CAT/OP/CRI/RONPM/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 its first regular visit to Costa Rica from
3 to 14 March 2019. Costa Rica became a party to the Convention against Torture on 11
November 1993 and became a party to the Optional Protocol on 1 December 2005.
2.
The Subcommittee members conducting the visit were: Roberto Fehér Pérez (head
of delegation), María Dolores Gómez, María Luisa Romero, Nora Sveaass and Juan Pablo
Vegas. The Subcommittee was assisted by two human rights officers and two security
officers from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR).
3.
The principal objectives of the visit were (a) to visit places of deprivation of liberty
in order to assist the State party in fully complying with its obligations under the Optional
Protocol, to strengthen the protection of persons deprived of their liberty from the risk of
torture and ill-treatment and (b) to provide advice and technical assistance to the national
preventive mechanism of Costa Rica and to consider the extent to which the Costa Rican
national 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).
4.
The Subcommittee held meetings with the individuals listed in annex I and visited
the places of deprivation of liberty listed in annex II; it interviewed persons deprived of
their liberty, law enforcement and detention officers, medical personnel and others. In
addition, two meetings were held with the national preventive mechanism, which allowed
the Subcommittee to examine the mechanism’s mandate and practices and identify ways to
improve its effectiveness. In order to better understand how the mechanism works in
practice, the Subcommittee also visited, together with the mechanism and in various groups,
a place of deprivation of liberty for women that had been chosen by the national preventive
mechanism (see annex III). That visit was led by the national preventive mechanism, with
the members of the Subcommittee acting as observers.
5.
At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its confidential preliminary
observations orally to the mechanism.
6.
In the present report, the Subcommittee sets out its recommendations and
observations on the functioning of the national preventive mechanism, based on what it was
able to observe during its visit. These recommendations are in line with the Subcommittee’s
obligation to offer training and technical assistance with a view to building the capacities of
national preventive mechanisms, and to advise and assist those mechanisms in evaluating
the needs and the means necessary to strengthen the protection of persons deprived of their
liberty against torture and other ill-treatment,1 in accordance with article 11 (b) (ii) and (iii)
of the Optional Protocol.
7.
The present report will remain confidential until such time as Costa Rica
decides to make it public in accordance with article 16 (2) of the Optional Protocol.
The Subcommittee firmly believes that the publication of the present report would
contribute positively to the prevention of torture and ill-treatment in Costa Rica.
Therefore, the Subcommittee recommends that the mechanism authorize the
publication of the present report and that it inform the Subcommittee of its decision to
do so.
8.
The Subcommittee will prepare a separate confidential report for the Costa Rican
authorities in which it will make recommendations to the State party.
9.
The Subcommittee draws the attention of Costa Rica and the national preventive
mechanism to the Special Fund established under the Optional Protocol to the Convention
(art. 26). Only recommendations contained in those Subcommittee visit reports that have
1
GE.19-21442
The present report uses the generic term “ill-treatment” to refer to any form of cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment, in accordance with article 16 of the Convention against Torture.
3