CAT/C/PRT/CO/5-6
5.
The Committee welcomes the State party’s ongoing efforts to revise its legislation in
order to give effect to the Committee’s recommendations and to enhance the
implementation of the Convention, including the adoption of:
(a)
(b)
Beings;
Act No. 27/2008 on asylum;
Act No. 229/2008, setting up the Observatory on Trafficking in Human
(c)
Act No. 49/2008, approving the Law on the Organization of Criminal
Investigation;
(d)
Act No. 115/2009, establishing the Code on the Execution of Sentences and
Measures Involving Deprivation of Liberty, and Decree-Law No. 51/2011, establishing the
General Regulation for Prison Facilities, which significantly increased judicial control of
compliance with measures of deprivation of liberty;
(e)
Act No. 104/2009 on compensation to victims of violent crimes and domestic
violence, and Act No. 112/2009 on the legal regime applicable to the prevention of
domestic violence and to the protection of and assistance for its victims; and
(f)
Act No. 113/2009 on protection measures for minors.
6.
The Committee also welcomes the adoption of the following administrative and
other measures:
(a)
The appointment of the Ombudsman as the national preventive mechanism,
in accordance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, on 20 May 2013;
(b)
Order No. 12786/2009 of 19 May 2009, regulating the conditions of
detention in judicial police facilities and in the courts and public prosecution services;
(c)
The Order of the Director-General for Prison Services on the Regulation on
the Use of Coercive Measures, of 3 September 2009; and
(d)
in 2008.
C.
The creation of the National Network of Educational Guardianship Centres,
Principal subjects of concern and recommendations
Definition of torture
7.
While noting the State party’s position that the definition of torture in article 243 of
the Criminal Code is sufficiently broad to cover discrimination among the purposes for
inflicting torture, the Committee observes that the domestic courts have never applied this
article to situations in which torture was inflicted for reasons based on discrimination. The
Committee regrets, therefore, that despite its previous concluding observations
(CAT/C/PRT/CO/4, para. 6), the State party has not yet made a specific reference to
discrimination in the definition of torture set out in the Criminal Code (arts. 1 and 4).
The Committee reiterates its earlier recommendation (CAT/C/PRT/CO/4, para. 6)
and calls on the State party to reconsider amending article 243 of the Criminal Code
to explicitly include discrimination among the purposes for inflicting torture, in strict
conformity with article 1 of the Convention. The Committee draws attention to
paragraph 9 of its general comment No. 2 (2008) on the implementation of article 2 by
States parties, which indicates that discrepancies between the Convention’s definition
and that incorporated into domestic law create potential loopholes for impunity.
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