COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE TAKES UP REPORT OF VENEZUELA

CAT
29th session
18 November 2002
Morning




The Committee against Torture began consideration this morning of a second periodic report of Venezuela, noting an obvious decrease in complaints of ill-treatment in recent years and congratulating Venezuela for expressly recognizing torture as a Constitutional offence.
Committee Experts sought more information on the reported maltreatment of sexual minorities in the Province of Carabo and asked for more details on the content of a statement on the matter by the Governor of Carabo. Various Experts expressed concern about what they termed an alarming number of cases of violence and killings in prisons; and members of the panel sought further information on what they said was a large number of complaints of maltreatment filed with the country's Ombudsman.
The report was introduced by Maria Auxiliadora Belisario Martínez, Vice-Minister of Legal Security of the Ministry of the Interior and Justice of Venezuela, who said among other things that the Venezuelan Constitution of December 1999 provided the cornerstone for national protection and promotion of human rights. Venezuelan legislation had never recognized torture as an offence, but article 46 of the new Constitution expressly now did, she said.
Other members of the Venezuelan delegation were Blancanieve Portocarrero, Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Ambassador Victor Rodríguez Cedeño, Deputy Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Nancy Fernández, of the Ministry of Interior and Justice; Ana Jiménez and Rodrigo Silva of the Ombudsman Office; Magally García Malpica, Director for the Protection of Fundamental Rights of the Prosecutor’s Office; Maria del Mar Álvarez de Lovera, of the Ombudsman’s Office for Women at the Women's Institute; Reina Arriata Diaz, of the Ministry of Interior and Justice; Dionisio Zamora Casado, of the Department of Multilateral Affairs of the Ministry for External Relations; and Vladimir González Villaparedes, Second Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Venezuela to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
The Venezuelan delegation will respond to the Committee’s questions on Tuesday, 19 November, at 3:30 p.m.
Venezuela, as one of the 131 States parties to the Convention against Torture, must submit periodic reports to the Committee on efforts to put the treaty into effect.
The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. to hear replies from a delegation of Cyprus to questions posed Friday upon presentation of the country’s third periodic report.

Report of Venezuela
The second periodic report of Venezuela (CAT/C/33/Add.5) notes that the Convention against Torture has been incorporated into current domestic legislation and thus the rights it embodies are considered “self-executing” and may be invoked before the judicial and administrative authorities. The Constitution covers the State’s obligation to investigate and legally punish violations of human rights committed by Government authorities, and to compensate the victims for loss and damage caused. It incorporates mechanisms to prevent and punish torture, and to deal with impunity and the training of security bodies in matters of human rights. The report also notes that public officials are urged to respect the dignity and human rights of individuals and are forbidden to use weapons or toxic substances as means of preventing acts which may cause suffering to human beings.
A new Code of Criminal Procedure contains constructive provisions that overcome shortcomings of the old Code, which have been identified as major factors in the practice of torture and in inadequate investigation and punishment of such offences, the report states. The Code embodies a number of defendants’ rights, such as the prohibition of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. It also stipulates that any person accused of involvement in a punishable act shall remain at liberty during the proceedings, imprisonment being an exceptional measure to be taken only on the orders of a judge and at the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The report indicates that thorough implementation of the provisions of the new Code should help eradicate torture in Venezuela.
The report notes that national human rights institutions in Venezuela include, among others, an Office of the Ombudsman, a National Human Rights Commission, a Human Rights Unit in the International Policy Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a Human Rights Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Sanctions are provided in cases of torture, the report states. Public officials who inflict, instigate or tolerate torture will also be punished and their punishment will be doubled if the victim’s freedom has been restricted in any way.

Presentation of Report
MARIA AUXILIADORA BELISARIO MARTÍNEZ, Vice-Minister of Legal Security of the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, said among other things that the report was presented at a crucial time for Venezuela, when progress was being made in all fields. As an expression of its desire to protect and defend human rights, the Venezuelan State was a signatory to all the basic international human-rights instruments of the United Nations and the Organization of American States, and had entered into a series of political and moral commitments stemming from declarations and resolutions of the political and technical bodies of international organizations. Furthermore, Venezuela had recognized the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in respect of complaints against the State, and that of the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the Committee against Torture.
In the normative area, Ms. Belisario Martinez said, the new Constitution of December 1999 was the cornerstone for the protection and promotion of human rights. Venezuelan legislation had never recognized torture as an offence, but article 46 of the new Constitution expressly did. Prohibition of torture was absolute in Venezuela, and there was no lawful possibility or circumstance that could permit, justify or legitimise torture. Sanctions were provided in case of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
A new Code of Criminal Procedure represented a revolution in the procedural system, since it replaced the old inquisitorial procedure with an accusatory one based on an oral, public, immediate, non-protracted and adversarial procedure. The new Code should help eradicate torture, said the Venezuelan delegation, and mechanisms to avoid impunity and compensation had been created. The code included the principle of personal liberty as a general rule, making pre-trial custody the exception.
Venezuela had adopted, on 19 August 1998, a Violence against Women and the Family Act, and an Office for the Protection of Women had been established within the National Institute for Women (INAMUJER) in August 2000. A Department of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights of the Ministry of Defence had also been created, said the delegation.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office was a State body provided for in the Constitution, autonomous and independent of the other bodies. The Office of the Ombudsman was responsible for the promotion, defence and monitoring of the rights and guarantees established in the new Constitution, in the international human-rights treaties, and for responding to the legitimate, collective and widespread concerns of citizens.
Venezuela had drawn up standards and instructions for the treatment of detained persons and for methods of interrogation, all of which formed part of an overall policy of averting any incidence of torture, the delegation said.

Discussion
Serving as rapporteur on the report of Venezuela was Committee Expert ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ POBLETE. He welcomed the new Constitution as well as the new legislations recently adopted by the country. Nevertheless, he said regretted the low number of practical references in the report on actual implementation of the Convention against Torture. He asked the delegation to provide for information on the number and degree of complaints of acts of torture and violence during the period covered by the report. He also asked for more information on compensation and rehabilitation measures for victims. Mr. Gonzalez Poblete said it was not sufficient to recognize the rights of the individuals; rules had to be adopted to implement those rights.
Mr. Gonzalez Poblete welcomed the decrease in reported instances of torture and said that from September 1999 to October 2000, only 21 cases had been reported. The decrease could be explained by the new Code of Criminal Procedure and the new Constitution, he said.
Serving as co-rapporteur on the report was Committee Expert OLE VEDEL RASMUSSEN. He regretted that the information contained in the report concerning article 10 of the Convention was not exactly in relation with the provisions of the article. He asked among other things if a manual had been distributed to police officers to train them in human rights, as this was very important in respect to the prevention of torture. He said doctors also had to be trained to recognize signs of torture. Mr. Rasmussen asked about interrogation procedures if there was systematic review of those procedures; about how overcrowding was reduced in prisons; about statistical data on the capacity of prisons, and about how the prison population broke down statistically in terms of sex and age.
Mr. Rasmussen asked about the frequency of inspections of detention centres, and how these centres were monitored. He expressed concern about allegations of maltreatment in prisons and asked how prisoners could file complaints. He asked if there was a solitary confinement regime; how medical examinations were done upon arrival at prisons; and about allegations of violations of human rights by public officials in the performance of their duties. He asked how many cases of confession of guilt by detainees and others accused of crimes had been received and considered valid over the past few years. He said a major concern was that during 2001, the Ombudsman had received a large number of complaints of maltreatment.
Other Committee members also put questions. They asked, among other things, for more statistical data; about allegations of rape by police officers during custody; about overcrowding in prisons; and about the number of dismissals of judges. Various experts expressed concern about what they termed an alarming number of instances of violence and killings in prisons, and asked whether this problem was monitored.
Several experts mentioned alleged maltreatment of sexual minorities in the Province of Carabo and asked for more details on the death of an activist and on the content of a statement on the matter made by the Governor of Carabo.



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