A/HRC/13/39/Add.4
Summary
The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment undertook a visit to Equatorial Guinea from 9 to 18 November 2008.
The Special Rapporteur expresses his gratitude for the invitation extended by the
Government, which he interprets as a sign of the Government’s preparedness to subject its
places of detention to independent scrutiny by an external, objective expert. He appreciates
the Government’s cooperation in issuing authorization letters providing him with access to
prisons and police and gendarmerie custody.
He notes that a comprehensive law prohibiting torture and providing for the
prosecution of torturers was adopted in 2006. However, on the basis of discussions with
public officials, judges, lawyers and representatives of civil society, interviews with victims
of violence and with persons deprived of their liberty, often supported by forensic medical
evidence, he found torture by the police to be systematic in the initial period after arrest and
during interrogation, including by suspension, severe beatings, electroshocks, etc. A
number of cases of corporal punishment were reported to the Special Rapporteur in Malabo
Black Beach and Bata prisons. The Special Rapporteur further observes that neither
safeguards against ill-treatment, nor complaints mechanisms are effective and that
perpetrators of torture and ill-treatment are not prosecuted, with the exception of one case
in 2007. On the contrary, in many cases, victims of torture experience a total lack of justice,
which, combined with the physical and psychological consequences of ill-treatment and the
absence of any rehabilitation or compensation mechanism, may cause ongoing suffering
that might amount to inhuman treatment.
Whereas physical conditions of detention in Black Beach and Evinayong prisons
and in Bata police station were of a high standard, Bata prison and the remaining police and
gendarmerie custody facilities were in urgent need of refurbishment in order to fulfil
international minimum standards. Also, in most police and gendarmerie cells, no food was
provided (unless the family did so) and access to sanitary facilities was either severely
restricted or completely absent. In the Special Rapporteur’s view, detention in such
conditions, in particular for longer periods, amounts to inhuman treatment. The Special
Rapporteur notes with concern that, in Black Beach Prison, persons suspected of political
crimes have been held in solitary confinement for prolonged periods of up to four years.
Moreover, most of them have been held in leg irons practically all the time. He also finds
troubling that in Black Beach Prison family visits appear to be forbidden (except for a
small number of prisoners), which contradicts the spirit of rehabilitation required by
international standards.
The Special Rapporteur regrets that, in violation of international norms, in police
and gendarmerie custody, women and children were not separated from male adults and
were therefore extremely vulnerable to sexual violence and other forms of abuse. Also,
immigrants detained pending deportation were frequently held in police detention in poor
conditions for long periods, with little access to food and/or water. The latter also ran an
increased risk of being subjected to discriminatory practices and sometimes even physical
abuse by other detainees with the tacit approval of the police.
In the assessment of the Special Rapporteur, in order for Equatorial Guinea to
comply with its obligations under both international human rights law and its Constitution,
a comprehensive institutional and legal overhaul establishing law enforcement bodies based
on the rule of law, an independent judiciary, and effective monitoring and accountability
mechanisms are necessary to effectively combat torture.
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