The Committee against Torture today concluded its thirty-eighth session and issued its concluding observations and recommendations on reports from Denmark, Luxembourg, Italy, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Japan and Poland, which it reviewed during the session.
Those countries are among the 144 States parties to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and are bound by the terms of the treaty to submit periodic reports on efforts to ensure that such human rights violations do not occur on their territories. In addition to submitting the reports, the countries sent delegations before the Committee of 10 independent Experts to answer questions…Following its consideration of the fifth periodic report of Ukraine, the Committee welcomed the entry into force, in September 2001, of a new Criminal Code, which made torture a punishable offence, as well as the adoption, in 2004, of a new Penal Corrections Code. The Committee was deeply concerned about allegations of torture and ill-treatment of suspects during detention, as well as reported abuses during the period between apprehension and the formal presentation of a detainee to a judge. The Committee recommended that Ukraine pursue efforts to reform the General Prosecutor’s office, and that it separate the function of criminal prosecution from the function of supervision of investigations into allegations of torture and ill-treatment…
Having considered the fourth periodic report of Poland, the Committee noted with satisfaction that, since it presented its last report, Poland had ratified or acceded to a number of international human rights conventions and protocols, including the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. The Committee was concerned about reports on the excessive use of force by law enforcement officials, with particular reference to the incidents that had occurred in Lódz in May 2004 and the use of penetrating ammunition "by error". The Committee was also concerned at allegations regarding the existence in the territory of Poland of secret detention facilities for aliens suspected of terrorist activities. The Committee urged Poland to share information about the scope, methodology and conclusions of the enquiry into those allegations conducted by the Polish Parliament…
In addition to reviewing country reports in public session, the Committee considered in private meetings information appearing to contain well-founded indications that torture was being systematically practiced in the territories of some States parties. It also examined communications from individuals claiming to be victims of violations by States parties of the provisions of the Convention. Such communications are accepted only if they concern the 62 States that have declared the Committee competent to receive complaints under article 22 of the Convention…
The Committee’s next session will be held from 5 to 23 November 2007 during which it is scheduled to examine reports from Norway, Estonia, Portugal, Australia, Benin, Uzbekistan and Latvia…
Selections from: “Committee Against Torture Concludes Thirty-Eighth Session,” press release, United Nations, 18 May 2007.