UN REPORT SHOULD NAME STATES THAT PERMIT TORTURE BY POLICE, HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR TELLS CRIME COMMISSION
Press Release
SOC/CP/186
UN REPORT SHOULD NAME STATES THAT PERMIT TORTURE BY POLICE, HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR TELLS CRIME COMMISSION
19960528 Delegates Discuss How to Achieve Adherence To UN Standards and Norms in Criminal Justice Field(Reproduced as received from UN Information Service.)
VIENNA, 23 May -- The Special Rapporteur on torture of the Human Rights Commission voiced concern that several countries had admitted to, and sanctioned, the use of torture by their law enforcement officials, and that a recent United Nations report on police conduct did not identify those States.
The Special Rapporteur, Nigel Rodley, made the comment this afternoon in the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, as he reviewed a secretariat report on States' application of the United Nations Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials. He drew attention to the report's statement that two countries allowed law enforcement officials to use "interviewing and interrogation techniques which might cause physical or mental pain or suffering" when ordered to do so by superiors. Also, two countries had reported permitting such techniques when there was a threat to national security or a public emergency. One country had reported permitting them when dealing with particular forms of crime.
He noted that the report identified countries by name in all other sections, but referred to them anonymously in the section on torture.
As it considered United Nations standards and norms for crime prevention and criminal justice, the Commission also heard from the Human Rights Commission's Special Rapporteur on arbitrary executions, who said there had been some regression with regard to capital punishment in some countries. He had received reports which raised questions with respect to the fairness of the trials which yielded capital sentences. Also cited were problems having to do with the independence of the judiciary, the right of the accused to adequate time to prepare a defence, and the right to be tried in a language that he or she understood.
Concern on that score was also expressed by the representative of Austria, who said that capital punishment was sometimes imposed under very questionable circumstances. His delegation was circulating a draft resolution on the subject.
Other statements on standards and norms, penal conditions and victim's rights, were made by representatives of Uganda, Republic of Korea, China, Paraguay, Portugal, Cuba, Russian Federation, Romania, and France. Statements were also made by the representatives of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Institute Division and the Centre for Human Rights.
Discussion
FATMA KSENTTNI, of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division, introduced the question of implementation of United Nations standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice. She said the Division had provided training and consultative services in that area to Burundi, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania, Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Eastern Slavonia and Slovakia. Also over the past year, it had held regional seminars and workshops in several countries.
She reviewed the questionnaires which the Division had sent to States on subjects relating to rules and norms. In their responses, States had provided detailed information on their judicial and penal systems and their police, as well as their laws and regulations on the use of firearms. They had also been forthcoming with regard to laws, policies and programmes instituted to benefit victims of crime and abuses of power.
In general, she said, the rate of response had been remarkably high. For example, 75 countries had returned the questionnaire on rules for the treatment of detainees -- up from 49 for the previous survey. There had been 70 responses to the questionnaire on a code of conduct for law enforcement officials, up from 51. Forty-four countries had participated in the survey on crime victims, up from 21. Only the survey on the independence of the judiciary had seen a decline in responses, from 72 to 56. All told, 95 governments had responded to one or more questionnaires.
The Commission might find it useful to find ways to ensure maximum benefit from the information thus collected, by providing for its broad dissemination and creating a database. It could also consider creating an expert subcommittee to formulate recommendations on specific aspects of the implementation of standards and norms, and should encourage governments to set up national mechanisms to promote their utilization. She said that the Division, despite the budgetary constraints under which it laboured, would strive to promote the adoption of norms and standards, and to give a fresh impulse to technical cooperation and assistance in this area. It would
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likewise seek strengthened inter-institutional cooperation, including coordination with United Nations human rights bodies, and would encourage the participation of non-governmental organizations.
JOSEPH A.A. ETIMA, Commissioner-General of Prisons of Uganda, lamented the gap between the lofty provisions contained in United Nations instruments and domestic laws, and the real situation in many countries, particularly with respect to the detention of people by regimes that suppressed opponents of the ruling party. In those instances, prisons had often been used to commit heinous crimes such as torture, arbitrary killing and cruel and degrading treatment. A criminologist had once written that "the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prison". Respect for individuals and their human rights could suffer serious shortfalls in closed institutions such as prisons.
Often, there were considerable discrepancies between national legislation and practice, he said. Factors such as overcrowding, which occurred in many countries' prisons, led to deterioration of the treatment of prisoners. Accordingly, there was a need for national and international human rights laws that would forbid overcrowding in prisons.
The proper protection of prisoners' human rights required the supervision of the adherence to the relevant laws and regulations through bodies independent of the criminal justice administration. Of paramount importance for the protection of their rights was access to independent organizations in order to lodge complaints. Non-judicial remedies such as independent prison inspectors and an ombudsman could be used in addition to allowing prisoners access to the courts. Much remained to be done to further humanize prison conditions, particularly in Africa and other developing countries.
CHANG-YOUNG JUN (Republic of Korea) hoped the discussion on the establishment of an information-gathering mechanism with regard to the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners would lead to widespread information sharing. That mechanism would be instrumental in upgrading prison conditions.
Regarding the development of United Nations minimum rules for the administration of criminal justice, he said there were difficulties with the draft manual. Some of the rules contained in it could not be applied to judicial systems that were not based on the common law system. Given the gap between civil and common law systems, it would not be easy to make rules applicable to both systems and therefore considerable efforts should be made to address that matter.
BAI PING (China) supported the formulation of a model treaty on transnational organized crime and attached great importance to the United
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Nations standards and norms on criminal justice.
In order to make those United Nations norms and standards more effective at the international level, China recommended that the Commission should continue to focus on improving the effectiveness of existing standards and norms, she went on. It should use its limited resources in the promotion of the norms, giving particular attention to their dissemination. Information campaigns about them could be developed; measures to provide technical assistance to Member States would encourage their use. Member States should exchange information on their implementation. An efficient data collection and retrieval system should be established and questionnaires should continue to be used.
Technical and financial assistance was urgently needed by developing countries to improve their ability in that regard, she said, particularly for training in the fields of law enforcement and the judiciary and for establishment of centres for research.
CARLOS PEYRAT (Paraguay) stressed the importance of making individuals aware of their own rights; there was a need to actively counter public fears as well as the lack of respect for the rule of law.
He said his country was seeking to bring national legislation into line with international norms. There were weaknesses in State institutions which must be overcome. He outlined initiatives Paraguay had taken with respect to money laundering, and reviewed bilateral and multilateral agreements to which it was a party. It was waging a full-fledged battle against corruption.
Paraguay viewed with interest the proposal to hold a special session of the General Assembly on drug trafficking, he said. It attached great importance to its participation in international crime control activities. It had suspended all international adoption of Paraguayan children, pending the institution of international regulations that would provide for better protection of the children from illicit traffic and exploitation.
TERESA ALVES MARTINS (Portugal) reaffirmed the importance of ensuring wide dissemination of United Nations standards and norms, not only among criminal justice personnel, but also to the general public. It was particularly important to make the norms accessible by publishing them in local languages.
She recalled a study of crime victims conducted recently in her country, which had analysed the reasons for non-reporting of crimes. A large percentage of respondents had expressed a lack of confidence in the authorities. This and other studies had shown the need for a manual for the protection of victims, as well as for training of personnel at all levels of the criminal justice system, including police, magistrates and social workers.
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Turning to capital punishment, she said that this was an issue of great interest to Portugal. Her country's Constitutional Court had recently decided to deny extradition in cases where the person being extradited might be subject to capital punishment. She stressed the importance of technical cooperation to ensure that all members of the international community could put into practice the norms they were accepting.
ZENAIDA OSORIO VIZCAINO, First Vice-Minister of Justice of Cuba, described penal reforms enacted in her country, including the use of alternatives to detention. Cuba guaranteed to prisoners the right to fair compensation for their labour, as well as the right to have their human dignity respected. They were protected from ill-treatment or abuses by warders.
The prison system was feeling the effects of economic crisis which the whole country faced, but Cuba nonetheless was striving to provide for prisoners' needs, including the need for education and training. She stressed that her Government was striving to bring its penal institutions and practices into line with international standards and norms.
IGOR N. KOZHEVNIKOV (Russian Federation) drew attention to the many norms and standards that existed within international conventions and agreements. Russia supported the continued use of surveys to establish States' compliance with those standards and norms.
It was important to pursue the establishment of standards for the treatment of criminals and also for the care and treatment of the victims of crime, he said. The Commission should keep abreast of new and developing areas of crime such as the new technologies relating to banking laws and crime against the environment.
VIRGIL CONSTANTIN IVAN (Romania) discussed the issue of sexual victimization of juveniles. The reasons behind this victimization were many and varied. Poor social integration of school leavers, children who had abandoned school, poverty, and homelessness contributed to inadequate development of values and morals. Family breakdown, insufficient sexual education, and the influence of alcohol and drugs also contributed to the situation.
There were many actions that needed to be taken to address this issue in Romania, he said. There needed to be statistical reporting of such crimes, specialized social services, and educational programmes. The mass media should be sensitized to discourage the misuse of the image of children. Additionally the country needed to establish public and private services that would protect endangered children and teenagers and ensure their privacy during trials.
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JEAN-PIERRE PICCA (France) said that the proposed United Nations minimum rules for the administration of criminal justice seemed to his Government to be overly ambitious in that they sought to guide such administration throughout the world. The guidelines were too general to lend themselves to adoption in a form that could achieve universal support.
He advocated a more sectoral approach -- one might deal separately with custody issues, the right to defence or pre-trial detention, for example. Furthermore, the draft minimum rules seemed to be inspired by "Anglo-Saxon approaches", which were more accusatory in their tone than the approaches taken under French law.
ROLAND MIKLAU (Austria) said discussion of the question of the death penalty had a long history within the United Nations. In the 1970s, the Economic and Social Council had adopted resolutions that aimed to restrict the use of the death penalty "with a view to the desirability of its abolition in all countries". The issue, however, remained controversial and in 1994 the Council adopted resolutions that provided safeguards such as the right to appeal and the basic right of defence.
The Secretariat's report on this matter showed developments "in both directions", he said. On the one hand, it was reported that an unprecedented number of countries had abolished or suspended the use of the death penalty. On the other, a few countries had reintroduced the death penalty and several others had expanded its use. Sometimes capital punishment was imposed and carried out under very questionable circumstances regarding procedures, the right of defence and appeal proceedings. The safeguards needed to be concretized and, accordingly, Austria had tabled a resolution to that effect. It was clear that the differing and controversial opinions on the death penalty could not be solved or harmonized at this stage. Nevertheless it was time that the international community was reminded of the safeguards protecting the rights of those facing the death penalty.
NIGEL RODLEY, the Human Rights Commission's Special Rapporteur on torture, drew attention to the reports on government responses to the questionnaires. He expressed concern over some responses, such as those justifying the use of torture or other forms of ill-treatment on grounds of national security, and the use of corporal punishment for disciplinary offences in prisons. The Commission should ensure that the responses were widely accessible, and should find ways of giving them serious consideration. He supported the secretariat proposals to that end.
He questioned the decision not to name the countries that had provided responses to the questionnaire on the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials. He noted that the secretariat normally identified responding countries, but had omitted them only in the section on torture.
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He urged delegates to give effect to the proposed integrated plan of action for victims of crime and abuse of power. For example, in the area of services to victims, countries might provide a means of recourse for victims and might support the establishment of an international court on human rights.
BACRE WALY N'DIAYE, the Human Rights Commission's Special Rapporteur on arbitrary executions, said that according to reports he had received, there had been some regressive movement with regard to capital punishment in some countries. Questions had been raised with respect to the fairness of the trials which yielded death sentences. There were also problems having to do with the independence of the judiciary, the right of the accused to adequate time to prepare a defence, and the right to be tried in a language that he or she understood.
There were still too many men, women and children dying in prison, and too many people dying under conditions that had no place in law enforcement. His Commission required that he investigate all complaints that were received.
JOSE GOMEZ DEL PRADO, of the Centre for Human Rights, called for strengthened coordination between United Nations crime control entities in Vienna and human rights entities in Geneva. A prime example of an area where coordination was needed was the development of two draft protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child -- one dealing with children in armed conflict, and the other with child prostitution and pornography.
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