CAT/OP/SEN/CNPMRO/1
On 11 January 2020, the Director, accompanied by the Secretary-General of the Observatory,
attended a meeting with the Deputy Secretary-General of the Government, at which she
expressed her concerns regarding the urgent need to amend Act No. 2009-13 of 2 March
2009 establishing the National Observatory of Places of Deprivation of Liberty and its
implementing decree No. 2011-842 of 16 June 2011. At that meeting, the Observatory’s
institutional framework, the nature of its relations with the ministry to which it reports, its
budgetary independence and the recruitment of its personnel were all discussed. The Director
sent a memorandum to the Deputy Secretary-General of the Government, in which she
addressed every area of concern. Alongside this memorandum, she sent copies of the
domestic legislation governing the Observatory, the Optional Protocol, the principles relating
to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the
Paris Principles) and the Subcommittee’s report of 30 September 2020
(CAT/OP/SEN/RONPM/R.1). After the meeting, the Director sent an official letter to the
Secretary-General of the Government, urging him to initiate a process of reform in his
capacity as coordinator of the Government’s legislative activity.
7.
Steps were taken to broach this issue with the Chair of the Commission on Laws,
Decentralization, Labour and Human Rights of the National Assembly in 2018 but they have
not yet yielded results.
The Subcommittee recommends that the Observatory prepare a bill for submission to
the National Assembly, independently establishing the terms of the allocation of its
annual budget.
8.
Reply: This recommendation will be taken into account if the steps taken with the
authorities described above are successful. The Observatory makes a commitment in that
regard.
The Subcommittee recommends that the Observatory assess its budget needs and
prepare a detailed forecast to be submitted to the competent authorities, taking into
account all the components of its mandate. The State party should consult the
Observatory in a direct and constructive manner with a view to determining the nature
and amount of the resources it needs to fully discharge its mandate in keeping with the
Optional Protocol.
9.
Reply: The approach recommended by the Subcommittee is that which the
Observatory takes at the beginning of every year when it submits its budgetary requests in
accordance with the forecasts of its annual workplan. However, the authorities have never
consulted with it directly to determine the nature and amount of the resources that it needs to
fully discharge its mandate in keeping with the Optional Protocol. This situation, which does
not allow the Observatory to defend its budget forecasts, is not conducive to the consideration
of its concerns. The size of its budgetary allocations lies at the discretion of the Ministry of
Justice. In early September, when she was informed that the 2021 budgetary process had
begun, the Director sent a letter to the Minister of Justice, requesting that the Observatory be
included in the list of structures allowed to claim additional funding so that it can carry out
all the activities planned for in its annual workplan for 2021. The Observatory’s budgetary
allocations have always been insufficient in relation to its forecasts. As a result of this letter,
the Director of the Observatory was invited to take part in a meeting of the directors and
heads of department of the Ministry of Justice within the framework of the implementation
process for the 2021 programme budget. On that occasion, the Director highlighted the
difficulties that the Observatory faces as a result of its small budget, which barely covers the
cost of the allowances and salaries of its staff and the conduct of its activities throughout the
country, and reiterated the need for a substantial increase in its budgetary allocations, given
not only the importance of its mandate and tasks, but also the need for the State, which has
made an international commitment to the prevention of torture and other ill-treatment by
becoming a party to the Optional Protocol, to comply fully with its obligations. She also
underlined that these budgetary difficulties are preventing the Observatory from recruiting
its own personnel and complying with the requirements related to the qualifications,
independence and multidisciplinary nature of its staff under Act No. 2009-13 of 2 March
2009.
GE.21-03421
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