CAT/C/MAR/CO/4
(c)
The ratification of the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land,
Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime, in April 2011;
(d)
Recognition of the competence of the Committee to receive and consider
individual communications under article 22 of the Convention; and
(e)
The withdrawal of various reservations to a number of international
conventions, including the State party’s reservations to article 14 of the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and to article 14 of
the Convention on the Rights of the Child and all of its former reservations to the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
4.
The Committee also takes note with satisfaction of the following measures:
(a)
The adoption by referendum, on 1 July 2011, of a new Constitution which
contains new provisions concerning the prohibition of torture and basic safeguards for
persons who are arrested, detained, prosecuted or convicted;
(b)
The reform of the legal system undertaken by the State party to adjust and
amend laws and practices so as to bring them into line with the country’s international
obligations;
(c)
The establishment on 1 March 2011 of the National Human Rights Council,
which takes the place of the Consultative Council for Human Rights and which has broader
powers than the Consultative Council did, and the establishment of regional offices for the
protection of human rights;
(d)
sentences;
The establishment of a de facto moratorium on the enforcement of death
(e)
The creation of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission as a transitional
justice mechanism for determining the truth with regard to the human rights violations that
occurred between 1956 and 1999 and paving the way for national reconciliation;
(f)
The organization of a variety of human rights training and awareness-raising
activities for justice officials and prison staff, among others.
C.
Principal subjects of concern and recommendations
Definition and criminalization of torture
5.
While aware that bills that would amend the Criminal Code are currently being
processed, the Committee remains concerned by the fact that the definition of torture
contained in article 231.1 of the current Criminal Code is not fully in conformity with
article 1 of the Convention due to its restricted scope. The definition contained in article
231.1 of the Criminal Code encompasses the main elements of article 1 of the Convention,
but does not cover complicity or explicit or tacit consent on the part of law enforcement or
security personnel or any other person acting in an official capacity. The Committee also
regrets to note that the Criminal Code does not establish the imprescriptibility of the crime
of torture, its previous recommendations in that regard notwithstanding1 (arts. 1 and 4).
The State party should ensure that the bills currently before Parliament extend the
scope of the definition of torture to conform to article 1 of the Convention against
Torture. The State party should also make certain that, in keeping with its
1
2
CAT/C/CR/31/2, recommendation 6 (d).
GE.11-47997