CAT/C/NOR/CO/5
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c)
The recent adoption of legislative measures to regulate the rights of persons
staying at the Trandum Alien Holding Centre in accordance with the revised UNHCR Guidelines
on Applicable Criteria and Standards for the Detention of Asylum Seekers;
d)
The establishment of a new central unit for the investigation of alleged crimes by
members of the police, with authority to initiate prosecutions, and the allocation of additional
resources to the investigation of reports of crime committed by the police;
e)
The measures taken to ensure that the Committee’s concluding observations are
promptly translated into Norwegian and distributed more widely, including through publication
on the website of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs;
f)
The State party’s regular donations to the United Nations Voluntary Fund for the
Victims of Torture since its establishment; as well as bilateral cooperation and development
assistance aimed at the combat of torture.
C. Principal subjects of concern and recommendations
Incorporation of the Convention
4.
The Committee, while noting the State party’s explanation with regard to its general
principles concerning the transformation of its international obligations into national law and the
reasons for incorporating only the most general international instruments in its Human Rights
Act, nevertheless regrets that the State party has not changed its position with regard to the
specific incorporation of the Convention into Norwegian law.
The State party should further consider incorporating the Convention into domestic
law in order to allow persons to invoke the Convention directly in the courts, to give
prominence to the Convention and to raise awareness of the provisions of the
Convention among members of the judiciary and the public at large.
Definition of torture
5.
The Committee, while noting with appreciation the incorporation of a new provision
prohibiting and penalizing torture in the Penal Code, notes that the wording of the definition of
torture in the Penal Code, in contrast to the definition in article 1 of the Convention, enumerates
specific forms of discrimination as possible motives rather than referring to all types of
discrimination.
The State party should further consider the possible use of wording similar to that
used in the Convention so as to ensure that the definition of torture comprises all
types of discrimination as possible motives.
Non-refoulement
6.
The Committee notes the existence of a so-called “48-hour procedure” for the rejection of
asylum-seekers from countries generally regarded as safe and whose application is assessed as
manifestly unfounded after an asylum interview.