E/CN.4/2005/62
page 3
Introduction
1.
The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, created in 1985 and
exercised since November 2001 by Theo van Boven (the Netherlands), was renewed for three
more years by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 2004/41. The Special
Rapporteur hereby submits his fourth report to the Commission, in accordance with the
resolution.
2.
Section I summarizes the activities of the Special Rapporteur in 2004 since the
submission of his third interim report to the General Assembly (A/59/324). In section II, the
Special Rapporteur reports on his findings on the situation of trade in and production of
equipment which is specifically designed to inflict torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment, its origin, destination and forms.
3.
The summary of communications sent by the Special Rapporteur
from 16 December 2003 to 30 November 2004, and the replies received thereto from
Governments by 15 December 2004, as well as a number of country-specific observations
are found in addendum 1 to the report. Addendum 2 contains the summary of the
information provided by Governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the
implementation of recommendations of the Special Rapporteur following country visits.
4.
In the reports submitted to the Commission and the General Assembly, the Special
Rapporteur and his predecessors have examined issues of special concern with respect to torture
and other forms of ill-treatment. Readers are referred to the annex to the Special Rapporteur’s
previous report (E/CN.4/2004/56), containing a list of the issues considered by all the
mandate-holders to date. The addition of the report to the General Assembly and the present
report will complete this list.
I. ACTIVITIES OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR
5.
The Special Rapporteur draws the attention of the Commission to paragraphs 6-12 of his
third interim report to the General Assembly, in which he described his activities in 2004 since
the submission of the last report to the Commission on Human Rights.
6.
The Special Rapporteur would like to bring the Commission up to date on the activities
he has undertaken since the submission of his report to the General Assembly. Regarding
country visits, the Government of China, which had postponed the visit scheduled to take place
at the end of June 2004, invited the Special Rapporteur to visit the country in November 2004.
He observes, however, that his letter of September 2004 requesting confirmation from the
Government of the programme and modalities for the visit went unanswered, and the visit finally
did not materialize. No response was received from the Government of the United States of
America concerning the request made jointly in January 2004 with the Special Rapporteur on the
right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental
health to visit the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. However, in relation to
the request, contained in the joint statement on the protection of human rights in the context of
anti-terrorism measures, adopted at the eleventh meeting of the special procedures of the
Commission (E/CN.4/2005/5, annex I, sect. A), that the Special Rapporteur on the independence
of judges and lawyers, the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary