Human Rights Committee discusses progress reports on follow-up to concluding observations and on follow-up to views

GENEVA (26 March 2018) - The Human Rights Committee today discussed an update by the Rapporteur on Follow-Up to Concluding Observations and by the Rapporteur on Follow-up to Views ad interim.

Mauro Politi, Committee Expert and Rapporteur on Follow-up to Concluding Observations, presented the Committee’s assessments of Monaco, Spain, United Kingdom and Iraq, and on Venezuela which, due to the non-cooperation with the follow-up procedure, received a grade D.  The Committee then adopted the draft report.

Photini Pazartzis, Committee Expert and Rapporteur on Follow-Up to Views ad interim, presented the information about the cases from Algeria.  Due to lack of time, the presentation of the information on Australia, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, France, Ireland, and Ukraine was suspended and will continue at another time.

All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage.  The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings is available at UN Web TV.

The Committee will next meet on Wednesday, 28 March, at 10 a.m. to discuss General Comment on the right to life.

Report on Follow-up to Concluding Observations

MAURO POLITI, Committee Expert and the Rapporteur on the Follow-up to the Concluding Observations, explained that that the report contained assessments of Monaco, Spain, United Kingdom and Iraq, and Venezuela which received a D grade for failure to cooperate with the follow-up procedure.  

Starting with Monaco, Mr. Politi reminded that the Committee had recommended to the State party to make amendments to articles 58 and 60 of its Criminal Code on publicly offending the royal family.  Pursuant to the Committee’s General Comment No. 34 of 2011 on freedom of opinion and expression, the Committee had reiterated that the imprisonment of persons by reason of the exercise of their freedom of expression constituted a violation of article 19 of the Covenant, which attached special importance to free speech.  The Committee had pointed out that all public figures, including those who held office at the highest level, were legitimately exposed to criticism and political dissent, and the laws should not establish harsher penalties solely on the basis of the status of the person being referred to.  The Committee then adopted a C grade for Monaco.

On Spain, Mr. Politi stated that the Committee had considered the issue of ill-treatment and excessive use of force by the police, and had recommended Spain to redouble its efforts to prevent and eliminate torture and ill-treatment including by providing more human rights training for law enforcement officials in the light of relevant international standards; establishing independent complaint bodies to address claims of ill-treatment by the police; ensuring that all complaints of torture and ill-treatment were investigated promptly, thoroughly and independently and that the perpetrators were brought to justice; ensuring that victims received appropriate reparation, including health and rehabilitation services; ensuring that forensic examinations of presumed cases of torture and ill-treatment committed by State officials were impartial, comprehensive and conducted in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol; prohibiting the granting of pardons under its legal system to persons found guilty of the crime of torture; and ensuring the recording of interrogations of all persons deprived of liberty in police premises and other places of detention.  

As for past human rights violations, the Committee had recommended the repeal of the Amnesty Act, or its amendment to bring it fully into line with the provisions of the Covenant.  Spain should actively encourage investigations into all past human rights violations; identify, prosecute and punish the perpetrators in a manner commensurate with the gravity of the crimes committed; and provide redress to the victims.  The State party should review its legislation on the search for, exhumation and identification of disappeared persons and in that respect urged it to implement the recommendations of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances contained in its recent concluding observations.  The State party should also establish a legal framework at national level for its archives and allow the opening of archives on the basis of clear, public criteria, in accordance with the rights enshrined in the Covenant.  The Committee adopted grades of E for the Amnesty Act and enforced disappearances and C for the issue of archives.

With respect to unaccompanied minors, the State party should develop a standard protocol for determining the age of unaccompanied children and ensure that age-determination procedures were based on safe and scientific methods, take the children’s feelings into account and avoid all risks of violating their physical integrity.  In addition, the State part should ensure that the principle of the best interests of the child was given due consideration in all decisions concerning unaccompanied children.  The Committee adopted a grade of B in this regard.

On the United Kingdom, Mr. Politi reminded that the Committee had considered the issue of accountability for conflict-related violations in Northern Ireland, and had recommended the State party to ensure that independent, impartial, prompt and effective investigations were conducted to ensure a full, transparent and credible account of the circumstances surrounding events in Northern Ireland with a view to identifying, prosecuting and punishing perpetrators of human rights violations, and providing appropriate remedies for victims; ensure the establishment and full operation of the Historical Investigations Unit as soon as possible, guarantee its independence by statute, secure adequate and sufficient funding, and ensure its access to all documentation and material relevant to investigations; ensure that the Legacy Investigation Branch and the Coroner’s Court in Northern Ireland were adequately resourced and well positioned to review outstanding legacy cases effectively; reconsider its position on the broad mandate of the executive to suppress the publication of inquiry reports under the Inquiries Act 2005; and consider launching an official inquiry into the murder of Patrick Finucane.  The Committee adopted grades of B and C in this respect.  

As for the accountability for human rights violations committed by British forces abroad, the State party should ensure that the proceedings before the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament met the requirements of the Covenant, including an adequate balance between security interests and the need for accountability for human rights violations, and consider initiating a full judicial investigation in all relevant detainee cases; address the excessive delays in the investigation of cases dealt with by the Iraq Historical Allegations Team and consider establishing more robust accountability, ensure prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations; and ensure that the allegations in connection with Camp Nama were thoroughly, independently and impartially investigated.  The Committee adopted a grade of C for this concluding observation.

On Iraq, Mr. Politi said the Committee had focused on allegations of human rights violations in the context of the ongoing armed conflict.  The State party should ensure that all serious human rights violations were independently, promptly and thoroughly investigated, that perpetrators were brought to justice and adequately sanctioned, and that victims received full reparation; that its forces as well as groups under its control and forces collaborating with it, did not perpetrate human rights violations, and that they took all necessary precautionary measures to avoid civilian casualties; that all persons under its jurisdiction were offered the necessary protection from violent attacks and gross human rights violations; that victims, particularly women and girls released from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, received adequate support, and that children who had been used in or recruited into armed conflict received adequate assistance for their physical and psychological recovery and reintegration.  The Committee adopted grades of C and B.

With respect to violence against women, the State party should redouble efforts to prevent and combat all forms of violence against women, facilitate the reporting of cases and ensure that all such cases were promptly and thoroughly investigated, the perpetrators brought to justice, and victims had access to full reparation and means to protection, including access to State and civil society run shelters.  The State party should swiftly amend its legislation to guarantee adequate protection of women against violence, including by repealing the Criminal Code provisions establishing “honourable motives” as a mitigating circumstance for murder and allowing for the exoneration of rapists who married their victims, and by ensuring that all forms of violence against women, such as domestic violence and marital rape, were criminalized with appropriate penalties in all its territory.  The State party should speed up the adoption of the draft law on domestic violence at the national level and ensure that the final text was fully compliant with the Covenant.  The State party should increase its awareness raising activities on the unacceptability and negative effects of violence against women and on the resources of protections available to victims, and reinforce its training activities for State officials so that they could respond effectively to all forms of violence against women.  The Committee adopted a grade of C.

Iraq should give due consideration to abolishing the death penalty and acceding to the Second Optional Protocol to the Covenant.  If the death penalty was maintained, the State party should take all measures necessary to ensure that it was provided only for the most serious crimes, that it was never mandatory, and that pardon of commutation was available in all cases, regardless of the crime committed.  The State party should also ensure that, if imposed at all, the death penalty was never imposed in violation of the Covenant, including in violation of fair trial procedures.  The Committee adopted a grade of C.  

On the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, the State party should adopt legislative measures to ensure that the Criminal Code included a definition of torture that was fully in line with article 7 of the Covenant and other internationally established norms; take more vigorous steps to prevent torture and ill-treatment and to ensure that all such cases were promptly, independently and thoroughly investigated, that perpetrators were brought to justice and that victims received full reparation; ensure that confessions obtained in violation of article 7 of the Covenant were not accepted by courts under any circumstances; and ensure that all cases of death in custody were promptly, independently and thoroughly investigated and perpetrators brought to justice.  The Committee adopted grades of B, C and B for those recommendations.

The Committee then proceeded to adopt the draft report on follow-up to the concluding observations.  

Report on Follow-up to Views

PHOTINI PAZARTZIS, Committee Expert and the Rapporteur on Follow-Up to Views ad interim, explained that the report contained information about ten cases from eight countries processed between July 2017 and March 2018.  Ms. Pazartzis reminded that the Committee had decided at its previous session to revise its methodology to monitor follow-up on its views, deciding that grading would no longer be applied for the publication of the views.  Grading would be applied for the State party’s response on measures of non-repetition only if such measures were specified in the views, and that follow-up report would contain only information on cases that were ready for grading by the Committee, namely where there was a reply by the State party and information by the author.  

The interim Rapporteur started by presenting the situation in Algeria where there were two cases, on summary execution and victim compensation, in which the Committee had observed the violation of several articles of the Covenant.  As for the first case, the Committee had proposed to keep the dialogue ongoing and not to give any grading, while for the second case, which involved 23 communications concerning the compensation that families had received in line with the Charte de réconciliation nationale, the Committee had proposed to suspend the follow-up dialogue with a note of unsatisfactory implementation of the Committee’s recommendations.  For non-repetition, the Committee proposed to continue the follow-up in the framework of the reporting procedure.

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For use of the information media; not an official record