CAT/C/CR/32/2
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(a) The amendments to the Residence of Aliens Act No. 222/2003 Coll., effective 1 January
2004 establishing an independent judicial second instance body to review asylum cases;
(b) The amendment to the Act on Serving Prison Terms (Act No. 52/2004 Coll.), and certain
related acts, which define conditions in prison in accordance with the standards required and
offer greater protection to detainees;
(c) The Law on Probation and Mediation and the creation of a Probation and Mediation
Service (Act No. 257/2000 Coll.), resulting, inter alia, in the decrease in the number of prisoners;
(d) The Law on the Special Protection of Witnesses, (Act. No. 137/2001 Coll.);
(e) Amendments to the Penal Code (No. 265/2001 Coll.) providing for the direction of
investigation of criminal offences allegedly committed by members of the Police to the State
Prosecuting Attorney instead of the police investigator, as was previously the case;
(f) The introduction in 2003 of the National Strategy on Combating Trafficking in human
beings;
(g) The intention to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention in 2005 and the related
Amendment to the Act of the Ombudsman, approved by the Governments’ Legislative Council,
broadening its powers to act as the National Preventive Mechanism, as envisaged by the
Optional Protocol to the Convention;
(h) The publication of the reports of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture
and responses by the State party as well as assurances that measures will be taken to follow up
on the recommendations.
C.
5.
Subjects of Concern
The Committee expresses concern about the following:
(a) The persistent occurrence of acts of violence against the Roma and the alleged reluctance
on the part of the police to provide adequate protection and to investigate such crimes, despite
efforts made by the State party to counter such acts;
(b) The lack of explicit legal guarantees of the rights of all persons deprived of liberty to
have access to a lawyer, and to notify their next of kin from the very outset of their custody;
(c) The fact that minors are not kept separately from adults in all situations of detention;
(d) The fact that remand prisoners and those serving life sentences cannot work and are left
idle without adequate activities;
(e) The occurrence of inter-prisoner violence and the lack of statistical data that may provide
a breakdown by relevant indicators to facilitate determination of the root causes and the design
of strategies to prevent and reduce such occurrences;