![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
Abstract
This article examines a vital element of the special rapporteur on torture's (SRT) mandate that of monitoring and the reports that have been produced as a result of fact-finding missions (FFMs). Over a 25 year period, the SRTs have visited 47 states and the reports present an interesting mosaic of the diversity of state compliance with regard to the prohibition itself and also the terms of reference of state visits. The reports reveal not only the unequalled access that the SRTs have had to places of detention and systems that foster torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment but also that the impact of monitoring is enhanced by the public reporting of these missions. However this article argues that there is a need to develop further follow-up FFMs mechanisms to place pressure on states to implement the recommendations of the SRT. The following examines the individual reports of states between 1985 and September 2010 to consider the reported challenges that have faced the SRTs in relation to their FFMs.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Professors Surya Subedi and Steve Wheatley for their comments on this article.
Notes
See Manfred Nowak, Interim Report of the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, UN Doc. A/65/273 (2010), 4.
The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment was established at the 41st Session of the Commission of Human Rights by Resolution 1985/33, UN Doc. E/CN.4/RES/1985/33. The mandate was subsequently renewed by the Commission in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, in Resolution 1992/32 (when the Commission extended the mandate for a period of three years), in 1995, 1998, 2001 (Res. 2001/62) and 2004 (Res. 2004/41). The Human Rights Committee renewed the mandate of the SRT at its 8th Session in 2008 (Res.8/8)
See Manfred Nowak, ‘Fact-Finding on Torture and Ill-Treatment and Conditions of Detention’, Journal of Human Rights Practice 1 (2009): 101–19.
Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly Resolution 217 A (III) (1948), UN GAOR 3rd Session, UN Doc. 1/810 (1948). Article 5 states ‘No one shall be subjected to torture or to other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment’.
999 UNTS 171. Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession on 19 December 1966. Entered into force 23 March 1976. 166 state parties.
1465 UNTS 85. Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession on 10 December 1984. Entered into force 26 June 1987. 147 state parties.
See Article 20 UNCAT.
2375 UNTS 237. Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession 18 December 2002 and entered into force 22 June 2006. 66 state parties.
See Nigel Rodley and Matt Pollard, The Treatment of Prisoners under International Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 202–8.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1997/7 approved by the CHR in Resolution 2001/62 (E/CN.4/RES/2001, para. 30) and (b) general recommendations of SRT in UN Doc. E/CN.4/2003/68, para. 26.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/RES/1985 (1985), fifth preambular paragraph.
Ibid., para. 3.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1994/31, para. 5.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1991/17, 4, para. 13.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1993/26, para. 24.
See Manfred Nowak, ‘Fact-Finding on Torture and Ill-Treatment and Conditions of Detention’, Journal of Human Rights Practice 1 (2009): 106–7.
See Report of the Meeting of Special Rapporteurs/Representatives, Experts and Chairpersons or Working Groups of the Special Procedures of the Commission on Human Rights and of the Advisory Services Programme, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1998/45, annex V (1997).
See UN Doc. E/CN.4/2003/68, 7, para. 16.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1991/17, 4, para. 13.
See Statement of the Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, to the 61st Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, 4th April 2005, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=1596&LangID=E (accessed 3 Jan 2011).
See UN Docs. E/CN.4/2000/9/Add.1; E/CN.4/2005/62/Add.2; E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.2; A/HRC/4/33/Add.2 and A/HRC/7/3/Add.2.
See UN Doc. A/HRC/10/44/Add.4, 17 February 2009.
UN Docs A/HRC/10/44/Add.5, 17 February 2009 and A/HRC/13/39/Add.6, 26 February 2010.
UN Doc. A/HRC/10/44/Add.5, 3, para. 6.
Argentina, Columbia, Uruguay, Peru, the Republic of Korea, Zaire, Turkey, Guatemala, Honduras, Philippines, Indonesia and East Timor, and former Yugoslavia.
Rwanda, the Russian Federation, Columbia, Chile, Portugal (in respect of East Timor), Pakistan, Venezuela, Mexico, Turkey, Cameroon, Romania, Kenya, East Timor, Azerbaijan and Brazil.
Uzbekistan and Spain.
Georgia, Mongolia, Nepal, China, Jordan, Nigeria, Paraguay, Togo, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Denmark, Moldova, Uruguay, Kazakhstan and Equatorial Guinea.
Guantánamo Bay in Cuba and Darfur in Sudan.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1992/17/Add.1.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1997/7, 95–109, in regard to Indonesia.
See Report to the General Assembly. Joint Mission undertaken by the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on Extrajudicial, Summary, Arbitrary Executions, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on the Question of Torture and the Special Rapporteur on the Commission on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, in Accordance with Commission Resolution 1999/S-1/1 of 27 September 1999. UN Doc. A/54/660.
Ibid., 9, para. 42.
See UN Doc. E/CN.4/1992/17/Add.1, 8 January 1992.
UN Doc. A/HRC/13/39/Add.4, 7/1/2010 and Preliminary Note of Visit A/HRC/7/3/Add.7, 23 January 2009.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1988/17/Add.1, 23 February 1988.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1995/111.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/35, 9 January 1996.
Ibid.
Ibid., para. 54.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1997/7, 10 January 1997.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1998/38, para. 52.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2000/9/Add.1, paras 20–55.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2000/9.
Ibid., see para. 296.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2000/11, paras 137–8.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1988/17/Add.1.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1988/17, 5–6.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1988/17/Add, para. 7.
UN Doc. A/HRC/13/39/Add.2, 21 December 2009.
Ibid., 5, para. 9.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1989/15, 23 January 1989, para. 169–87.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1989/15, 38–43.
Turkey was one of the original state parties to the European Convention on the Prevention of Torture and other Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ECPT). The ECPT came into effect in 1989, after the SRT's first mission to Turkey. However it was not until 2007 that Turkey agreed that four reports of visits conducted by the CPT between 1990 and 1995 could be released for publication. Reports published 1 January 2007: CPT/Inf (2007) 1; CPT/Inf (2007) 3; CPT/Inf (2007) 5; and CPT/Inf (2007) 7.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1989/15, 43–8.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/61/Add.1, 27 January 1999.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1990/17, 18 December 1989, 56–67.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1990/17, 18 December 1989, 67–75.
Now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1990/17/Add.1, 2 February 1990.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1991/17, 67 to 87.
Ibid., 84, para. 268.
See UN Doc. E/CN.4/1992/L.21, 28 February 1992.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1993/26, para. 7.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1993/26, 15 December 1992, 124–5.
See UN Doc. E/CN.4/1995/34/Add.1.
Ibid., 20, para. 77.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/35, paras 142–50.
Ibid., see para. 149.
Joint Mission to Rwanda, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1995/7 of 28th June 1994.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/35/Add.2, 4 January 1996.
Concluding observations of the CAT: Chile, 26/7/1995, A/50/44, paras 52–61.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/35/Add.2, 23, para. 76 (u).
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2000/9/Add.1, 13 January 2000.
Ibid., para. 17.
See UN Doc. E/CN.4/1997/7/Add.2, 15 October 1996.
Ibid., para. 30.
See UN Doc. E/CN.4/2000/9/Add.2, 11 November 1999.
Ibid., para. 69.
See UN Doc. E/CN.4/2000/9, para. 196.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2000/9/Add.3, 23 November 1999.
Ibid., para. 55.
See UN Doc. E/CN.4/2000/9/Add.4, 9 March 2000. Report of visit to Kenya.
Ibid., para. 82.
Ibid., para. 86.
Ibid.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2001/66/Add.1, 2000.
Ibid., para. 74.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2001/66/Add.2, 2001.
UN Doc. CAT/C/39/2, 23 November 2007.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2003/68/Add.2, 2003.
Ibid., 2.
He was unable to spend the six hours there that he had requested and instead was allotted two hours. The SRT refused to inspect the colony and concentrated on a discussion with the Director. See UN Doc. E/CN.4/2003/68/Add.2, 3 February 2003, 15.
Despite requirement to have immediate access to any place of detention and to any persons deprived of their liberty, including on an unannounced basis.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2003/68/Add.2, 3 February 2003, 17.
See UN Doc. E/CN.4/2004/56/Add.2.
Ibid., 2.
See UN Doc. E/CN.4/2004/6/19, 2004. Notes verbales dated 20 January and 2 and 11 February 2004, from Spain.
See UN Doc. E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.3, 2005.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Ibid., 2, para. 7.
See UN Doc. E/CN.4/2005/62/Add.3, 16 March 2005.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.4, 20 December 2005.
Ibid.
Ibid., 16–18.
Adopted Aug. 30, 1955 by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, UN Doc. A/CONF/611, annex I, E.S.C. res. 663C, 24 UN ESCOR Supp. (No. 1) at 11, UN Doc. E/3048 (1957), amended E.S.C. res. 2076, 62 UN ESCOR Supp. (No. 1) at 35, UN Doc. E/5988 (1977).
1642 UNTS 414, adopted 15 December 1989, entered into force 11 July 1991.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.5, 9 January 2006.
Ibid., 2.
Ibid.
See UN Doc. E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6, 10 March 2006.
Ibid., 6, para.10.
Ibid.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2006/120 of 15 February 2006. Report of the Chairperson of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Ms Leila Zerrougui; the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Mr Leandro Despouy; the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Mr Manfred Nowak; the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Ms Asma Jahangir and the Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health, Mr Paul Hunt.
Ibid., 6, para.4.
See Commission on Human Rights Resolutions 2003/68, 2004/87 and 2005/80.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2006/120 of 15 February 2006. See pages 21–7.
UN Doc. A/HRC/4/33/Add.3, 5 January 2007.
See UN Doc. A/HRC/4/G/17, 30 March 2008.
Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Darfur Prepared by the Group of Experts Mandated by the Human Rights Council Resolution 4/8 Presided by the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Sudan and Composed of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, the Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, the Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture and the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, UN Doc. A/HRC/5/6, 2007.
Human Rights Council adopted by consensus on 30 March 2007, Resolution 4/8 on the ‘Follow-up Decision S-4/101 of 13 December 2006 Adopted by the Human Rights Council at its Fourth Special Session Entitled “Situation of Human Rights in Darfur”’.
See UN Doc. A/HRC/7/3/Add.3, 1 October 2007.
See UN Doc. A/HRC/7/3/Add.4, 22 November 2007.
Ibid., 2, Summary.
See UN Doc. A/HRC/7/3/Add.5.
Ibid., 2, Summary.
UN Doc. A/HRC/7/3/Add.6, 26 February 2008.
UN Doc. A/HRC/10/44/Add.2, 18 February 2009.
UN Doc. CAT/C/DNK/Q/6-7, 19 January 2010.
UN Doc. A/HRC/10/44/Add.3, 12 February 2009.
UN Doc. A/HRC/13/44/Add.3, 16 December 2009.
UN Doc. A/HRC/13/39/Add.4, 7 January 2010.
Preliminary Note of the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, UN Doc. A/HRC/10/44/Add.1 (2009)
See Nigel Rodley, ‘The United Nations Human Rights Council, its Special Procedures and its Relationship with the Treaty Bodies; Complementarity or Competition’, in New Institutions for Human Rights Protection (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 49–72, at 58.