CAT/C/ARM/CO/3
(a) Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment, in September 2006;
(b) International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance, in January 2011;
(c) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in September 2010;
(d) Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, in September 2006;
(e) Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of
children in armed conflict, in September 2005, and on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography, in June 2005.
(f) Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms concerning the abolition of death penalty, in September 2003.
5.
The Committee welcomes the legislative measures taken during the period under review,
including:
(a) The adoption in 2008 of a law designating the Human Rights Defender as the national
preventive mechanism provided for in the Optional Protocol to the Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
(b) The enactment in March 2002 of the Law on the Custody of Arrestees and Remand
Prisoners;
(c) The adoption in December 2004 of the Penitentiary Code.
6.
The Committee further welcomes:
(a) The establishment in 2006 of public monitoring groups comprising governmental and
non-governmental members;
(b) The standing invitation extended to United Nations special procedures in April 2006,
and the visit by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2010.
7.
The Committee welcomes the oral statement by the delegation that the State party will
consider making the declaration envisaged under article 22 of the Convention, in order to
recognize the competence of the Committee to receive and consider individual
communications.
C.
Principal subjects of concern and recommendations
Allegations of torture and ill-treatment in police custody
8.
The Committee is seriously concerned by numerous and consistent allegations,
corroborated by various sources, of routine use of torture and ill-treatment of suspects in
police custody, especially to extract confessions to be used in criminal proceedings (arts. 2,
4, 12 and 16).
As a matter of urgency, the State party should take immediate and effective steps to
prevent acts of torture and ill-treatment throughout the country. The Committee
urges the State party to promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigate all incidents
of torture, ill-treatment and death in custody; prosecute those responsible; and report
publicly on the outcomes of such prosecutions. In addition, the State party should
unambiguously reaffirm the absolute prohibition of torture and publicly warn that
anyone committing such acts or otherwise complicit or acquiescent in torture will be
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