He said the Committee also recommended that effective steps be taken to protect women from threats of sexual abuse by police and officers of the State Security Intelligence as a means of obtaining information from them.

Mr. Burns, who also served as the rapporteur on the Liechtenstein report, said there had been no reports of maltreatment and the country's laws generally conformed to the provisions of the Convention. No subjects of concern were listed, and the Committee recommended that Liechtenstein present its next report in accordance with its due date.

Also this afternoon, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertie Ramcharan, praised the Committee, saying that the important work of the members was coming at a time when the important financial backing may not be there.

Mr. Ramcharan said that the Committee members were working at a time when awareness of human rights was blossoming throughout the world, but when the budget of the United Nations was tight. At a time when the needs were the most, he said, the resources were the smallest. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson was committed to helping treaty bodies find alternative means of funding.

The Committee will meet at 10 a.m. on Friday, 14 May, to conclude its three-week session.

Remarks from the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights

BERTIE RAMCHARAN, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, said he wanted to talk about the future of the treaty bodies system. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, was currently in the area of the former Yugoslavia and she would be back in Geneva tomorrow. She had wanted to be present to tell the Committee that she was aware of the importance of its work. The success of a body such as the Committee against Torture was of great importance to the High Commissioner.

Mr. Ramcharan said there was much more that needed to be done to make sure that the Committee had the kind of support and backup it needed to realize its full potential. It was very difficult to get resources within the Organization, and this was happening at a time when the awareness of human rights was blossoming around the world. At a time when the needs were the most, the resources were the smallest.

The Deputy High Commissioner said the treaty bodies were at the heart of the human rights system because they were the foundation on which to build the long-term edifice of human rights. The members of the Committee were very learned in these matters. If one looked back to the beginning of the century, one thought of the Hague Peace Conference of 1899. If one thought of the League of Nations and the International Labour Office (ILO), one saw the importance of adopting treaties. A lot of importance was attached to the concept of supervision that was adopted by the ILO. Regardless of the economic, political, or social system, the acid test was whether effect was being given to the obligations under the international treaty system.

Mr. Ramcharan said he wanted to underline that the High Commissioner was making a conscious effort to see how additional resources could be raised, so more resources could be given to treaty bodies such as the Committee. The way the wind was blowing was that it was very difficult to get resources from the regular budget of the United Nations. Funds must be raised from voluntary sources. The High Commissioner was looking into this.

In conclusion, he said the High Commissioner thought the work being carried out by the Committee was of extreme importance and was crucial to shaping the nature and quality of national human rights systems. It was known that more support was needed for the Committee, and all efforts would be made by the High Commissioner to try and provide it.

Conclusions and Recommendations on Report of Egypt

PETER BURNS, who served as the Committee’s rapporteur on the report of Egypt, praised the country for the large number of persons it had released that had been held under the Emergency Act of 1958, and noted that the number of complaints of maltreatment by persons detained under the Act had decreased. He also listed as a positive aspect the broad literacy and educational programme undertaken by the Egyptian Government, as well as the creation of the Office of Human Rights in the Public Prosecutor's Department that would investigate complaints of torture. In addition, Mr. Burns said the Committee was pleased to learn of improvements in the quality of some of the prisons in Egypt, and that hundreds of torture victims had been compensated by the civil courts.

Mr. Burns said there was concern about the large number of allegations of torture and even of death of detainees made against both the police and the State Security Intelligence. Also, he said, despite improvements, some prisons caused concern. In addition, the allegation of the World Organization against Torture of ill-treatment of female detainees, by both the police and the State Security Intelligence, which sometimes involved sexual abuse or threat of such abuse in order to obtain information relating to husbands or other family members, was troublesome. Finally, there was serious concern about allegations that persons had been held in the custody of police or State Security Intelligence in defiance of court orders to release them.

The Committee recommended that Egypt take effective means to prevent torture in police and State Security Intelligence custody and that all perpetrators be vigorously prosecuted. It was also recommended that effective steps be taken to protect women from threats of sexual abuse by police and officers of the State Security Intelligence as a means of obtaining information from them. In addition, the Committee suggested that the State establish and maintain a proper registry of detainees, for both police and State Security Intelligence, which would be accessible to the public. Further, it was proposed that the Government continue to upgrade its prison facilities, provide the Committee with information about the number of circumstances of deaths in custody over the past five years, and make a declaration in favour of articles 21 and 22 of the Convention.



Conclusions and Recommendations on Report of Liechtenstein

Mr. Burns, who also served as the Committee’s rapporteur on the report of Liechtenstein, praised the fact that there had been no reports of maltreatment of detainees during the period under review; that the country's legislation generally conformed with the tenets of the Convention; and that the law and practice of the State relating to asylum seekers was in sync with article 3 of the Convention.

Mr. Burns noted no subjects of concern, and recommended that the Government continue to implement the terms of the Convention in the effective way in which it had done in the past, and that the third periodic report be presented to the Committee in accordance with its due date.