COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE OPENS FORTY-FIFTH SESSION IN GENEVA

The Committee against Torture this morning opened its forty-fifth session at the Palais Wilson in Geneva, hearing an address by and holding a dialogue with Anders Kompass, Director of the Field Operations and Technical Cooperation Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Representative of the Secretary-General. The Committee also adopted its agenda and programme of work for the session.

In his opening address, Mr. Kompass said a country office had been inaugurated in Guinea and a new office would soon be operational in Mauritania, bringing the number of human rights field offices throughout the world to 56. One of the main events of these last months had been the Millennium Development Goals Summit in September. The Committee would be pleased to note that the outcome document recognized that the respect for and the promotion and protection of human rights was an integral part of effective work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Mr. Kompass said the High Commissioner’s Office intended to facilitate dialogue among treaty body members and a meeting would be scheduled for the Committee against Torture in the margins of the May 2011 session, together with the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Concerning the Committee’s request for additional meeting time presented to the General Assembly, Mr. Kompass informed the Committee that the pertinent draft resolution was receiving support and that in his view a positive outcome on that issue could be expected.

Committee members then raised a number of questions and issues, including whether the recommendations the Committee had made on the Democratic Republic of the Congo some years ago had been taken into account in the current work on the rape cases in that country, what the thoughts of the High Commissioner’s Office were on how the Committee could best focus its concluding observations, and whether there had been any attempts to harmonize the treaty bodies with the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review.

When the Committee reconvenes in public on Tuesday 2 November at 10 p.m., it will discuss the Istanbul Protocol.

Statements

ANDERS KOMPASS, Director of the Field Operations and Technical Cooperation Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Representative of the Secretary-General, in his opening address, drew the Committee’s attention to important developments that had taken place since the Committee’s last session. In September, the Human Right Council had appointed Mr. Juan Mendez as Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. As noted by Claudio Grossman in his statement to the General Assembly on 19 October, cooperation between the Committee against Torture and the Special Rapporteur was critical to reinforce the global approach to the absolute prohibition of torture.

One of the main events of these last months had been the Millennium Development Goals Summit in September. In a joint statement delivered on that occasion, the Chairpersons of the treaty bodies had drawn attention to the guidance offered by human rights treaties and emphasized that realizing the Millennium Development Goals should be an important step on the road towards the realization of all human rights for all. The Committee would be pleased to note that the outcome document recognized that the respect for and the promotion and protection of human rights was an integral part of effective work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Turning to developments concerning the High Commissioner’s Office and its field work, Mr. Kompass said last August a country office had been inaugurated in Guinea and a new office would soon be operational in Mauritania. This brought the number of human rights field offices throughout the world to 56.

The Committee would also have heard about the “Mapping Report” that the High Commissioner had released on 1 October. The report documented serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1993 to 2003. Last month, a high-level panel convened by the High Commissioner had conducted a mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Chaired by the Deputy High Commissioner, the panel would submit a report to the Congolese Government with recommendations intended to complement ongoing efforts to promote justice by providing assistance and support to victims.

The High Commissioner had also launched a new publication entitled “Preventing Torture: an Operational Guide for National Human Rights Institutions”. A joint publication by the High Commissioner’s Office, the Association for the Prevention of Torture and the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions, this guide built upon the experience acquired during the implementation of joint training programmes for national human rights institutions.

Turning to the challenges facing the treaty body system, Mr. Kompass said the High Commissioner’s repeated call to different stakeholders to reflect on how to strengthen the treaty body system had led to a number of initiatives, notably a treaty body expert meeting in Poznan in September. The final outcome document of that meeting was undergoing final review and would be circulated to the Committee shortly.

Mr. Kompass said the High Commissioner’s Office intended to facilitate dialogue among treaty body members through a series of consultations involving the eight treaty bodies endowed with a reporting procedure. A meeting would be scheduled for the Committee against Torture in the margins of the May 2011 session, together with the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Members of the different treaty bodies had also met in Geneva for the eleventh Inter-Committee Meeting to discuss harmonization of working methods. The recommendations of that meeting were available in the Committee’s files.

Concerning the Committee’s request for additional meeting time presented to the General Assembly, Mr. Kompass informed the Committee that the pertinent draft resolution was receiving support and in the view of Mr. Kompass a positive outcome on that issue could be expected.

During this session, the Committee would examine reports of six States parties – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Mongolia and Turkey – and adopt final concluding observations on these reports. The Committee would also adopt lists of issues prior to reporting for 26 States parties, in accordance with the Committee’s new optional reporting procedure, as well as a standard list of issues for the May 2011 session. The Committee would also continue to follow-up its concluding observations and decisions on individual communications as well as on its confidential inquiry procedure. The Committee would also have before it a number of draft decisions under article 22 of the Convention that had been submitted to the Committee in advance of the session. In addition, the Committee would continue to discuss amended rules of procedure and consider a General Comment on article 14 of the Convention. Finally, the Committee would certainly devote some time to assess its added value and see how it could improve it for the next cycle, as this had been a very successful initiative, but was also a very heavy burden for a Committee with such a small membership.

In the ensuing discussion, Committee members asked, among other things, why the recent meeting in Lebanon on the problem of minorities coming in contact with the police had not been mentioned in the update given by Mr. Kompass, and whether the recommendations the Committee had made on the Democratic Republic of the Congo some years ago had been taken into account in the current work on the rape cases in that country. Experts also wished to know what the thoughts were of the Office of the High Commissioner on how the Committee could focus its concluding observations and whether there had been any attempts to harmonize the human rights treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council.

Responding, Mr. Kompass said his statement had been a short one which could not include all activities. The report on the rape cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was available to the public and could also be viewed by the Committee. On the relationship of the Universal Periodic Review and treaty bodies, Mr. Kompass said an internal working paper on the strategy of the Universal Periodic Review follow-up was available and could be shared with the Committee.

IBRAHIM SALAMA, Director of the Human Rights Treaties Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, providing additional responses, said an internal comparison had been made on the findings of the Universal Periodic Review and those of the Committee. This could be shared with the Committee, Mr. Salama said, also re-emphasizing the principle of non-duplication. As to the Committee’s question on how best to focus its concluding observations, Mr. Salama said this issue had been discussed but not fully explored by the Inter-Committee Meeting, but further information on this would be provided.


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