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provided both in writing and orally to the questions posed by the members during the
examination of the report.
B. Positive aspects
3.
The Committee notes:
(a)
the responsiveness of the State party to some of the previous recommendations of the
Committee, in particular the closure of certain prison facilities previously found to be
problematic, the confirmation that no baton rounds have been fired by either the police nor
the army in Northern Ireland since September 2002 and the dissolution of the Royal Ulster
Constabulary;
(b)
the entry into force in 2000 of the Human Rights Act 1998;
(c)
the entry into force of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 covering acts
committed by United Kingdom nationals or residents either in the State party or abroad; and
the State party’s commitment to preventing British companies from manufacturing, selling or
procuring equipment designed primarily for torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment;
(d)
the judgment of 24 March 1999 of the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords in
the case of R. v. Bartle and the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, ex parte Pinochet
holding that the State party’s courts have jurisdiction over acts of torture committed abroad
and that a former Head of State does not have immunity for such crimes;
(e)
the establishment of an independent Police Complaints Commission for England and
Wales and, in Northern Ireland, the office of Police Ombudsman, and the Northern Ireland
Human Rights Commission;