Committee against Torture offers concluding observations and recommendations on report of Greece

CAT
26th session
9 May 2001
Afternoon




Hears Response of Brazil to Questions Raised by its Experts



The Committee against Torture this afternoon issued its concluding observations and recommendations on the third periodic report of Greece, expressing concern about excessive use of force by law enforcement officials against ethnic and national minorities and foreigners.

The Committee welcomed the existing legal framework and array of institutions in place for the protection against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It expressed concern about the harsh conditions and long-term detention of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers awaiting deportation in police stations without adequate facilities. It recommended, among other things, that urgent measures be taken to improve conditions of detention in police stations and prisons; and that steps be taken to prevent and punish trafficking in women and other forms of violence against women.

During this afternoon's meeting, the Committee also heard the response of Brazil to questions raised over the course of the consideration of that country's initial report yesterday.

The Brazilian delegation, led by Marcos Vinicius Pinta Gama of the State Secretariat for Human Rights of the Ministry of Justice, said that the Government of Brazil had reiterated its repulsion to torture on several occasions and had already demonstrated its outrage by firing public servants accused of having committed torture during the military regime. A retired military official who was working at the Ministry of Justice was fired as soon as non-governmental organizations informed the Government of his past activities. That firm attitude of the Government would be repeated in every similar situation whenever accusations were deemed plausible.

The delegation of Brazil will return to the Committee at 3 p.m on Tuesday, 15 May, to hear the concluding observations and recommendations on its report.

Greece and Brazil are among the 123 States parties to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and as such they have to file periodic summaries of their efforts to give effect to the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 10 May, it will take up the initial report of Costa Rica (document CAT/C/24/Add/7).

Conclusions and Recommendations on Report of Greece

In its concluding observations and recommendations on the third periodic report of Greece, the Committee welcomed, among other things, the existing legal framework and array of institutions in place for the protection against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; the use of specially trained personnel from outside the prison service, and under the supervision of the public prosecutor, to intervene in cases of serious disorder in prisons; and the State party's on-going contribution to the United Nations Voluntary Fund for the Victims of Torture.

Among subjects of concern, the Committee said that although domestic legislation provided a satisfactory framework for protecting human rights in general and of certain Convention rights in particular, difficulties in effective implementation remained, which might amount to a breach of the Convention; it was concerned that there was evidence that the police sometimes used excessive or unjustifiable force in carrying out their duties, particularly when dealing with ethnic and national minorities and foreigners.

The Committee also expressed concern about the harsh conditions in general and, in particular, the long-term detention of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers awaiting deportation in police stations without adequate facilities; about the severe overcrowding in prisons which aggravated the already sub-standard material conditions and which might contribute to inter-prisoner-violence; and the lack of comprehensive training of medical personnel and law enforcement officers at all levels, on the provisions of the Convention.

The Committee recommended that urgent measures be taken to improve conditions in police stations and prisons and that undocumented migrants and asylum seeker who had not been convicted of a criminal offence not be held for long periods in such institutions; that such measures as were necessary to prevent overcrowding of prisons should be taken as well as continuing steps to find alternative penalties to imprisonment and to ensure their effective implementation; and that such measures as were necessary, including training, be taken to ensure that in the treatment of vulnerable groups, in particular foreigners, and ethnic and national minorities, law enforcement officers would not resort to discriminatory practices.

Moreover, the Committee recommended that steps be taken to prevent and punish trafficking of women and other forms of violence against women; and that steps be taken to create detention facilities for undocumented migrants and asylum seekers separate from prison or police institutions and urged the State party to complete its proposed new building construction for aliens as a matter of urgency.

Response of Brazil

In response to a number of questions raised during the consideration of the initial report of Brazil, the delegation said that the Government was doing all it could to combat torture.

Provisional detention could only be decreed by judicial order, the delegation said. Its term of duration was 81 days, counting from the day in which the police inquiry was installed until the end of the procedural phase in which evidence was to be produced. However, Brazilian jurisprudence indicated that detention of persons for more than 81 days would not necessarily be deemed as illegal. Judges invoked specific motivation to extend the period of detention, in cases of an excessive number of accused persons in a particular judicial proceeding and of difficulties in the production of evidence.

Asked about the effectiveness of the National Programme on Human Rights, the delegation said that the programme, which was launched in 1996, compiled a series of specific measures in order to improve the respect for human rights in the country. Although some objectives had not been attained, the programme was extremely important to raise awareness of the issue and served as a catalyst for public policies in that area. The Government would be launching soon a revised version of the programme, containing new goals.

The Government of Brazil interpreted the definition of torture contained in the country’s Torture Act in a broad sense, since all acts that caused physical or mental suffering could be construed as violence or serious threat, the delegation said. Since the Act was relatively new, there was not a consolidated legal interpretation of the judiciary branch on the scope of the definition of torture. Since the Act was put in force, only a few cases of torture and ill-treatment had been tried by courts.

Brazil acknowledged the need to sensitize the public prosecutor’s office and the judiciary on the application of the Torture Act in order to prevent torture and to combat impunity, the delegation said. That was one of the priorities of the national campaign against torture which would be launched next month.

The delegation said that the Brazilian penal code recognized the principle of extraterritoriality of the penal law. It established that crimes perpetrated outside its territory and which Brazil had committed itself to repressing, based on obligations assumed under a treaty or convention, could be tried in the country provided that the perpetrator was found within the Brazilian territory, and the crime was punishable also in the country where it was perpetrated. The law also applied when the crime had not been committed within the national territory, provided that the victim was a Brazilian citizen or the aggressor was within an area under Brazilian jurisdiction.

Regarding the right to communicate immediately with the nearest appropriate representative of the State of which the detainee was a national, the delegation said that Brazil was a party to the 1969 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and therefore it was bound by the provisions of that international instrument concerning consular assistance.

The Brazilian Constitution prohibited the extradition of nationals in any circumstances, but those nationals could be tried in the country for crimes recognized as such by the national law, the delegation said. The national law stressed that Brazilian law applied to crimes perpetrated by Brazilian nationals abroad, under the same conditions as in the case of foreigners found in Brazil and who committed crimes abroad. In addition, Brazil had signed judicial agreements with a number of States that had provisions on exchange of information that might be useful in cases of torture committed abroad.


Further, Brazil acknowledged that it had a serious situation in the area of public security, but the combat against criminality should be compatible with the concerns of human rights, the delegation said. Brazil was organizing training seminars for the legal community and human rights courses for police forces. In addition, modern investigating techniques would be also addressed in the courses as a means to prevent and combat torture.

At present, the prison population in Brazil amounted to 223,000 persons dispersed in 862 detention facilities, the delegation said. Out of the total, 161,000 were placed in penitentiaries and 62,000 in police stations lock-ups, remand facilities and public jails. There was a backlog of 65,000 vacancies. The total number of convicted detainees was 150,000 and those on provisional detention were 74,000. The female prison population was less than 10,000. In order to reduce prison overcrowding, measures were being simultaneously adopted, such as the creation of alternative sentencing, mass sessions for clearing the penal execution backlog and the establishment of special courts to handle drug addicts.

Brazil was undergoing a public security crisis in which punishment for crimes -- even petty ones -- tended to be severe, the delegation said. That was among the factors causing the high number of detainees in the country. The excessive duration of judicial proceedings was a problem that Brazil hoped to minimize through the approval of a constitutional amendment.

The lack of medical assistance was definitely a problem that Brazil acknowledged, the delegation said. It was true that doctors were generally reluctant to accept jobs at prisons, where they felt their lives might be at risk. However, the National Secretariat for Justice was considering the implementation of cooperative agreements with universities for providing medical assistance to detainees. Doctors who refused to assist prisoners or to certify the practice of torture were punished by the national medical council.

The Government of Brazil had reiterated its repulsion to torture on several occasions and had already demonstrated its outrage by firing public servants accused of having committed torture during the military regime. A retired military officer who was working at the Ministry of Justice was fired as soon as non-governmental organizations informed the Government of his past activities. That firm attitude of the Government would be repeated in every similar situation whenever accusations were deemed plausible.

The delegation said that on the issue of visits by inmates relatives, Brazil acknowledged that the present search system was often humiliating in many prison facilities and should be replaced by a new system based on the search of the inmate, after the visit had taken place and before the prisoner went back to the cell. That involved the installation of metal detector devices in all prison facilities.



CORRIGENDUM


In press release HR/CAT/01/5 of 2 May, 2001, the third paragraph of the statement by Dionissios Spinellis of the University of Athens, Greece, on page 3 should read as follows:

A month ago, a census had been carried out in Greece and it was estimated that the population now numbered 11 million, among which 800,000 were immigrants. Some of the immigrants were illegal and were involved in criminal activities such as drug-trafficking. Many of them were not documented or refused to get documents from their respective consular representations. Those found in illegal activities were apprehended and kept in police stations. However, many of them were released on condition that they show up every week for control. Among the illegal immigrants, some had requested asylum although they had no reason to do so. According to a recent law, illegal immigrants who were judiciary targeted for deportation were not detained in police stations any more but in prisons.




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