Committee against Torture

Forty-eighth session

Summary record of the first part (public)* of the 1092nd meeting

Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Friday, 1 June 2012, at 10 a.m.

Chairperson:Mr. Grossman

Contents

Decision of the Committee to request approval from the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session of additional meeting time in 2013 and 2014

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention (continued)

Annual Report of the Committee

The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m.

Decision of the Committee to request approval from the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session of additional meeting time in 2013 and 2014

The Chairperson said that the Committee had been entitled to two four-week sessions in 2011 and 2012 further to General Assembly resolution 65/2004. Introducing a decision whereby the Committee would request the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session to approve two four-week sessions in 2013 and 2014, he read out an “oral statement” prepared by the secretariat on the programme budget implications of the request, in accordance with rule 26 of the Committee’s rules of procedure. The extra meeting time would enable the Committee to consider two additional reports and five additional individual complaints at each session and to adopt 10 additional lists of issues prior to reporting.

He subsequently presented the draft decision of the Committee to request this additional meeting to the General Assembly. As he heard no objection, he would take it that the Committee wished to adopt the decision.

The decision was adopted.

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention (continued)

Mr. Nataf (Secretary of the Committee) said that the Committee would consider the reports of nine States parties at its forty-ninth session. The following members of the Committee would serve as Country Rapporteurs: Ms. Belmir and Mr. Domah for the initial report of Gabon; Mr. Mariño Menéndez and Mr. Gaye for the fifth and sixth periodic reports of Mexico; Mr. Grossman and Mr. Wang Xuexian for the seventh periodic report of Norway. Mr. Mariño Menéndez and Ms. Sveaass for the sixth periodic report of Peru; Ms. Gaer and Ms. Belmir for the second periodic report of Qatar; Ms. Gaer and Mr. Bruni for the fifth periodic report of the Russian Federation; Mr. Mariño Menéndez and Mr. Grossman for the third periodic report of Senegal; Ms. Gaer and Mr. Tugushi for the second periodic report of Tajikistan; and Mr. Bruni and Mr. Gaye for the second periodic report of Togo.

The Committee would consider the reports of eight States parties at its fiftieth session in May 2013. The following members of the Committee would serve as Country Rapporteurs: Mr. Mariño Menéndez and Mr. Grossman for the second periodic report of Japan; Ms. Gaer and Mr. Wang Xuexian for the sixth periodic report of Estonia; Mr. Bruni and Mr. Tugushi for the fifth periodic report of the United Kingdom; Mr. Mariño Menéndez and Ms. Sveaass for the second periodic report of Bolivia; Mr. Domah and Mr. Gaye for the initial report of Mauritania; Ms. Gaer and Mr. Tugushi for the fourth periodic report of Uzbekistan; Mr. Bruni and Ms. Belmir for the sixth periodic report of the Netherlands; and Mr. Grossman and Ms. Sveaass for the sixth periodic report of Guatemala.

With regard to lists of issues prior to reporting (LOIPR) in respect of reports due in 2014, he said that the 19 States parties involved had been divided into three categories: States parties that had already accepted the procedure, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Ecuador and Turkey, for which lists of issues would be prepared in November 2012; States parties that had not yet been consulted about their acceptance of the procedure, namely Ethiopia, Mongolia, Cameroon, Austria, France, Jordan, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen; and States parties to which a list of issues prior to reporting had already been sent but which had not yet submitted a report, namely Brazil, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Libya and Saudi Arabia. Moreover, following the decision of the Committee, LOIPR would be prepared by the secretariat for the States of the first group; notes verbales would be sent to States of the second group to seek acceptance of the procedure and reminders would shortly be sent to the States of the third group to report under the procedure. In the latter group, the reminder for Saudi Arabia would also concern the acceptance of the procedure, since it had not yet indicated whether it accepted the optional reporting procedure.

Annual Report of the Committee

Ms. Sveaass (Rapporteur), introducing the draft Annual Report, said that it covered the period from 31 October 2011 to 1 June 2012. Some of the Committee’s recent decisions and activities would therefore need to be incorporated.

The names of the officers elected at the current session and the members of the Bureau would be included in paragraph 7.

Additional information would be incorporated under section G of chapter I: Participation of Committee members in other meetings. For instance, she had attended a meeting in October 2011 on national human rights institutions in Ankara, Turkey, and a meeting in June 2011 in Ramallah, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). She invited any other members who had attended meetings in their capacity as Committee members which had not been included in the section to inform her thereof.

Paragraph 21 concerning the general comment on article 14 would be amended in the light of developments before the end of the session.

The information just provided by the Secretary of the Committee concerning reports to be considered and lists of issues prior to reporting would be included in chapter II, section B. A sentence would be inserted in section C concerning the Committee’s decision to bring about further improvements in the optional reporting procedure. Reference would be made in section E to the decision to consider the situation in Guinea in the absence of a report.

Chapter V on activities of the Committee under article 20 of the Convention contained an account of the outcome of the proceedings concerning the inquiry on Nepal. The full text of the Committee’s report and of the State party’s comments on the report would be attached as annex XIV to the Annual Report.

The first subheading in chapter VII should be amended to read: Additional meeting time for 2013 and 2014.

Ms. Gaer asked whether the decision that the Committee had just adopted on additional meeting time would be included in full in an annex to the Annual Report. She noted that annex 7, which contained the dates of future sessions, included an additional week for each session.

Ms. Belmir noted that the regional consultations that had been held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, were not mentioned in the section concerning the participation of Committee members in other meetings.

Mr. Bruni said that he had participated in a number of consultations that should perhaps be included in the section. He would send a list shortly to the Rapporteur and the Secretary of the Committee.

Mr. Wang Xuexian said he understood that the general comment on article 14 was to be adopted only on first reading at the current session. It seemed from paragraph 21 of the report, however, that the final version was about to be adopted.

Ms. Sveaass confirmed that the decision on additional meeting time would be included in an annex.

Dates for four-week sessions had been published for practical reasons, such as the availability of conference facilities.

She encouraged Ms. Belmir and Mr. Bruni to send her the details of the meetings they had attended which were not reflected in chapter I, section G.

If the general comment was not adopted at the current session, the relevant paragraph would be deleted.

The Chairperson said he took it that the Committee wished to adopt the draft Annual Report.

It was so decided.

The public part of the meeting rose at 10.30 a.m.