CAT/OP/DEU/1/Add.1 I. Introduction 1. From 8 to 12 April 2013 a delegation of the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT) paid an advisory visit to Germany. The purpose of this visit was to provide advice and offer technical assistance to the German national preventive mechanism (in Germany: the National Agency for the Prevention of Torture in Wiesbaden). 2. On the occasion of the SPT’s visit, two meetings with representatives of the Federation and Länder also took place at the Federal Ministry of Justice on 8 and 12 April 2013. 3. Following this visit, by forwarding letter of 29 July 2013, the SPT sent an initially confidential report to the Federal Government, which contains a series of recommendations for improving the performance of the National Agency for the Prevention of Torture. 4. In its forwarding letter, the SPT requested that the German authorities provide a response within six months, i.e. by 29 January 2014, on the status of implementation of these recommendations. 5. The Federal Government hereby submits that response, which is based on the structure of the SPT Report and refers to the margin numbers used therein. The individual answers, however, are grouped according to topic. Each response is preceded by a reference to the relevant recommendations. II. Response 6. With reference to the recommendations of the SPT contained in paragraphs 26, 28, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 and 49 of the SPT visit report (CAT/OP/DEU/1) as well as raising other issues, the SPT strongly criticised the resources available to the National Agency for the Prevention of Torture. The delegation urgently recommended that the Federal Republic of Germany better equip the National Agency in terms of both funding and personnel (staff numbers and range of disciplines). The Commission currently does not include experts from the fields of policing, psychiatry, child/youth welfare services, or care. 7. On 12 and 13 June 2013, the 84th Conference of German Justice Ministers (JuMiKo) dealt with the issue of the resources available to the Joint Commission of the German Länder for the Prevention of Torture. 8. Starting 1 July 2013, senior civil servant Dr. Helmut Roos (Ministerialdirigent) and former senior civil servant Mr. Michael Thewalt (Leitender Regierungsdirektor, ret.) were appointed as new members of the Joint Commission. 9. Furthermore, the Conference of German Justice Ministers spoke out in favour of providing the Joint Commission with additional expertise from sectors in which people are deprived of their liberty that do not fall within the remit of the justice system, and aims to increase the number of honorary members from four to eight in total. On behalf of the Conference of German Justice Ministers, Saarland (the Land chairing the Conference at that time) called upon the Conference of German Interior Ministers (IMK) and the Conference of German Labour and Social-Affairs Ministers (ASMK) to examine the possibility of making a financial contribution towards this expansion. 10. While the ASMK and IMK announced their desire to participate in the selection of suitable individuals for an enlarged Commission with multidisciplinary competence, they rejected financial participation for the time being, which means that the Conference of German Justice Ministers will now have to decide how to proceed. 2

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