CAT/OP/CHE/ROSP/1
I. Introduction
1.
In accordance with its mandate under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Subcommittee
on Prevention of Torture carried out a visit to Switzerland from 27 January to 7 February
2019.
2.
Switzerland ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment on 2 December 1986, and the Optional Protocol on 24
September 2009. In the same year, the National Commission for the Prevention of Torture
was established to be the national preventive mechanism.
3.
The Subcommittee members conducting the visit were: Catherine Paulet (head of
delegation), Satyabhooshun Gupt Domah, Gnambi Garba Kodjo, Petros Michaelides,
Abdallah Ounnir and Haimoud Ramdan. The Subcommittee was assisted by three Human
Rights Officers from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR) and by interpreters.
4.
The principal objectives of the visit were:
(a)
To visit a range of places of deprivation of liberty in order to assist the State
party in fully implementing its obligations under the Optional Protocol, particularly the
obligation to strengthen the protection of persons deprived of their liberty from the risk of
torture and ill-treatment;
(b)
To provide advice and technical assistance to the national preventive
mechanism and to consider the extent to which the national and cantonal authorities are
supporting its work and responding to its recommendations, taking account of the
Subcommittee’s guidelines on national preventive mechanisms (CAT/OP/12/5).
5.
The delegation held meetings with those persons listed in annex I and visited the
places of deprivation of liberty listed in annex II. It conducted interviews with persons
deprived of their liberty, law enforcement and detention officers, medical personnel and
others. Meetings were held with members of the national preventive mechanism and a visit
was conducted, together with members of the mechanism, to a place of deprivation of liberty
chosen by it, with the delegation as observers.
6.
At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its confidential preliminary
observations orally to the authorities, with a representative of the national preventive
mechanism present.
7.
The Subcommittee refers to the agreement it concluded with the European Committee
for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) in
June 2018, which is aimed at reinforcing the complementarity of the two mechanisms, and
to the visits carried out to Switzerland by CPT. 1
8.
The Subcommittee recommends that the present report be distributed to all relevant
authorities, departments and institutions, including those to which it specifically refers.
9.
The present report will remain confidential until such time as Switzerland decides to
make it public in accordance with article 16 (2) of the Optional Protocol, which the
Subcommittee recommends, as it firmly believes that the publication of reports contributes
to the prevention of torture and ill-treatment in States parties.
10.
The Subcommittee draws the attention of Switzerland to the fact that applications for
financing from the Special Fund established under the Optional Protocol to the Convention
(art. 26), in accordance with its published criteria, can be made when visit reports have been
made public.2
1
2
GE.21-03779
Visites menées en 1991, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2011 et 2015. Voir
http://www.coe.int/fr/web/cpt/switzerland.
Voir www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/OPCAT/Fund/Pages/SpecialFund.aspx.
3