Committee against Torture
Sixtieth session
Summary record of the first part (public)* of the 1540th meeting
Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Friday, 12 May 2017, at 10 a.m.
Chair:Mr. Modvig
Contents
Adoption of the annual report of the Committee on its activities
Organizational and other matters
The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m.
Adoption of the annual report of the Committee on its activities
The Chair invited Mr. Touzé to present the Committee’s draft annual report on its fifty-eighth, fifty-ninth and sixtieth sessions (CAT/C/60/R.1).
Mr. Touzé said that the draft annual report would be amended to reflect the corrections submitted in writing by a number of Committee members. In the summary of the document, the paragraph on the Committee’s procedure under article 20 of the Convention would be expanded. The section on the revised general comment on article 3 of the Convention would be updated to reflect the progress made in that connection during the current session. More detailed information would be included on the Committee’s measures to combat reprisals and the progress made regarding the special report of Burundi.
Mr. Bruni said that it could be useful to mention in the annual report a seminar Mr. Heller Rouassant and he had attended in October 2016 on the inquiry procedures in place for the various human rights treaty bodies.
The draft annual report of the Committee (CAT/C/60/R.1), as a whole, was adopted , subject to the necessary updates and modifications.
Organizational and other matters
The Chair said that at its current session, the Committee had adopted concluding observations on the reports of Afghanistan, Argentina, Bahrain, Lebanon, Pakistan and the Republic of Korea. It had also adopted lists of issues prior to reporting on Colombia, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Romania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and a list of issues on Rwanda.
The country rapporteurs for the reports from States parties to be considered at the Committee’s sixty-first session were: Ms. Gaer and Ms. Racu for the report of Ireland; himself and Mr. Heller Rouassant for Panama; Mr. Heller Rouassant and Ms. Belmir for Paraguay; and Mr. Touzé and Mr. Bruni for Antigua and Barbuda in the absence of a report.
The country rapporteurs for the reports from States parties to be considered at the sixty-second session were: himself and Ms. Racu for Bosnia and Herzegovina; Ms. Racu and Mr. Zhang for Bulgaria; Mr. Hani and Ms. Belmir for Cameroon; Mr. Heller Rouassant and Mr. Touzé for Italy; Mr. Bruni and Mr. Hani for Mauritius; Ms. Pradhan-Malla and Mr. Heller Rouassant for the Republic of Moldova; Mr. Touzé and Ms. Belmir for Rwanda and Ms. Gaer and Ms. Pradhan-Malla for Timor-Leste. At its sixty-second session, the Committee would adopt list of issues prior to reporting on Austria, Malawi, Serbia, Slovakia, Somalia, Spain and Switzerland and lists of issues on Mauritania and Tajikistan.
The reports from States parties to be considered at the sixty-third session were Belarus, Chile, Czechia, Norway, Qatar and Tajikistan. At its sixty-third session, the Committee would adopt lists of issues prior to reporting on Andorra, Azerbaijan, Denmark, Jordan and Liechtenstein.
During each session, the consideration of each report would be preceded by confidential briefings from United Nations bodies, national human rights institutions and NGOs.
During the current session, the Committee had undertaken follow-up work under articles 19 and 22 of the Convention and in relation to reprisals and had considered relevant matters under inquiry procedure pursuant to article 20. At that point, it had adopted decisions on 17 individual complaints and would consider further complaints later that day.
The Committee had held a public consultation on draft revised general comment No. 1 (2017) on the implementation of article 3 of the Convention in the context of article 22 (CAT/C/60/R.2). It would consider all the submissions it had received from States parties, United Nations bodies, academia and civil society and would continue the drafting process at its sixty-first session.
The Committee had continued its thematic discussion on fundamental legal safeguards in relation to deprivation of liberty. It had met with the Chair of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and Committee members had attended a workshop, organized by the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, on torture victims in the context of migration. The Committee wished to thank the World Organization Against Torture for its role in facilitating coordination with NGOs.
Lastly, several events were scheduled for the sixty-first session, including a thematic briefing on overcrowding, organized by Penal Reform International, and plenary meetings with the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Convention against Torture Initiative.
The public part of the meeting rose at 10.15 a.m.