COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE OFFERS CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON REPORT OF VENEZUELA, HEARS RESPONSES FROM ITALY’S DELEGATION

AFTERNOON
HR/CAT/99/13
4 May 1999



The Committee against Torture this afternoon praised Venezuela for the steps that country had taken in the field of human rights protection and torture prevention, and implored it to go further by adopting a wide-ranging bill against torture.

The Committee also listened to responses to the questions it had posed to members of Italy’s delegation after they presented their report on Monday.

Alejandro Gonzalez Poblete, who served as the rapporteur to the Venezuelan report, noted several positive aspects with that nation's compliance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, including the new Government's stated promise to focus on human rights and the termination of the state of emergency order for the country's border regions.

Mr. Gonzalez did note, however, several areas of concern. Incidents of torture in the country were still high within many governmental sectors, he said, and allegations of torture were not always fully investigated and prosecuted.

The Committee recommended that the State quickly adopt a bill on Torture which had a stated purpose of eradicating that type of treatment in Venezuela. Other recommendations were incorporating the text of human rights treaties when drafting a new Constitution, and prohibiting subordinates of using the excuse that they committed torture on the orders of their superiors.

Victor Rodriguez Cedeno, the Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the United Nations Office at Geneva, led the delegation.

Meanwhile, the Italian delegation said that despite a massive influx of immigrants in recent years, racial discrimination and intolerance did not appear to be a real problem in the country with regard to police treatment.

The Italian Government was determined to include the crime of torture in its domestic laws, the delegation told the Committee, but inconsistency in the drafting necessitated further study of the matter.

The delegation of Italy was made up of Claudio Moreno of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Luigi Citarella, the secretary-general of the Interministerial Committee on Human Rights; Paolo Mancuso of the Ministry of Justice; Massimo Pierangelini and Carmine Corvo of the Ministry of Interior; and Gaetano Maruccia, of the General Command of the Carabinieri.

The Italian delegation also addressed its policy of reading rights to those arrested, the Government's special inquiry into crimes committed in Somalia, special testing for all members of the law enforcement community, overcrowding in prisons, and the requirement that all citizens be able to produce identification when demanded by the police.

Italy’s delegation will return on Thursday at 3 p.m. to hear the Committee's conclusions and recommendations. When the Committee meets at 10 a.m., it will take up the third periodic report of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

Conclusions and Recommendations on Report of Venezuela

ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ POBLETE, who served as rapporteur to the report of Venezuela, noted that the following were positive aspects: the stated initiative of the new Venezuelan Government to focus on human rights; the expected change in the Criminal Code that included measures to balance the shortcomings of the previous Code with respect to torture and investigations of complaints of torture; the proposal of the bill on Torture that would try to eradicate torture, mistreatment, and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatments or punishment; the ending of the state of emergency that had been in place since 1994 in the border regions, and the restoration of the constitutional guarantees in those areas; the implementation of a law combatting violence against women and the family, and the expected implementation next year of a law for the protection of children and teenagers; training police and prison personnel with the aid of non-governmental organizations and other foundations; and the decision to hold national workshops to train medical professionals on scientific aspects of investigating torture, especially when the victim had no visible scars.

Mr. Gonzalez also listed the following as areas of concern: the sizable number of cases of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment within all Government forces; not sufficiently investigating complaints of torture and punishing the perpetrators; the absence of specification in the Criminal Code that a subordinate was responsible for committing torture under orders from a superior; the absence of effective monitoring of prisoners with regards to human rights violations; and the overcrowding in prisons, which led to problems of violence, which led to incidents of human rights violations.

The Committee offered the following recommendations to the delegation of Venezuela: a quick adoption of the bill on Torture; following up all complaints of human rights violations; considering the opinions of NGOs during the debate on the bill on Torture; when drafting a new Constitution, ensuring that human rights treaties were included in the text; paying particular attention to the potential risks of torture in the country requesting extradition when considering expelling a foreigner; prohibiting the excuse of subordinates for committing torture when ordered by a superior; continuing the training of law enforcement and medical personnel in human rights areas; and establishing Government programmes to ensure the presence of physical, psychological, and social rehabilitation procedures for torture victims.

Responses from Italy’s Delegation

The delegation from Italy said many important events had occurred since 1995 when Italy last presented its report. All of these events had introduced transformations in the fields relevant to the Convention on Torture -- mostly irregular and clandestine mass migrations that created on many occasions real emergencies for the country involving acute social cases. A survey of the overall situation had revealed that the above mentioned emergencies had not produced any increasing effect on the number of episodes in which foreigners had been involved. Racial discrimination and intolerance did not appear to be a real problem in the country with regard to police treatment.

The delegation addressed the question of including the crime of torture in the country's general laws. The Government was now determined to include it in its general laws. However, some portions of the bill seemed to be inconsistent and must be subject to further debate.

Addressing the policy of informing arrested people of their rights, the delegation explained that a police officer had a duty to inform the person being arrested immediately of his rights. In particular, any such person must be informed of his right to a lawyer, his right to inform relatives, and his right to refuse to reply to questions.

Regarding the special commission of inquiry about Somalia, the delegation was said that since 1993, there had been no formal government there and there was a lack of a judiciary system and police structure. This implied that there were no possibilities to carry out, on the spot, investigations of any kind both by local authorities and by an Italian commission. This explained the reasons that have forced the Italian Government not to take into consideration the suggestions of Amnesty International, which, in principle, were correct. The Gallo report reflected the accurate investigations which were carried out with all available means.

In some cases, it had not been possible to identify the authors of some incidents concerning ill-treatment on Somalis, amounting in some cases to acts of torture. Disciplinary measures had been adopted by the Ministry of Defence.

Concerning the question of extending special tests that were given to police members and to other forces, it was said that such tests had been administered as far back as the 1960s. All active agents had passed these tests.

With regard to overcrowding in prisons, the delegation said that it was less acute than in the past. There was a total capacity today of 48,000 persons, and there were 50,117 prisoners. Between 1972 and 1997, 78 new institutions were constructed. But the Government was looking for another way to face the problem - instead of building new prisons, it would reduce the number of inmates.

On allowed contacts in prison, the delegation said that for normal inmates, four ordinary contacts per month with families were allowed, with two more as premium for good conduct. Each one of these contacts could be substituted by telephone conversations.

Concerning the requirement of carrying legal identification, the delegation said any police officer could ask a person, whether an Italian or a foreign citizen, to identify himself. If the person could not prove his identity, he would be asked to go along to the police station for necessary verifications of identity. In cases where there was a suspicion that he could have committed a crime as well as in extreme cases, he could be held in custody. This was a measure aimed a preventing illegal activities. No distinction was made between nationals and aliens. Everyone could prove their identity by all available means. If a foreigner could not or refused to cooperate with the police, he could be detained until the investigation procedure was completed. Thereafter, he could be either expelled or set free.

Discussion

SAYED KASSEM EL MASRY, who served as the Committee’s rapporteur to the report, said the wealth of information provided invited some minor clarifications. What was the meaning of ''unknown nationality'' in the report? There was also a reference to an offense against a ''state religion.'' What did that mean? And what was the state of censorship of correspondence of prisoners?

The delegation said that unknown nationality did not refer to stateless people. The normal observation of clandestine immigration had brought forward sizable cases of loss or destruction of documentation. In recent years, there had been a large amount of migration from north African countries. Many tried to confuse the situation by saying they were Turkish or Algerian or Tunisian. In these cases, people destroyed

all of their identification so they could not be expelled to their country of origin.

The delegation also addressed the question of censorship, saying it had been suspended to a large extent.

On the state religion question, the delegation said that it was an old description of a crime. The courts decided a few years ago that there was no state religion.