Committee against Torture
Seventy-fifth session
Summary record of the 1943rd meeting
Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Thursday, 3 November 2022, at 10 a.m.
Chair:Mr. Heller
Contents
Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention (continued)
Second periodic report of Chad (continued)
The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m.
Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention (continued)
Second periodic report of Chad (continued) (CAT/C/TCD/2; CAT/C/TCD/Q/2)
At the invitation of the Chair, the delegation of Chad joined the meeting.
Mr. Ahmad (Chad) said that, owing to travel difficulties, the delegation members expected from the capital could not attend. However, they had provided the necessary information to allow a delegation from the Permanent Mission to respond to the questions posed by the Committee in the first half of the dialogue.
A representative of Chad said that the transitional President had recently signed a decree on the establishment of an observatory for the promotion of gender equality and equity, which would collect data and conduct research to monitor the situation regarding women’s rights. Chad was not immune to the scourge of violence against women, which was too often seen as a private matter instead of a criminal offence. Her Government was committed to implementing the crime prevention and criminal justice measures to eliminate violence against women recommended by the United Nations and had adopted a number of laws to that end. It encouraged victims to file complaints in order to ensure they received appropriate support; the complaints had resulted in prosecutions and convictions. It was also working with partners to ensure the effective implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. The police, prosecution service, courts, prisons, social services, civil society organizations and political and religious leaders in all regions of the country worked together to help protect victims and achieve the social reintegration of perpetrators.
No gender quotas applied to recruitment to the police or judiciary and no gender discrimination was allowed. The transitional authorities expected that future institutions established under a new Constitution would operate in accordance with the commitments made during the inclusive and sovereign national dialogue. The transitional President had already taken measures to increase transparency in the appointment of public officials by involving the Council of Ministers in the selection process. The Government was committed to increasing women’s representation in the police force and judiciary, which would improve community relations and the police response to violations of women’s rights, and considered that the most effective way to recruit women to male-dominated professions was to improve girls’ education.
Incest, rape and sexual harassment were all prohibited under the Criminal Code. Further measures to combat such violence included awareness-raising actions aimed at the general public and at religious and traditional leaders, media messaging and seminars organized by the Government and international partners. In 2015, a law had been adopted to set the minimum age of marriage at 18 years and introduce harsh penalties for violations of its provisions. Nonetheless, over 400 cases of forced early marriage had been recorded since the last quarter of 2020, resulting from a misinterpretation of religious requirements. However, recent positive changes in attitudes had been observed in several regions.
National law, including the provisions prohibiting rape, applied equally to refugee camps. The Chadian authorities regularly liaised with the international bodies responsible for the camps to ensure that the foreign nationals living there understood the importance of respect for national law. To ensure redress for victims of gender-based violence, including rape, four integrated service centres had been established, providing health care, psychological support, legal aid and assistance, social security and social rehabilitation free of charge. In some regions, medical and psychological support was provided through legal clinics and centres run by Cooperazione Internazionale. Victims of sexual violence received preventive and curative treatment and follow-up care for sexually transmitted diseases.
Female genital mutilation was prohibited by the Criminal Code as well as under specific laws on reproductive health and the prohibition of child marriage. The Government, partners, non-governmental organizations and child protection actors had taken a number of actions, appointing ambassadors to advocate against female genital mutilation and facilitating the signature of commitments by traditional leaders and practitioners to end the practice. However, statistics showed that 38 per cent of women in Chad between the ages of 15 and 49 had been subjected to female genital mutilation and over 4,000 cases had been registered since the last quarter of 2020 to date.
All military personnel involved in peacekeeping operations abroad received predeployment training under the aegis of the United Nations, which covered international humanitarian law, child protection, rules of engagement and codes of conduct. Partners including the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also organized training and awareness-raising on international law for security forces participating in international peace missions.
Mr. Ahmad (Chad) said that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) was providing assistance with the operationalization of the observatory for the promotion of gender equality and equity, which was considered a priority under the transition road map. The importance of respect for international humanitarian law was taught in military training colleges and then covered in more detail in United Nations predeployment training.
A representative of Chad said that implementation of the Convention in Chad must be considered in the context of the major security, economic and public health challenges the country faced. Although competitive examinations for recruitment to the police and judiciary were open to persons of both sexes and a law on parity provided for gender parity in important decision-making positions, women would not have access to such positions without better education and training. Since Chad was a traditionally oral society, the Government concentrated its awareness-raising efforts for women on broadcasts on private and public radio stations.
The National Human Rights Commission comprised 11 members, including at least four women, selected for their probity, integrity and proven experience in human rights work. With the exception of two independent figures, all the members came from civil society organizations. In accordance with the Commission’s founding instruments, the selection process was conducted by an ad hoc committee chaired by the head of the parliamentary commission, which was required to act diligently and independently, applying objective criteria, and to ensure that the procedure specific to each sector represented on the Commission was respected. The transitional President did not appoint the members.
The majority of the Commission’s funding came from the State, with only a small proportion provided by partners such as the United Nations Development Programme and OHCHR. To become truly effective, the Commission would require greater technical and financial support. The health sector was not currently represented on the Commission, which was a gap that could be rectified through a future amendment to the founding instrument. Any presidential decree, including the decree on the appointment of the Commission’s members, could in principle be repealed; however, such an action would be detrimental to the Commission’s credibility and public image.
The Commission had rules of procedure to govern its meetings and decision-making processes. The 11 commissioners adopted decisions, resolutions and recommendations by a simple majority vote, with a two-thirds majority required for elections or amendments to the rules. Decisions could also be made by consensus.
The Commission conducted investigations into all reports of torture. If it found that torture had occurred, it could make the information publicly available or keep it confidential, as appropriate.
The Commission’s main functions were to submit opinions to the Government on human rights issues, assist the Government and other institutions in human rights-related matters, contribute to reviewing existing legislation and developing new standards, produce relevant surveys, studies and publications, advise the Government on the ratification of international human rights instruments and promote human rights nationwide through information, education and outreach activities. It was also responsible for drawing the attention of the authorities to human rights violations, proposing measures to rectify them, undertaking thematic investigations and submitting relevant recommendations, and monitoring the human rights situation during elections.
In accordance with its founding instrument, the Commission acted as a monitoring mechanism for places of detention. It could visit any place of detention and had never encountered restrictions from the authorities. It was permitted to take photographs in places of detention and had done so as part of its investigation into the deaths of 44 alleged members of Boko Haram in 2020. The Commission did not need to receive any prior authorization before carrying out visits to detention centres, and those visits could be either unannounced or scheduled with the authorities.
The Commission submitted an annual report to the Government on the situation of human rights in Chad as well as an annual report on its activities. To date, there had been no reports produced by the Commission specifically on the subject of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The delegation would welcome the Committee’s support in producing specific reports on the subject. The reports produced by the Commission, for example the report on the deaths of presumed Boko Haram detainees in 2020, were available at its headquarters and would be available online once a planned website had been developed.
The system for nominating members of the National Human Rights Commission ensured that they remained independent and came from different origins. Nevertheless, the Commission and its independence could be strengthened by making it answerable to a non-executive body rather than the Government; offering sufficient remuneration to ensure that its members were highly qualified and worked full-time; clarifying the legislation prohibiting members from receiving direct or indirect instruction from any government official; improving cooperation with international institutions; and ensuring that the Commission enjoyed greater financial independence.
The State party had already demonstrated cooperation with the United Nations system with regard to enforced disappearances, when the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances had brought 33 cases of enforced disappearance in Chad to the attention of the Government in 2009. The ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance was now included in the national action plan on follow-up to the recommendations from the country’s universal periodic review and would be completed as soon as possible.
There was currently no mechanism in place for providing compensation to victims of human rights violations. However, the work of a new commission responsible for recording human rights violations for the period between January 2005 and December 2021 would help to identify perpetrators and victims of such crimes and could lead to prosecutions and compensation.
National legislation on the audiovisual, print and online media provided for the protection of journalists. The country’s high authority for media also provided journalists with a press card which allowed access to all places and protection from human rights violations.
Although no specific statistics were available regarding torture, violations of human rights in the country were not subject to statutes of limitation and all such cases known to the authorities were prosecuted.
The provisions of article 51 of the Criminal Code, which required the accused to be informed of their right to a lawyer, did not mean that lawyers could not be present at preliminary hearings, but rather allowed inquiries to proceed without the presence of a lawyer. Lawyers were available to defendants in many regions of Chad and, in criminal cases, lawyers were appointed by the courts to assist victims, regardless of where the trial was taking place, with the costs subsidized by the State.
All large prisons had infirmaries; in prisons without such facilities, ill detainees were referred to local health centres. The National Human Rights Commission and non-governmental organizations regularly carried out visits to prisons to investigate any shortcomings in detention conditions, requesting government intervention if necessary.
Mr. Ahmad (Chad) said that his Government was working on several projects in collaboration with the OHCHR country office. The projects included work on verifying the lawfulness of detention, tracking human rights violations, in cooperation with the mechanisms of the transitional justice system, and analysing the role of human rights agencies in the country’s transition period.
The Government would not consider reversing the decision to abolish the death penalty and there were currently no persons condemned to death or waiting on death row in the country.
The Government of Chad was one of the primary contributors to the indemnity fund for victims of the Habré regime, to which it had contributed 10 billion CFA francs. He wished to take the opportunity to remind other contributors to the fund to honour their pledges.
His Government deplored all deaths associated with the events of 20 October 2022 and expressed its solidarity with the families of those who had died. It should be noted that the events had actually begun the night before, on 19 October 2022, and were not a matter of peaceful assembly. The Government considered that the events had been caused by the actions of armed groups of violent militants who had attacked symbols of the State such as police stations, called for public services to be closed down, and announced the establishment of a new government. Although a request for permission to assemble had been made, it was made after the required deadline and did not meet the conditions for legal assembly. Given also that the organizers of the march had called for uprising and revolt, the Government had prohibited the demonstration because of the risk it presented to public order and the stability of the country. Although there had been reports of armed men in plain-clothes firing at the crowd from unmarked vehicles, there was no evidence that they had been law enforcement officials.
Peaceful assembly had been permitted in the country since the beginning of the transition period in April 2021, and peaceful marches had been organized during that time. In the case at hand, however, there had been coordinated attacks in many areas of N’Djamena, as well as in three other provinces of the country, targeting law enforcement agencies and national authorities, including the offices of former and present prime ministers, and some 15 law enforcement officers had been killed. The events had therefore not been a case of repression, but rather a response to violent insurrection. It should be mentioned that people who were neither protesters nor law enforcement officers had also been killed during the incidents.
He asked why the accusations made against his Government had been taken as the truth by the Committee; it seemed that efforts made by the protesters to blame the Government for events had succeeded, even though the accusations levelled were contradictory. The Government had demonstrated its openness to all political opinions by engaging in an inclusive national dialogue over a period of many months, a process which had now been undermined by the instigators of the events of 20 October 2022.
There was no provision in the law of the State party which allowed for or justified the repression of assembly. The legislation currently in force allowed all activities of political parties and civil society associations. During the transition period, some political parties had had permission to continue functioning, peaceful marches had been authorized and about 10 new political parties had been created.
In response to questions on the use of Ordinance No. 46 to justify the use of force during public gatherings, he said that the relevant regulation had been amended and it was now only legal to use firearms in legitimate cases of extreme necessity. The national action plan on follow-up to the recommendations from the country’s universal periodic review included updating Ordinance No. 46 to align it with international standards. Violence during a public gathering in May 2021 had been condemned by the Transitional Government; those arrested at the time for disturbing public order had since been released.
Rumours of violence by officials of the National State Security Agency, formerly known as the National Security Agency, were examples of anti-Government rhetoric from opponents and the organizers of the 20 October march. The rumours had been fuelled by social media and were completely unfounded; there was no credible evidence of torture or illegal acts having been committed by agency officials. The Government had no knowledge of any credible witness accounts that would support such rumours. He requested the Committee to show greater understanding for the Government’s position and to be more rigorous in assessing the information it received.
Reports of so-called secret prisons were also unfounded. The National State Security Agency maintained custodial centres for those awaiting trials for crimes which could directly impact national security, such as terrorism or trafficking in persons. The existence of such centres was well known and both the National Human Rights Commission and the International Committee of the Red Cross had visited the centres and been satisfied with the conditions of detention. For those on trial for crimes threatening national security, measures were in place that guaranteed their protection and the preservation of their health and dignity.
Following a recommendation made at the inclusive national dialogue, the transitional military council had been dissolved. The Government had every intention of fulfilling its human rights obligations and would do everything possible to comply with international standards.
The transitional charter had the status of a constitutional law and provided for the respect of human rights. The mission of the Transitional Government was to implement the decisions and recommendations of the inclusive and sovereign national dialogue in accordance with constitutional texts, including the charter. Since April 2021, authorization had been granted for all demonstrations meeting the requirements to be considered peaceful. As in other countries, applications for authorization were refused if there was a risk to public order or if the applicants were of questionable character. No journalists were currently in prison because of their professional activities.
The decision of parties in a criminal case to engage in the practice of paying blood money had no effect on the conduct of criminal proceedings and did not bring such proceedings to an end. Similarly, the Code of Criminal Procedure continued to apply even if those involved in a criminal case reached an out-of-court agreement.
The Koro Toro prison, a high-security facility, fell under the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice. Visits were allowed. The last visit of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which visited the prison monthly if possible, had taken place in October.
Investigations into the events of 20 October 2022 were under way. The Government had, with regret, announced some fifty deaths. Because judicial officials had been on strike for two months, police and gendarmerie holding cells in N’Djamena had been full at the time of the events. The rebels arrested by the defence and security forces had therefore been taken to the Koro Toro prison. An investigative team, including officers of the criminal investigation service, prosecutors and judges, had been sent to Koro Toro on 29 October 2022. Once they had completed their work, the Government would know the precise number of detainees. Judicial commissions of inquiry had been set up in the four cities where demonstrators had been arrested. The commissions would investigate the acts of violence committed by civilians and by the military and seek both inculpatory and exculpatory evidence. The Government now had to wait for the judicial proceedings to run their course.
A representative of Chad said that a circular issued by the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Defence and the Minister of Territorial Administration and Public Security reaffirmed that cases of murder must be prosecuted regardless of any agreement reached between the victim’s family and the perpetrator regarding the payment of compensation. The widely held view among the public that the payment of blood money brought criminal cases to a close did not reflect the laws in force.
Under domestic law, pretrial detention was an exceptional measure and, if ordered, was subject to strict time limits. The indictments chamber ensured that pretrial detention was carried out in a manner consistent with the law. Many detainees who had been found to have been held beyond the established time limits had been released.
Domestic law clearly provided for prosecution in cases of trafficking in persons, and vehicles used for transportation in such cases had been confiscated by the courts. Presidential Directive No. 008 of 2013 on respect for the minimum age of recruitment into the Chadian Army prohibited the enlistment of children under 18 years of age and provided for penalties for officers who engaged in the practice. Any children found in the army were taken into the care of the child protection services.
Mr. Ahmad (Chad) said that all security and law enforcement services in Chad, which was located in an area of transit for activities involving trafficking in persons, had been given new counter-trafficking responsibilities. He wished to point out that the gendarmerie was a branch of the Chadian National Army. It carried out criminal investigations and administrative and military policing functions and contained various specialized units, including search units, a forensic unit and a counter-terrorism squad.
Mr. Touzé (Country Rapporteur) said that a February 2021 report of the National Human Rights Commission had found that local judicial officials failed to apply laws against female genital mutilation and trafficking in persons because they feared for their lives if they did apply them. According to the report, there had been more than 11,400 cases of female genital mutilation between 2018 and 2020. He would like to know what specific measures had been taken to address that situation and effectively counter those two practices.
It was important for the State party to put in place mechanisms to collect data on the prison population, as such data would help it to monitor overcrowding and develop effective measures for implementing its Convention obligations. As several reports had described substandard conditions of detention in prisons, including limited access to water and very poor sanitary conditions, it would be helpful to have an update on the Government’s efforts to improve prison conditions. He also wished to find out whether the recommendations made by the National Human Rights Commission following its investigation into the deaths of 44 prisoners in the night of 14 April and the early morning of 15 April 2020 – deaths that the Commission had found to have been caused by the extreme overcrowding and ambient heat in the prison cell and the prisoners’ lack of food and water – had been implemented.
The Committee would appreciate data on the number of complaints of torture that had been made and the number of investigations, prosecutions and convictions that had ensued, because such data would help it assess how effectively the police and the justice system responded to claims of torture in practice. An immediate judicial response to claims of torture would help diminish any public perception of impunity, which was a word that often appeared in civil society reports about cases of torture in Chad. He also wished to know whether the State party had followed up on the recommendation made by the National Human Rights Commission of the Niger that the Government of Chad should prosecute a group of Chadian soldiers who had allegedly committed acts of torture while conducting a military operation in the Niger.
The Committee would appreciate copies of any prison visit reports prepared by the National Human Rights Commission that the delegation might have, including reports of visits to the Koro Toro prison.
Referring to comments made by the head of delegation at the earlier meeting, he said that he had referred to “deportations” to the Koro Toro prison because that was the language used in the civil society reports that he was taking his figures from, perhaps because the Koro Toro prison was so isolated. However, he agreed with the head of delegation that the term was not the correct legal term in that context.
Mr. Buchwald (Country Rapporteur) said that the Committee did not simply accept accusations levelled against the State party as true; it used the reports that it received as a source of information to raise questions and concerns. He wished to know whether the reason for the lack of response from the delegation regarding the number of people who had been sent to Koro Toro in connection with the events of 20 October 2022 was that the Government simply did not know how many people had been sent there. He would appreciate clarification as to whether the Government believed that the men who had reportedly got out of unmarked cars and shot into crowds were definitely not government agents: or would that question be decided by the courts?
He would like to know whether judicial officials in the State party were still on strike and whether that was one of the reasons why the delegation was unable to provide more information on the situation in the Koro Toro prison. Certain important pieces of information regarding the people who had been detained at that facility following the previous month’s protests were still unclear. It would be helpful to understand whether all the persons held there had been charged and, if so, the nature of those charges. He also wished to know how many of them had already appeared before a judge and how long it had taken to bring their cases to court. Confirmation as to whether the families of the detainees had been informed of their whereabouts would be of particular interest, as would an indication as to whether the detainees had been given medical examinations. Lastly, it would be useful to know when the Government expected to receive a report from the investigative team that it had sent to Koro Toro at the end of October.
The Committee had received reports that the bodies of the fifty or so people killed during the protests had not been returned to their families. It would welcome an indication as to the number of bodies that had still not been returned and an estimation as to when they would be sent to the families of the deceased. More generally, he wished to know whether Ordinance No. 46 of 1962, which provided for the use of force as a means to deal with demonstrations liable to disturb the public order, had been superseded by the code of ethics of August 2019, under which the national police and gendarmerie were advised only to use force in cases of extreme necessity. To his mind, those provisions appeared to contradict one another.
He invited the delegation to confirm that the Koro Toro facility could be visited not just by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the National Human Rights Commission but also by non-governmental organizations. Further details on the procedures that such organizations had to follow to request a visit would also be of interest. Once inside, were they authorized to question detainees in private? If so, he wondered whether any mechanisms had been put in place to protect detainees from the risk of reprisals for what they said during those interviews.
He would appreciate clarification as to what it meant in practice that the National State Security Agency had the power to detain persons in connection with its intelligence functions. Since the delegation had mentioned that there had been no credible allegations of torture or ill-treatment made against Agency officials, it would also be useful to know whether there was a system by which inmates at Koro Toro could lodge complaints about their treatment. If so, he wondered how individuals who filed complaints were protected from reprisals. The Committee would also welcome information on any training provided for Koro Toro staff on respect for human rights and the use of force.
He would like to know whether a mechanism had been put in place to ensure that officials of the relevant government agencies followed up on all the recommendations issued by the National Human Rights Commission. It would be helpful if the process by which recommendations were issued and implemented was made public. In that regard, it was certainly encouraging to hear that the Commission intended to make its reports available to the public in the future. He wondered how that would work in practice and where exactly members of the public would be able to access those reports.
Lastly, given that there had been a long delay between the State party’s first two reports under the Convention and that a response to the Committee’s initial list of urgent follow-up issues had not been forthcoming, he wondered whether the Government had put a mechanism in place to follow up on the recommendations that it would receive from the Committee following the current dialogue.
Mr. Liu said that the practice of paying blood money was sadly commonplace not just in Chad but in many countries around the world. To his mind, people resorted to such practices because they did not have faith in their country’s judicial system. It was therefore extremely important that the State party should make every effort to build public confidence by strengthening its judiciary and providing greater protection to victims. The possibility that individuals might be using the practice of paying blood money as a way to avoid criminal responsibility for serious offences such as torture and human trafficking was a matter of serious concern to the Committee.
Mr. Ahmad (Chad) said that the Government shared Mr. Liu’s concerns regarding the practice of paying blood money. There was a tendency, above all in rural areas, for people to resort to the negotiation of informal financial settlements to resolve legal disputes because they believed that it was too expensive to seek formal justice. He was also aware of reports from certain quarters alleging that justice was not handed out in an equitable fashion by judges in Chad. The Government was nonetheless firmly committed to strengthening the judicial system and he wished to reiterate that suspected criminals who paid blood money to a victim’s family would still face public prosecution. Under no circumstances would the payment of blood money exempt them from being held to account before the law.
With respect to detainees at the Koro Toro prison, the figure he had provided related to the number of people who were currently being held there. The government team that had been sent on 29 October was still carrying out its work at the site. Although no deadline had been set for delivery of its findings, it was hoped that a report would be submitted to the Government within a few weeks. Meanwhile, judicial officials in Chad remained on strike.
He recognized that there had been an excessive delay between the submission of his country’s initial and second reports to the Committee. Every effort would be made to ensure that its next report was delivered in a more timely manner. An interministerial committee had been formed to review and follow up on all recommendations arising from the universal periodic review. That committee benefited from the support of, among others, the OHCHR country office.
With regard to the use of force by the police and gendarmerie, Ordinance No. 46 of 1962 took precedence over the code of ethics issued in August 2019. The adoption of the code of ethics had not entailed changes to national legislation. On a more general point, the Government subscribed to the principle of proportionality in respect of the use of force.
The Koro Toro prison had no special status and was subject to the same rules and regulations as all other prisons in the country. Authorized bodies, including civil society organizations, were entitled to request a visit to any place of deprivation of liberty. Such requests were authorized by the Government and no restrictions were placed on the organizations carrying out the visits. Both the International Committee of the Red Cross and the National Human Rights Commission had visited the facility at Koro Toro. The staff had received training on how to respect the human rights of detainees and the Government had not received any allegations of torture or ill-treatment by the members of the National State Security Agency who operated there.
Following the dialogue, the delegation would send the Committee a digital version of a table containing general statistics on the prison population in Chad. The Government was working with OHCHR to improve its statistics on deprivation of liberty, and it would be happy to accept all offers of support in its efforts to improve its data collection capabilities. He wished to reassure the Committee that the Government was aware that detention conditions in the country were below par and was resolved to take the necessary measures to improve them.
He agreed that the statistics on cases of female genital mutilation provided by Mr. Touzé were disturbingly high. The Government took the matter very seriously and was committed to taking the necessary measures to combat all such practices. Anyone found responsible for practising female genital mutilation in Chad would face the full force of the law.
The Government had sent a detailed report regarding the 44 members of Boko Haram who had been found dead in their prison cells to the special procedures of the Human Rights Council. The possible involvement of State agents was mentioned in the report, although no names of the individuals under suspicion had been included in order to protect their identities while investigations were ongoing. Chad remained in contact with special procedures mandate holders and had pledged to inform them of any new developments in the case. The Government’s position was very clear: everyone was equal before the law and, should certain State officials be found to have acted illegally, they would be brought to justice. A culture of impunity was neither desired nor encouraged by the State.
Concerning the allegations of rape that had been made against Chadian soldiers in the Niger, those incidents had taken place while the soldiers had been carrying out combined anti-terrorism operations alongside military personnel from the Niger. The Government had received separate reports from the National Human Rights Commission of the Niger and the commander of the combined forces. All soldiers suspected of wrongdoing had been returned to Chad and were currently the subject of a public investigation into the allegations.
His delegation was grateful for the constructive comments and questions that the Committee had made over the course of their dialogue. He was aware that many reports had been published expressing a variety of opinions about the situation in his country. However, his Government remained focused on following up on all the recommendations issued to it by national and international organizations and on identifying ways of implementing them for the betterment of the country.
The meeting rose at 1 p.m.