CAT/C/CR/28/7
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(b)
Educational initiatives taken by the State party to familiarize various sectors with
international human rights standards, and the extensive efforts made to cooperate with
international organizations to promote understanding of human rights, including by inviting
technical cooperation from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights;
(c)
The State party’s reports of its efforts to draw up a new definition of torture that is
consistent with the definition in article 1 of the Convention, and the introduction of a draft law in
the parliament to allow citizen’s complaints in matters of torture;
(d)
Assurances from the representative of the State party that the State is determined
to establish an independent judiciary;
(e)
The report by the representative of the State party of the establishment of an
appeals system for court sentences and the introduction of alternatives to prison sentences,
releasing detainees on bail;
(f)
The information conveyed by the State party’s representative that responses were
being developed to the findings of an official study into complaints filed with the Ombudsman’s
Office that had revealed a number of questionable judicial convictions, incidents of torture or
ill-treatment by law enforcement officials, and inadequate supervision of the application of
human rights norms by law enforcement agencies;
(g)
The prosecution and sentencing in January 2002 of four police officials to prison
terms for torture, and the statement by the State party’s representative that this was a turning
point signalling the State party’s commitment to enforce the prohibition against torture in
practice.
C. Factors and difficulties impeding
the application of the Convention
4.
The Committee is aware of the difficulty of overcoming the inheritance of a totalitarian
system in the transition towards a democratic form of governance, and that this is compounded
by instability in the region. Nonetheless, the Committee stresses that such circumstances cannot
be invoked as a justification of torture.
D. Subjects of concern
5.
The Committee expresses concern about the following:
(a)
The particularly numerous, ongoing and consistent allegations of particularly
brutal acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment committed
by law enforcement personnel;
(b)
The lack of adequate access for persons deprived of liberty, immediately after
they are apprehended, to independent counsel, a doctor or medical examiner and family
members, an important safeguard against torture;