COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE CONCLUDES SIXTY-FIRST SESSION

The Committee against Torture today concluded its sixty-first session after adopting concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Antigua and Barbuda, Ireland, Panama and Paraguay on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on the reviewed countries are available on the session’s webpage.

Summarizing the sixty-first session, Jens Modvig, Committee Chairperson, said that the Committee had adopted concluding observations on Antigua and Barbuda, Ireland, Panama and Paraguay. It had undertook 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 concerning confidential inquiries. So far, the Committee had adopted 13 decisions on individual complaints and would continue their consideration later today.

Following the completion of the first reading of its revised draft General Comment on article 3 of the Convention concerning non-refoulement, and the public consultations with all relevant stakeholders that had taken place during the sixtieth session of the Committee in May 2017, the Committee had considered during the current session the many written and oral contributions from States, United Nations human rights mechanisms, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, specialized agencies, regional bodies, academia and civil society representatives, and Mr. Modvig thanked all those who had provided their written and oral inputs on the draft General Comment.

The Committee held separate joint meetings with the Human Rights Committee, facilitated by the Geneva Academy, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, and benefited from an expert workshop on overcrowding organized by Penal Reform International, el Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation.

The Chairperson thanked the World Organization against Torture for its coordination role vis-à-vis non-governmental organizations as well as other civil society representatives who had made a special contribution to the session.

Turning to the programme of work for the next session, Mr. Modvig said that it would include a thematic briefing on ill-treatment in psychiatric institutions organized by the Association for the Prevention of Torture; and a joint plenary meeting with the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; as well as a plenary meeting with regional courts. Furthermore, the Committee woud continue the discussion of the draft General Comment on article 3 of the Convention on non-refoulement.

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-second session of the Committee against Torture will take place from 6 November to 6 December 2017 at the Palais Wilson in Geneva, during which the reports of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Mauritius, Republic of Moldova, Rwanda and Timor-Leste, available here, will be considered.



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