CAT/C/AZE/CO/3
adoption of a State programme on development of the Azerbaijani justice system for 2009–
2013, which, inter alia, envisages improvements for convicted persons;
(c)
The ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, in 2009;
(d)
The ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
and the Optional Protocol thereto, in 2009.
5.
The Committee also notes with satisfaction the following developments:
(a)
Adoption of a national plan of action for the protection of human rights, on
28 December 2006;
(b)
Launching of a prison reform programme in 2006;
(c)
Establishment of a public committee to monitor penitentiary institutions;
(d)
Establishment of the Council of State support for non-governmental
organizations under the President’s administration, in 2007, and allocation of additional
resources to NGOs;
(e)
The efforts made in order to improve the conditions of detention of prisoners
and the measures taken resulting in the substantial reduction of the rate of mortality from
tuberculosis in prisons since 1995.
6.
The Committee welcomes the commitment of the State party delegation to make
public reports on the findings of the three visits since 2005 of the European Committee for
the Prevention of Torture to Azerbaijan.
C.
1.
Main subjects of concern and recommendations
Overarching considerations regarding implementation
7.
Despite the Committee’s requests for specific statistical information in the list of
issues and the oral dialogue with the State party, the Committee regrets that it was not
provided. The absence of comprehensive or disaggregated data on complaints,
investigations, prosecutions and convictions of cases of torture and ill-treatment by law
enforcement personnel, as well as concerning detention conditions, abuse by public
officials, and domestic and sexual violence severely hampers the identification of possible
patterns of abuse requiring attention (arts. 2 and 19).
The State party should compile statistical data relevant to the monitoring of the
implementation of the Convention at the national level, disaggregated by gender, age,
geographical region and type and location of place of deprivation of liberty, as well as
information on complaints, investigations, prosecutions and convictions of cases of
torture and ill-treatment, detention conditions, abuse by public officials,
administrative detention, and domestic and sexual violence, and outcomes of all such
complaints and cases. The State party should provide the Committee with the abovementioned detailed information, including on the number of complaints of torture
that have been submitted since 2003.
2.
Definition of torture
8.
The Committee welcomes the commitment by the State party to amend article 133
of the Criminal Code in order to bring the definition of torture into full compliance with the
definition provided in article 1 of the Convention. The Committee reiterates its concern that
the definition of torture in article 133 of the current Criminal Code omits references to the
purposes of torture set forth in the Convention, such as “for any reasons of discrimination
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