COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE TAKES UP REPORT OF SWEDEN

CAT
28th session
30 April 2002
Morning



Government Delegation Queried on Asylum Procedures,
Anti-Terrorism Measures, Crowd-Control Techniques



The Committee against Torture began its review this morning of a fourth periodic report of Sweden, questioning a five-member Government delegation, among other things, on procedures for expelling African asylum-seekers; on application of anti-terrorism measures as they might be used to deny asylum; and on reports of excessive use of force by police for crowd control, including during public demonstrations.
The Swedish report was introduced by Carl-Henrik Ehrenkrona, the country's Director-General for Legal Affairs, who said among other things that a Commission had been appointed to look into Swedish penal law as to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, a point of departure being that Swedish law in this area would enable prosecution in Sweden against persons who had committed serious offenses against international law, irrespective of who committed them and where they were committed. Mr. Ehrenkrona also said the National Police Board and Office of the Prosecutor-General had been instructed to strengthen human rights education for their employees.
In addition to Mr. Ehrenkrona, the Swedish delegation consisted of Lotta Gustavson, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Justice; Ulrika Sundberg, Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Charlotte Hellner, Legal Advisor of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs; and Charlotta Schlyter, Desk Officer of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
The Swedish delegation will respond to the Committee's questions on Wednesday, 1 May at 3 p.m.
Sweden, as one of the 129 States parties to the Convention against Torture, must provide periodic reports to the Committee on efforts to put the Convention into effect.
The Committee will reconvene in public session at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 1 May, to begin consideration of a second periodic report of Uzbekistan.

Report of Sweden
The report (CAT/C/55/Add.3) reviews implementation of the Convention on an article-by-article basis, focusing on new developments. It remarks, among other things, that any act by which severe pain or suffering is intentionally inflicted by or at the instigation of a public official would constitute a criminal offense under Swedish law; thus all acts of torture as defined in the Convention are offenses under Swedish criminal law. Under a 1997 amendment, a person who assaults someone because he has filed a complaint in court or before another authority or otherwise made a statement at a hearing, shall be sentenced for interference in a judicial matter to a fine or imprisonment for at most two years; if the crime is gross, imprisonment for a least one year and at most six years shall be imposed.
The report also notes that Sweden in 1997 ratified the European Union Convention on Simplified Extradition Procedure between Member States of the Union; that since 1996 there has been one case of known sexual exploitation committed by a male prison guard against a woman prisoner and the guard was sentenced to imprisonment for 18 months and dismissed from his job; that a few policemen have, since submission of the previous report in 1996, been sentenced by the court to fines and some dismissed from their jobs, all these cases concerning petty assault; that since submission of the previous report the Swedish police have revised rules for seizing suspects; and that the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture carried out a visit to Sweden from 15 to 25 February 1998.

Presentation of Report
CARL-HENRIK EHRENKRONA, Director-General for Legal Affairs of Sweden, said among other things that in October 2000 the Swedish Government had appointed a Commission to look into Swedish penal law as to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide; a point of departure for the Commission is that Swedish law in this area would enable prosecution in Sweden against persons who had committed serious offenses against international law, irrespective of who committed them and where they were committed.
The Committee had concluded in a number of cases against Sweden that it would violate article 3 of the Convention against Torture by expelling a particular asylum seeker to his or her country of origin, Mr. Ehrenkrona said; in each case where Sweden had been criticized by the Committee, the asylum seeker later had been granted a residence permit in the country.
Mr. Ehrenkrona also said the country's Aliens Act was still undergoing reform; the section of the Penal Code which dealt with the jurisdiction of Swedish courts in criminal cases had been amended in 2001; Sweden had ratified the Convention on Extradition between Member States of the European Union, also in 1996; a bill on a new Act on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters had been approved in 2000; the Government had assigned an investigator to prepare a national programme for witness and victim protection; the Government had adopted in January 2002 a National Plan of Action for Human Rights; and in December 2001 the National Police Board and Office of the Prosecutor-General were instructed to strengthen human rights education for their employees.
Mr. Ehrenkrona also summarized a Government investigation into the death in custody of Osmo Vallo in 1995 which found that the investigative process into police behaviour in the matter had been ineffective in several ways.

Discussion
Serving as Rapporteur on the report of Sweden was Committee Expert GUIBRIL CAMARA. He remarked that the contention in the report that torture was illegal under various laws was not sufficient to meet the standards of the Convention, which required a specific prohibition of torture. Among other things, he wondered how statistics on instances of torture or ill-treatment could be compiled in the absence of a specific law criminalizing torture.
Among Mr. Camara's questions were if Sweden had expelled African asylum-seekers to African countries without sufficient efforts to establish their true nationalities, and how these expulsions had taken place; it would appear that in some cases involving Ghanian asylum-seekers, persons had suffered ill-treatment and had even disappeared; how decisions on expulsion of foreigners were taken under anti-terrorism measures, as it appeared the Government made such decisions without any possibility of appeal by the person to be expelled; and what obligation the Government had to prosecute officials when there were allegations that they were responsible for acts of torture -- if prosecution was required or if the prosecutor had the option of deciding whether or not to prosecute.
Serving as Co-Rapporteur on the report was Committee Expert YU MENGJIA. He asked among other things if asylum-seekers could be sent to third countries on occasion in violation of the Convention, as claimed by non-governmental organizations -- so-called "dumping" of asylum-seekers; if excessive force had been used from time to time in dealing with demonstrators, and if resulting complaints were not seriously investigated and few police officers were punished; if it was clear that confessions or information extracted under torture were never obtained, and if clear legislative safeguards existed to prevent such confessions; and if conscripts in the Swedish armed forces had been maltreated by senior officers, as some allegations of such offenses had been received.
Other Committee members also put questions. They asked, among other things, if procedure could be changed so that every death in custody would be investigated by competent officials outside the police department; if more training was being given to police officers on what force was acceptable in terms of apprehending suspects and in controlling crowds during demonstrations; if it was true, as had been alleged, that the Swedish Government paid money for the return of African asylum-seekers; if identity of nationality of asylum-seekers, especially Africans, was based on language analysis, which could be misleading; and if the death of Osmo Vallo in police custody in 1995 and the investigations that followed would result in changes in procedure to avoid such ill-treatment in the future.
Mr. EHRENKRONA, responding to the last question, said the comprehensive report on the death of Osmo Vallo had been presented to the Government only yesterday. The conclusions and recommendations of the report would be thoroughly studied but it was too early to say what results would come from them.


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