Committee against Torture Considers Reports on Follow-Up to Concluding Observations, Individual Communications and Reprisals

The Committee against Torture today discussed reports on follow-up to concluding observations, individual communications and reprisals under the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov, Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations under article 19 of the Convention, presenting his report, said that during the period under review, the Committee had received a follow-up report from Botswana. The willingness of the State party to provide information regarding measures it had taken to implement its obligations under the Convention was welcomed and appreciated.

The following States had not yet supplied follow-up information that had fallen due: Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Holy See, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Syria, Togo, Yemen and Zambia. During the period under review, the Committee received alternative follow-up reports from non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders in relation to the follow-up replies submitted by Australia and Cuba.

During the period, the Rapporteur continued assessing the information provided by States parties under the follow-up procedure, and communicated with the concerned States parties once their replies had been received and assessed. Since July 2023, such communications were sent to Cuba, Iceland, Kenya and Kyrgyzstan. In addition, the follow-up replies submitted by Botswana, Iraq, Montenegro and Uruguay were currently under consideration. Mr. Tuzmukhamedov encouraged States parties to make use of the dedicated web page for the follow-up procedure.

Committee Expert Liu Huawen, Rapporteur on follow-up to communications presented under article 22, the individual complaints procedure, said the Committee had considered 11 communications and submitted follow-up observations for each. The communications concerned three cases against Morocco, two cases against Mexico, three cases against Switzerland, and cases against Algeria, Sweden and Finland. For the cases against Morocco, Algeria and one case against Mexico, follow-up comments and observations demonstrated a lack of implementation. For another case against Mexico, follow-up comments and observations demonstrated partial implementation. For each of these cases, the Committee decided to continue follow-up dialogue and consider further steps. For the cases against Switzerland, Sweden and Finland, follow-up actions demonstrated full implementation, hence the Committee decided to close the follow-up dialogues with notes of satisfactory resolution.

The Rapporteur on follow-up to reprisals, Committee Expert Ana Racu, said that no new allegations of reprisals had been recorded by the Committee since the last session. Protection against reprisals was a sensitive issue, and the Committee assessed the impact and possible risks before making any information concerning reprisals and cooperation with the Committee public. Ms. Racu and the Secretariat would by the end of this year identify reprisal prevention measures to be carried out next year, including actions to inform stakeholders about relevant protection measures against retaliation and reprisals.

Information on the Committee’s seventy-eighth session is available on the session’s webpage. Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, and webcasts of the public meetings can be found here.

The Committee is scheduled to next meet in public on Friday, 24 November at 10 a.m. to conclude its seventy-eighth session.