COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE TAKES UP REPORT OF DENMARK

Press Release
HR/4223

COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE TAKES UP REPORT OF DENMARK

GENEVA, 14 November (UN Information Service) -- The Committee against Torture this morning heard a statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, José Ayala Lasso, who said that requests for financial assistance for the rehabilitation of torture victims had increased while the actual subsidy was low. He noted that the Special Rapporteur on Torture had received an impressive number of communications on cases of torture from many countries.

Following the opening statement by the High Commissioner, the Committee began its substantive work by taking up the second periodic report of Denmark on how that State party was fulfilling its obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The head of the Danish delegation, Laurdis Mikaelsen, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was accompanied by Johan Reimann, Deputy Permanent Under-Secretary of State, and Morgens Hendriksen, head of Department, both of the Ministry of Justice; Ilse Cohen, Prison Governor; Henriette Schouenborg, from the Danish Immigration Service; and Dan Frederiksen of the Permanent Mission of Denmark, in Geneva.

Statement by Human Rights High Commissioner

Ten years after the Nairobi Conference on Women, equality between men and women was far from being achieved, JOSE AYALA-LASSO, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said. The Fourth World Conference on Women, held recently in Beijing, had underlined the numerous obstacles that women continued to face for the full enjoyment of their human rights.

The High Commissioner told the Committee that the Declaration and Programme of Action of the Beijing Conference had reaffirmed the fundamental principle of the indivisibility and inalienability of the rights of women and female children; those were integral parts of the recognized universal rights

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of people. The interests of women should be taken into account, in an effective manner, at the national level and in United Nations organs, particularly those working for the respect and protection of all human rights, whether civil, cultural, economic, political or social.

Mr. Ayala-Lasso noted that the Committee's current session coincided with the emergence of the United Nations financial crisis. That was because of the non-fulfilment by some States parties of their obligations to pay their dues. The Organization was obliged to drastically reduce its regular activities until the end of the year.

He told the Committee that the Administrative Council of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture had held its fourteenth session in Geneva from 15 to 24 May this year. The total contribution at the disposal of the Council to subsidize projects to assist torture victims had increased to $2.7 million. However, the request for financial assistance to victims of torture had risen to $6 million, corresponding to 112 projects.

With regard to the work of the Human Rights Commission's Special Rapporteur on Torture, the High Commissioner noted the Rapporteur's report of an impressive number of communications on torture. Since the beginning of the year, the Special Rapporteur had sent 92 urgent appeals concerning persons who might have been or would be victims of torture.

Discussion of Denmark's Report

Mr. MIKAELSEN (Denmark), introducing the second periodic report, reiterated his country's cooperation with the Committee in providing any information requested by members. Although the present report was supposed to have been submitted in 1992, the Danish Government had been working to overcome its shortcomings in order to fulfil its obligations, and had been successful. Since its initial report presented to the Committee in 1989, Denmark had strengthened its reporting system by applying administrative measures to that end.

After the introduction of the report, members posed questions. Some were directed at the hierarchical relation of international law and the domestic legislation of Denmark. The experts asked if international treaties and other relevant laws had supremacy over Danish laws or if they had to be incorporated through special legislative acts. The delegation was asked in particular about the place given to the Convention against Torture in the Danish legislative and judicial systems, about its implementation and functional role in tackling any problem arising from cases of alleged torture.

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The experts also asked how Danish authorities dealt with alleged cases of complaints against police officers. Were investigations carried out by other police officers or by persons outside the police? With regard to information furnished by non-governmental organizations, were alleged victims of ill-treatment able to exhaust local provisions before arriving at the Committee? What was the clear function of the Ombudsman?

Some members were of the view that the Danish legislative system had no clear definition of torture. It was urged to consider legislating to make torture a crime specifically in its own domestic law. In the criminal proceedings, did such inhuman, cruel and degrading treatments such as solitary confinement and the use of the "leg-lock" position by the police still exist? If so, what was the maximum period of that confinement and who was responsible for its inspection?

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