United Nations
General Assembly
A/HRC/34/54/Add.1
Distr.: General
13 December 2016
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Thirty-fourth session
27 February-24 March 2017
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
on his mission to Mauritania
Note by the Secretariat
The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment undertook a visit to Mauritania from 25 January to 3 February 2016. During
the mission, he was able to visit locations of deprivation of liberty throughout the country
and conduct confidential interviews with detainees of his choosing, for which he expresses
appreciation to the Government.
While Mauritania has strengthened its engagement with the international and
regional human rights framework and has adopted several important pieces of legislation
aiming at the eradication of torture and ill-treatment, including the 2015 anti-torture law
and the 2015 law establishing the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture, in
accordance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Special Rapporteur stresses that
Mauritania must now put into practice existing laws and safeguards for the protection of all
individuals from torture and ill-treatment.
GE.16-22017(E)