Committee against Torture

Sixty-second session

Summary record of the first part (public)* of the 1614th meeting

Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Wednesday, 6 December 2017, at 10 a.m.

Chair:Mr. Modvig

Contents

Organizational and other matters (continued)

Closure of the session

The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m.

Organizational and other matters (continued)

1.The Chair said that, during the current session, the Committee had adopted concluding observations on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Italy, Mauritius, the Republic of Moldova, Rwanda and Timor-Leste.

2.The country rapporteurs for the State party reports to be considered at the Committee’s sixty-third session were Ms. Racu and Ms. Gaer for Belarus; Mr. Heller Rouassant and Mr. Touzé for Czechia; himself and Mr. Hani for Norway; Mr. Hani and Ms. Belmir for Qatar; Mr. Touzé and Mr. Heller Rouassant for Senegal; and Ms. Gaer and Ms. Racu for Tajikistan.

3.At the Committee’s sixty-fourth session, the reports for Chile, Mauritania and the Russian Federation would be considered, as would the situation in Seychelles in the absence of a report for that country. The State party reports for the following countries were to be considered at the Committee’s sixty-fifth session: Canada, Guatemala, Maldives, the Netherlands, Peru and Viet Nam. The consideration of each report would, where appropriate, be preceded by confidential briefings from United Nations bodies, national human rights institutions and, where they existed, by national preventive mechanisms, as well as by NGOs.

4.During the current session, the Committee had adopted lists of issues prior to reporting for Austria, Malawi, Serbia, Slovakia, Somalia, Spain and Switzerland and lists of issues for Mauritania and Tajikistan. At its sixty-third session, the Committee would adopt lists of issues prior to reporting for Andorra, Azerbaijan, Denmark, Jordan, Liechtenstein and Thailand. At its sixty-fourth session, it would adopt lists of issues prior to reporting for France, Israel, the Philippines and Turkey and a list of issues for South Africa.

5.During the current session, the Committee had undertaken its follow-up activities under articles 19 and 22 of the Convention and in relation to reprisals and had examined relevant matters under article 20 of the Convention. It had taken decisions on 16 individual complaints and had discontinued 9 others.

6.Following the completion of the first reading of the revised draft general comment No. 1 on the implementation of article 3 of the Convention, which had been prepared by Mr. Bruni, in cooperation with Ms. Gaer and Mr. Hani, and had been discussed in public consultations with stakeholders, the Committee had considered the many written and oral contributions from States, United Nations human rights mechanisms, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, specialized agencies, regional bodies and representatives of academia and civil society. On behalf of the Committee, he expressed his appreciation for those inputs. The Committee was currently in the process of completing a second reading of the revised draft general comment.

7.The Committee had held a joint meeting with the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and had benefited from a thematic briefing on the issue of ill-treatment in psychiatric institutions, organized by the Association for the Prevention of Torture. For the first time, and with the support of the International Institute of Human Rights, the Committee had held a joint meeting with representatives of both the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights had been invited to send a representative to the joint meeting but had not done so. The Committee was grateful to the World Organization Against Torture for its work in coordinating participation by NGOs in the session and to other civil society representatives who had made a special contribution to the session.

8.At its sixty-third session, the Committee would hear thematic briefings on the application of the Convention to children, organized by the World Organization Against Torture, and on the Dublin Regulation. In addition, the Chair of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture would present that body’s annual report to the Committee. The Committee would hold its regular meeting with the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, would meet in plenary with the Convention against Torture Initiative and would meet with the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. A meeting would also be held for States whose initial reports were overdue.

9.On behalf of the Committee, he wished to thank its three outgoing members, Mr. Bruni, Ms. Pradhan-Malla and Mr. Zhang, for their unique contributions to its work.

Closure of the session

10.The Chair, after thanking the many individuals who had facilitated the work of the Committee, said that the current meeting marked the closure of the Committee’s sixty-second session.

The public part of the meeting rose at 10.10 a.m.