CAT/C/AUT/CO/3
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The State party should take appropriate measures to ensure that police officers are
not present during medical examinations of persons under police custody in order to
guarantee the confidentiality of medical information, save under exceptional and
justifiable circumstances (i.e. risk of physical aggression).
14.
The Committee is concerned about the conditions of detention of juveniles, particularly
that persons under 18 in places of detention are not always separated from adults.
The State party should:
(a)
Develop alternative measures of detention for juveniles;
(b)
Ensure strict separation of juveniles and adults in places of detention;
(c)
Take preventive measures to avoid physical ill-treatment of juvenile
detainees, including adequate training of officers dealing with juveniles;
(d)
Issue clear instructions from senior officers, both oral and written,
that abusive conduct towards juveniles will not be tolerated.
Prevention of acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
15.
The Committee is concerned about the reported attitudes of racism and intolerance
towards foreigners manifested by some law enforcement officials, such as cases of verbal abuse
of Roma and people of African descent.
The State party should continue to be vigilant in ensuring that the relevant existing
legal and administrative measures are strictly observed and that training curricula
and administrative directives constantly communicate to staff the message that
verbal and physical ill-treatment will not be tolerated and will be sanctioned
accordingly, and that racial motivations will aggravate the offences.
The State party should provide the Committee with data on cases of torture and
ill-treatment where the aggravating factors as stated in section 33 of the Austrian
Criminal Code, including racism and xenophobia, have been invoked in the
assessment of punishment of offences.
16.
The Committee regrets the fact that for numerous areas covered by the Convention, the
State party was unable to supply statistics, or appropriately disaggregate those supplied (e.g. by
age, gender and/or ethnic group). During the current dialogue, this occurred with respect to, for
example, cases of rejection of extradition requests for fear of torture, cases of expulsion of
foreigners and asylum-seekers who have been returned. The State party was also unable to
provide detailed information on cases of sexual violence and on investigations, prosecutions and
punishment of perpetrators of such violations.
The State party should take such measures as may be necessary to ensure that its
competent authorities, as well as the Committee, are fully apprised of these details
when assessing the State party’s compliance with its obligations under the
Convention.