COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE CONCLUDES ITS SIXTIETH SESSION

The Committee against Torture today concluded its sixtieth session after adopting its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Afghanistan, Argentina, Bahrain, Lebanon, Pakistan and the Republic of Korea on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Committee also adopted its annual report.

The Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on the reviewed countries will be available today after 1 p.m. Geneva time on the Committee’s webpage for the session.

Jens Modvig, the Committee Chairperson, said in his closing remarks that during the session, the Committee had adopted its concluding observations and recommendations on Afghanistan, Argentina, Bahrain, Lebanon, Pakistan and the Republic of Korea, lists of issues prior to reporting on Colombia, Luxembourg, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, New Zealand and Romania, and a list of issues on Rwanda.

The Committee undertook its follow-up activities under articles 19 and 22 of the Convention and in relation to reprisals, and examined relevant matters under article 20 of the Convention. So far, the Committee had adopted 17 decisions on individual complaints and would continue their consideration later today.

At the present session, the Committee held a public consultation on the draft General Comment N°1 on article 3 of the Convention on non-refoulement and would continue the drafting of the General Comment at its next session. A thematic discussion on fundamental legal safeguards in relation to the deprivation of liberty continued during the session. The Committee held meetings with the Sub-Committee on Prevention of Torture, States and non-governmental organizations, and also attended a workshop on torture victims in the context of migration organized by the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims for Torture.

Mr. Modvig said that at its sixty-first session, the Committee would hold a thematic briefing on overcrowding organized by Penal Reform International and a plenary meeting with the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Live webcast of the Committee’s public meetings is available at http://webtv.un.org/ and comprehensive meetings coverage of all public meetings held during this session, including the country reviews, here.

The sixty-first session of the Committee against Torture will take place from 24 July to 11 August 2017 at the Palais Wilson in Geneva, during which the Committee will consider the situation in Antigua and Barbuda in the absence of a report, and the reports of Ireland, Panama and Paraguay, which can be read here.



For use of the information media; not an official record

CAT17/012E