COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE TAKES UP REPORT OF DENMARK

CAT
28th session
2 May 2002
Morning



Government Delegation Queried on Use of
Solitary Confinement, Intent to Incorporate
Convention against Torture into Danish Law



The Committee against Torture began its review this morning of a fourth periodic report of Denmark, questioning a Government delegation on the prison system's continued use of solitary confinement -- noting that Denmark's international reputation for combatting torture made persistence of this practice a rare point of criticism.
Committee members also sought information on a recently announced intention, following the recommendation of a Ministry of Justice committee, to incorporate the Convention against Torture directly into Danish law. And they asked if minority citizens might be "positively" recruited to become police officers to widen the ethnic composition of the police ranks.
Committee Expert Kassem El Masry mentioned a recently arrived Israeli Ambassador to Denmark, Carmi Gillon, stating that a number of highly regarded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) had sought prosecution of this Ambassador if he took up his post, claiming that, as a former Head of Israeli security services, he had carried out acts of torture, employing or authorizing interrogation measures that the Committee itself had defined as torture. Since the prohibition against torture was absolute, and given the obligation of States parties to the Convention to prosecute those who had committed torture, Mr. El Masry said, what was Denmark going to do?
The Danish report was introduced by Tyge Lehmann, Ambassador of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who said among other things that a committee of the Ministry of Justice had recommended that, while the Convention against Torture currently could be invoked before Danish courts, the Convention should be incorporated directly into Danish legislation.
Other members of the delegation were Jens Faerkel, Minister Counsellor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Anne Kristine Axelson and Peter Hindsberger, Heads of Section of the Ministry of Justice; Martin Isenbecker, Special Advisor of the Ministry of Integration; and Jacob Schioler, Head of Department of the Department of Prisons and Probation.
The delegation will reply to the Committee's questions at 3 p.m. on Friday, 3 May.
Denmark, as one of the 129 States parties to the Convention against Torture, must under the terms of the treaty provide periodic reports on efforts to put the Convention into effect.
The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. to hear replies from a delegation of Uzbekistan to questions posed Wednesday upon presentation of Uzbekistan's second periodic report.

Report of Denmark
The fourth periodic report of Denmark (CAT/C/55/Add.2) reviews implementation of the Convention on an article-by-article basis. The report notes among other things that the Danish Immigration Service requests, when it seems appropriate, examinations of asylum seekers to determine of they have been subjected to torture -- examinations carried out by the country's institutes of forensic medicine; that tuition in human rights has been introduced as an independent subject in the basic training of police; that the National Commissioner of Police has carried out a programme on "police against prejudice"; and that "in recent years, at every occasion relating to recruitment for the police force, the National Commissioner of Police has emphasized his desire for a broadly composed police force in relation to ethnic multiplicity in view of the aim that the police force should reflect the composition of the population".
The Danish Parliament passed in 2000 an Act on Enforcement of Punishments the purpose of which is to implement a complete statutory regulation of the enforcement of punishments, according to the report; the reason for the Act is that the general hospital sector and the social authorities are put in charge of the implementation of a substantial part of the measures contained in the Act. The report also states that the National Commissioner of Police continuously monitors standards for the use of force by police in connection with large violent demonstrations or riots; and in the light of experience gained from unrest in Copenhagen in connection with a European Union referendum in Denmark in 1993 as well as experience from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany, the Commissioner prepared a new tactical task force compendium for mobile units in the spring of 2000, which will be sent to all police districts in Denmark as operative guidelines for handling such problems.

Presentation of Report
TYGE LEHMANN, Ambassador of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and head of delegation, said Denmark had long attached importance to the work of the Committee and to that of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT); Denmark had been the first country to be visited by the CPT almost 12 years ago, and three months ago it had received a third regular visit from the CPT. Some of the panel's recommendations were implemented before it even left Copenhagen.
Denmark strongly supported the proposal to have a subcommittee of the Committee against Torture be given competence to conduct visits ex officio to places of detention, and was heartened to see the adoption of such a proposal by the Commission on Human Rights, Mr. Lehmann said, although it was understood that obtaining passage of the measure by the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly would not be easy.
Among recent relevant developments in Denmark, Mr. Lehmann said, were that a committee set up by the Ministry of Justice had concluded that there was no doubt that under the country's prevailing legal regime the Convention against Torture could be invoked before Danish courts of law and that courts had competence to apply its provisions; nonetheless, the committee had recommended that the Convention be formally incorporated into Danish law, although at this stage it was too early to predict precisely when such a bill would be presented in Parliament.
Also, on recommendations of a working party it had been decided that regional authorities -- counties -- in future could offer multi-professional treatment to persons, often refugees, living in the county and suffering from the consequences of torture, Mr. Lehmann said.
Other delegation members summarized recent developments related to prevention of torture, including Denmark's ratification of the Rome Statute on establishment of an International Criminal Court, and a Government circular letter that directed that detainees were to be immediately notified of their rights in a language they understood, that they were to be allowed immediately to notify their closest relatives of their detention, and that they were to be allowed immediate contact with a lawyer, including prior to the first interrogation.

Discussion
Serving as rapporteur on the report of Denmark was Committee Expert KASSEM EL MASRY, who said among other things that the Committee and Denmark appeared to be on the same side in the fight against torture and that the report was concise and pertinent. The news that Denmark intended to incorporate the Convention directly into Danish law, just announced, was very welcome.
Among Mr. El Masry's questions were how certain it was that such an incorporation, which had to be approved by Parliament, would occur, and said he assumed that such an action would include a definition of torture as contained in the Convention; if the country's Aliens Act, which prohibited refoulement of persons who might face torture or ill-treatment in their home countries, applied to such persons who also were termed threats to the State security of Denmark; and if Danish criminal provisions related to prohibition of torture under various criminal laws in fact had a wider field of application than that under the definition of torture, as claimed in the report, and if direct incorporation of the Convention into Danish law might not, among other things, ensure that appropriate penalties were prescribed for such offenses.
Mr. El Masry also noted that 15 Chileans who had sought indictment by Denmark of Chilean General Augusto Pinochet for acts of torture had resulted in a Government decision that Denmark did not have jurisdiction for such a prosecution; he wished to know if any of the 15 Chileans who had sought the indictment had other nationalities, pertinently Danish nationality. In addition, he asked about the appointment of a recent Israeli Ambassador to Denmark, Carmi Gillon, stating that a number of highly regarded NGOs had sought prosecution of this Ambassador if he took up his post, claiming that, as a former Head of Israeli security services, he had carried out acts of torture, employing or authorizing interrogation measures that the Committee against Torture itself had defined as torture. This Ambassador had since taken up his post in Denmark. Since the prohibition against torture was absolute, and given the obligation of States parties to the Convention to prosecute those who had committed torture, what was Denmark going to do? For that matter, Mr. El Masry said, Denmark had just ratified the Rome Statute for establishment of the International Criminal Court, which also called for prosecution of such persons.
Mr. El Masry asked as well about the use of solitary confinement by the Danish legal system, noting that it had been criticized even by the country's internationally known treatment centre for torture victims; he asked if the Government might completely abolish its practice of solitary confinement.
Serving as co-rapporteur for the report of Denmark was Committee Expert GUIBRIL CAMARA, who asked among other things about a case where an inmate suffered a broken arm while being put in his cell; about the ethnic makeup of the police, and if "positive" discrimination might be practiced in recruitment of police officers; if information could be provided on several specific cases brought to the Committee's attention, including an alleged case of a prisoner kept in solitary confinement in a Danish prison for 1,500 days; if solitary confinement, as reported, was not considered to be a "disciplinary punishment"; and if the imposition of solitary confinement in response to a refusal of an inmate to work was often used.
Other Committee members also put questions. They asked, among other things, about the ethnic composition of prison inmates; about police crowd-control standards during large demonstrations and related events, noting a number of complaints had been filed against the police in such matters; about the extent, if any, of sexual violence in prisons; what sort of physical compulsion was used, and under what regulations, of psychiatric patients; if rejected asylum-seekers were ever sent to third countries when it was determined that such persons might suffer torture if refouled to their countries of origin; if Ambassadors, such as the Israeli Ambassador to Denmark, were considered by the Danish Government as having diplomatic immunity from prosecution for alleged acts of torture; and how solitary confinement might affect a person's right to defense -- that was, if such an inmate could see a lawyer.



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