UN Committee against Torture: Time for States to make 30-year-old treaty a reality

NEW YORK / GENEVA (21 October 2014) – The adoption of the Convention against Torture 30 years ago was a major advance in human rights protection but States must now fully abide by their convention obligations, said Claudio Grossman, Chairperson of the UN Committee against Torture, on Tuesday.

“We all need, now, to commit ourselves to the full implementation of all of the obligations set out in the convention,” said Mr. Grossman, in his presentation of the Committee’s annual report to the General Assembly’s Third Committee in New York.

The celebration of the 30th anniversary, on 4 November 2014, will focus on the universal ratification of the Convention and better implementation, the Chair said.

In the report, Mr. Grossman stressed as a matter of serious concern the issue of intimidation and reprisals. The Committee has designated two rapporteurs to address reprisals as a result of reporting to the Committee and it has created a dedicated webpage to publicly state its concerns.

Mr. Grossman also underscored the importance of the Convention against Torture Initiative (CTI), a 10-year global initiative for the universal ratification and implementation of the Convention against Torture launched in March 2014 by the governments of Chile, Denmark, Ghana, Indonesia and Morocco.

Over the last year, the Committee’s activities included the consideration of 16 States parties’ reports, the examination of a country situation in the absence of a report, several decisions on individual communications, one confidential inquiry, as well as follow-up activities.

“The ability of individuals to complain against their own States for violations by the States themselves embodies an important and crucial step toward realizing human dignity” said Mr. Grossman. Since 1988, the Committee has registered 627 individual complaints concerning 34 States parties.

The Committee has also developed a rich jurisprudence on the absolute nature of the prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment, the need to incorporate the Convention’s definition of torture into domestic law and the fact that the deportation to a State where the complainant would run the risk of sexual violence would amount to a breach of the Convention.

ENDS

The Committee Against Torture (CAT) is the body of 10 independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by its State parties.

Learn more about the Committee against Torture:
http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cat/pages/catindex.aspx

Read the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CAT.aspx

For further information and media requests, please contact:

In New York:
Mattias Pellado, + 41 784 445 172 / mpellado@ohchr.org
André-Michel Essoungou, (+1 917 367 9995 / Cell: +1 917 940 0685 / essoungou@un.org)
Nenad Vasic (+1 212 963 5998 / Cell: +1 917 941 7558 / vasic@un.org)

In Geneva:
Patrice Gillibert (+41 22 917 9332 / pgillibert@ohchr.org) or write to cat@ohchr.org

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