Committee against Torture discusses follow-up to concluding observations and to individual communications, and reprisals

GENEVA (9 May 2017) - The Committee against Torture this afternoon discussed follow-up to concluding observations and recommendations, follow-up to individual communications, and reprisals.
 
Presenting the report on follow-up to concluding observations under article 19 of the Convention, Abdelwahab Hani, Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations, said that 11 follow-up reports had been received from nine States.  Generally speaking, States adhered to the reporting procedure of follow-up reports and some even submitted their reports early, such as Kuwait and Mexico, which was evidence of the interest States attached to the procedure of follow-up to concluding observations and recommendations.
 
With regard to the implementation in practice of the Guidelines for follow-up which had been renewed in 2015, Mr. Hani confirmed that indeed several States had presented implementation plans for one or more recommendations identified for follow-up, and said that this would hopefully be the practice by more States in the future.
 
General documentation on the follow-up procedure under article 19 of the Convention against Torture and documentation related to States’ follow-up to concluding observations can be found here.
 
Concerning compliance with individual communications under article 22 of the Convention, a representative of the Secretariat, on behalf of Sapana Pradhan-Malla, Rapporteur on follow-up to individual complaints, briefed the Committee members on 13 cases from six States: Canada, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Finland, Burundi and Denmark. 
 
The Committee adopted decisions relating to communications submitted under article 22 of the Convention, deciding to request Finland to provide an update on the status of one of the cases and the situation of the complainant.
 
The Committee’s previous Follow-up Reports under the Complaints Procedure can be read here.
 
Alessio Bruni, Rapporteur for reprisals, briefed the Committee Experts about the only case of reprisals currently before the Committee, which involved four lawyers in Burundi, noting that their cooperation with the Committee against Torture might be a reason for the reprisals.  A letter had been sent in February 2017 to the Permanent Representative of Burundi to the United Nations Office at Geneva, but no reply or additional explanations requested had been received to date.
 
Documentation relating to responses by States parties to Committee queries on reprisals can be accessed here.
 
The Committee will next meet in public on Friday, 12 May, at 10 a.m., to adopt its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Pakistan, Lebanon, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Argentina and Republic of Korea, which it reviewed during its present session, adopt its annual report and programme of work for future sessions, and close its sixtieth session.

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