(b)
National Strategy on Domestic Violence for the period 2008 to 2012;
(c)
Establishment of the Seychelles Human Rights Treaty Committee in 2012;
(d)
Judiciary’s Strategic Plan (2010-2014);
(e)
Setting up by the President of the High Level Committee on Prison Reform
and Prison Rehabilitation, in June 2017;
(f)
Issuance of a standing invitation to the special procedures mechanism of the
Human Rights Council, in 2016;
(g)
Efforts made by the State party to translate a number of international human
rights instruments into all official languages, including Creole, and produce related childfriendly materials.
C.
Principal subjects of concern and recommendations
Offence and definition of torture in national legislation
6.
While noting that article 16 of the Constitution provides for the protection of the
“Right to Dignity” stipulating that "every persons has a right to be treated with dignity worthy
of a human being and not to be subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment”, the Committee is concerned that there are no provisions specifically
prohibiting torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the criminal laws
of Seychelles, that there is no definition of torture in its laws in line with article 1 of the
Convention, and that there is a maximum time limit of 90 days after the infraction to seize
the Constitutional Court in relation to violations of the Seychellois Charter of Fundamental
Human Rights and Freedoms, which is part of the Constitution, and in particular of article
16, that would amount to a statute of limitations for judicial review of a violation of the
constitutional prohibition of torture (arts. 1, 2 and 4).
7.
The State party should revise its legislation in order to:
(a)
Amend the Penal Code in order to introduce the specific crime of torture;
in addition, expedite the ongoing pending amendments of the Prison Act and the Police
Forces Act;
(b)
Introduce a definition of torture that includes all the elements set out in
article 1 of the Convention. The Committee draws the State party’s attention to its
general comment Nº 2, in which it states that serious discrepancies between the
Convention’s definition and the one incorporated into domestic law create actual or
potential loopholes for impunity (para. 9);
(c)
Ensure that both the crime of torture and the attempt to commit such a
crime are punishable with appropriate penalties, which take into account the gravity of
their nature, as set out in article 4 (2) of the Convention;
(d)
Ensure that the prohibition of torture is absolute and non-derogable and
that no exceptional circumstances, including a state of emergency or threat of war, can
be used to justify the use of torture;
(e)
Ensure, in keeping with article 2 (3) of the Convention, that obedience to
superior orders cannot be invoked to justify torture, and guarantee in practice the right
of all law enforcement officials and military personnel to refuse to execute, as
subordinates, an order from their superior officers that would result in a violation of
the Convention;
(f)
Ensure that there is no statute of limitations for the crime of torture and
that, where torture offences are concerned, the granting of amnesty and pardon is
inadmissible.
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