Comments on legislation and policy

In this page, the UN Special Rapporteur shares all comments provided by the mandate to States on national laws, regulations and policies.

See below a list of letters sent by the UN Special Rapporteur and the responses from Government to these communications.

Recent communications

Sri Lanka

• 9 August 2021: Commenting on the provisions of the ‘Prevention of Terrorism (De-radicalization from holding violent extremist religious ideology) Regulations No. 01 of 2021. OL LKA 3/2021

Ghana

• 9 August 2021: Commenting on the “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021”. OL GHA 3/2021

Haiti

• 6 August 2021: Commenting on the Decree on the creation, organization and functioning of the national intelligence agency and the Decree on the strengthening of public security, adopted on 25 November 2020 and revised on 31 December 2020, as well as the revision of the Penal Code adopted by decree on 24 June 2020. OL HTI 2/2021

Pakistan

• 22 July 2021: Commenting on the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) bill of Pakistan, passed unanimously by the Senate, on 12 July 2021. OL PAK 8/2021
• 30 December 2019: Commenting on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Actions (In Aid of Civil Power) Ordinance 2019, issued by the provincial governor on 5 August 2019, which assigns wide-ranging powers to the armed forces. OL PAK 10/2019

Japan

• 31 March 2021: Commenting on the amendment bill to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act. OL JPN 3/2021

Saudi Arabia

• 17 December 2020: Commenting on the 2017 Law on Combating Crimes of Terrorism and its Financing, amended on 19 June 2020. OL SAU 12/2020

Mexico

• 9 October 2020: Commenting on the Agreement according to which the permanent Armed Forces may carry out public security tasks in an extraordinary, regulated, supervised, subordinate and complementary manner, which will be enforced from 12 May 2020 to 27 March 2024. OL MEX 9/2020
• 4 February 2019: Commenting on the constitutional reforms approved on January 16 by the Chamber of Deputies on the National Guard and other relevant issues, through which permanent powers would be granted to the Armed Forces to carry out public security and criminal investigation tasks. OL MEX 1/2019

Somalia

• 1 September 2020: Commenting on the draft bill on “Sexual Intercourse Related Crimes”. OL SOM 1/2020

Switzerland

• 26 May 2021: Commenting on the draft law on police measures to combat terrorism (“Federal law on police measures to combat terrorism”), which seeks to amend the Swiss legislation on counter-terrorism, in particular the "federal law of 21 March 1997 instituting measures aimed at maintaining internal security". OL CHE 1/2020
• 22 June 2018: welcoming the creation of a working group, by the Federal Council, in 2017, to study the application of the Istanbul Protocol in Switzerland and insisting on the importance of these standards in the investigation of allegations of torture. OL CHE 4/2018

United Kingdom

• 22 July 2020: Commenting on the Counter Terrorism and Sentencing Bill. OL GBR 7/2020
• 15 June 2020: Commenting on the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill 117 2019-21, introducing statutes of limitations to the prosecution of offences perpetrated by members of the British armed forces while deployed on overseas operations, including peacekeeping operations and operations dealing with terrorism, civil unrest or serious public disorder, as well as to bring legal claims for personal injuries or deaths. OL GBR 6/2020

Malaysia

• 16 November 2018: Commenting on the Federal Penal Code, criminalizing consensual sexual relations between adults and applying punishments that are contrary to the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. OL MYS 5/2018
• 17 October 2018: Welcoming the Malaysian Government’s decision to seek to abolish the death penalty - OL MYS 4/2018

China

• 1 November 2019: Commenting on the Counter-Terrorism Law of the People’s Republic of China (Counter-Terrorism Law) promulgated on 27 December 2015 and its Regional Implementing Measures, “the 2016 Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Implementing Measures of the Counter-Terrorism Law of the People's Republic of China”. OL CHN 18/2019

Nepal

• 15 July 2019: Commenting on the amendment bill to revise the existing act of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Act-2012. OL NPL 2/2019
• 12 April 2019: Commenting on the procedure for the appointment of the members of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission on the Investigation of Enforced Disappearance (CIEDP), which may affect the selection of new commissioners in April 2019. OL NPL 1/2019

United States of America

• 16 May 2018: Commenting on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Directive 11032.3, eliminating a presumption against immigration detention of pregnant women. OL USA 8/2018
• 1 May 2018: Commenting on the availability of asylum for survivors of domestic abuse and other forms of violence in the United States. OL USA 5/2018

France

• 23 April 2018: Commenting on the adoption in accelerated procedure of the bill n°714 “for a controlled immigration and an effective right of asylum”. OL FRA 4/2018

Brazil

• 8 January 2018: Commenting on the proposed bill PL-6433/16 amending article 125 of Law No. 8,069 of 13 July 1990, which would authorize the employment of “neuromuscular incapacitation (electroshock) devices”, including body worn devices (stun belts). OL BRA 12/2017