HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONCLUDES CONSIDERATION OF CZECH REPORT ON SITUATION OF CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

Human Rights Committee
72nd session
12 July 2001
Morning





Chairperson Offers Preliminary Comments Voicing Concern
Over Situation of the Roma Population


The Human Rights Committee this morning concluded its consideration of an initial report of the Czech Republic with the Chairperson noting that the situation of the Roma population was disturbing and that the Government's economic measures to improve Roma’s poor conditions had not produced appreciable results.

Committee Chairperson Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati, in preliminary comments, said that 75 per cent of Roma children were placed in special schools despite attempts made by the Government to integrate them into normal schools; and 70 per cent, and in some cases 90 per cent of the Roma population was unemployed while the national unemployment rate was 5 to 10 per cent.

Formal, written conclusions on the report will be issued by the Committee towards the end of its current three-week session, which concludes on 27 July. Conclusions are adopted by the Committee in private meetings.

As one of the 148 States parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Czech Republic must prepare periodic summaries of its efforts designed to implement the provisions of the treaty. An 8-member Czech delegation was on hand during three meetings to answer questions raised by Committee Experts.

The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. in private to examine communications which it received from individuals or groups claiming be victims of violations of their rights set under the Covenant by their respective States parties that recognized the competence of the Committee to receive confidential communications. It will take up the report of Monaco at 10 a.m. on Friday, 13 July, in public.


Discussion on Czech Report

The members of the delegation continued to provide answers to the remaining part of the written list of questions prepared by Committee members in advance. They said that there was no limitation to the freedom of religion except that religious institutions were required to have at least 300 members for official registration. In the past, a membership of 10,000 persons was required for religious communities to be recognized officially; and only religious institutions which were members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) were required to have a 500 membership. The new legal provision had fixed the membership to 300 for all. The religious communities could conduct religious marriages following civil marriages. Some religions might tend to be extremist, but no particular one was singled out so far.

Referring to the recent controversy over the nomination of a television director, in which employees, supported by the general public, rejected the appointment of a new director claiming that he was politically biased, the delegation said that it demonstrated a very high level of political sensitivity among the broader public. The controversy further emphasized independence within the society. In general, the law guaranteed freedom of expression and the right of association.

Asked about the way the report was prepared, the delegation said that non-governmental organizations had been consulted in its preparation and it had been put on the website of the Council for Human Rights before it was sent to the Committee.

On the training programmes of the judiciary to uphold the rights contained in the Covenant, the delegation said educational programmes were conducted for all members of the judiciary both in the capital city and the districts. The training programme included the police. Half of the police force was made up of new recruits. The national police was composed of 40,000 officials; and continuous training had been found essential because of the fundamental political changes in the country. In addition, special courses were provided on human rights issues by the human rights unit of the Ministry of Interior. A textbook on all the major human rights conventions and covenants was under preparation to be used by the judiciary and the police.

Responding to the oral questions raised by Committee members, the delegation said that the Government had implemented the Committee's views under the Optional Protocol to the Covenant, particularly with regard to communications. The Constitutional Court was instrumental in implementing such views.

Asked about the status of the Covenant, the delegation said that it was incorporated within domestic legislation and it was directly invoked by ordinary courts. There was no case of abrogation of domestic law which contradicted the provisions of the Covenant.

A state of emergency could be promulgated for 30 days in the event the nation was threatened by a danger against its sovereignty or system of democracy, the delegation said. Any extension of the period of emergency should be approved by the country's parliament. In time of emergency, no limit was exercised against the rights enumerated in article 4(2) of the Covenant.


The rights of detainees were secured by the obligation of the law enforcement officials to inform relatives or consular representatives in the case of a foreigner, as soon as an arrest was made. Detainees had the right to have legal counsel and they were guaranteed to consult a medical practitioner. According to the Police Act, deprivation of liberty by police of a suspect could not exceed 24 hours before he or she appeared in court.

There was no legal differences of ownership of property between Czech citizens and foreigners residing in the country, the delegation said. However, in some cases, the appropriation of certain real estates might be restricted.

With regard to the powers of the Ombudsman on prisons, the delegation said that the Ombudsman had the power to enter prison facilities.

A question was asked on genocide to which the delegation said that what constituted genocide was not only physical attacks, but deliberately creating adverse conditions to a given group. However, because of the democratic practice, the Czech Government had less control over the society, contrary to the previous communist regime.

Committee members also asked additional questions on a number of issues such as police custody; dissemination of racial hatred; conditions of preventive detention; overcrowding of prisons; and the place of the Covenant in domestic legislation, among other things.

The delegation said that the length of the pre-trial detention was a serious human rights problem in the country. According to the report, any prolongation of the custody period over two years was viewed as an exceptional authorization to be used in extremely serious cases. Unfortunately, there were still cases of persons placed in custody with no or almost no action by the prosecution taken for several months which adversely affected the length of the custody. The average length of the custody continued to range between 190 and 200 days. The delegation said that that situation was unsatisfactory and measures were being considered to radically shorten the period.

The Ministry of Interior was dealing with the whole situation of the hate crimes and racially motivated acts committed by extremist groups, the delegation said. A report had been compiled by the Ministry emphasizing that the police should report to the Ministry all cases involving racially motivated crimes.


Preliminary Observations

Committee Chairperson Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati offered preliminary observations on the report, saying that the dialogue with the delegation of the Czech Republic had been frank and constructive; and the Government had taken all appropriate measures to ratify all the human rights treaties and optional protocols. It had also made tremendous achievements during the last eight years towards democracy.

He said that the Committee was, however, concerned about the position of the Covenant vis-a-vis domestic legislation; and the primacy of the Covenant over domestic laws was not clearly defined. The Chairperson said that the Committee regretted that women were not adequately represented in the country's parliament and they were literally absent from high Government posts. The Government's measure to establish the office of the Ombudsman and the Council for Human Rights was appreciated by the Committee.

The Chairperson said, among other things, that Committee members had voiced considerable concern about the Roma situation in the country; the report concerning their situation was disturbing; although the Government had taken economic measures to alleviate their poor conditions, it appeared that no appreciable results were produced; 75 per cent of Roma children were placed in special schools despite attempts made by the Government to integrate them into normal schools; and 70 per cent, and in some cases 90 per cent of the Roma population was unemployed while the national unemployment rate was 5 to 10 per cent.




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