The Committee against Torture today adopted 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, Committee Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations under article 19 of the Convention, said since the last progress report to the Committee during the seventy-sixth session, follow-up reports were received from Iraq, Cuba, Montenegro, Uruguay, Iceland and Kenya. The willingness of these States parties to provide information regarding measures taken to implement their obligations under the Convention was welcomed and appreciated.
To date, the following States reviewed had not 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 Iraq and Kyrgyzstan.
During the period under review, Mr. Tuzmukhamedov, in joint effort with the Secretariat team and in consultation with the Country Rapporteurs, continued assessing the information provided by States parties under the follow-up procedure and whether the information provided responded to the Committee’s concerns and recommendations that were included in its concluding observations. Since May 2023, Mr. Tuzmukhamedov said he had sent communications to Lithuania and Serbia. In addition, the follow-up replies submitted by Cuba, Iceland, Iraq, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro and Uruguay were currently under consideration.
Mr. Tuzmukhamedov and his team appraised the quality of information provided by the State party and the degree to which the recommendations identified for follow-up had been implemented. For the first time, his team had awarded an “A” grade (“recommendation largely implemented”) to Lithuania. Further information can be found on the Committee’s webpage for follow-up.
Committee Expert Huawen Liu, Rapporteur on follow-up to communications presented under article 22, which addressed the individual complaints procedure, said since the Committee’s seventy-sixth session concluded, the Committee had not received any information on cases in which the Committee and States parties had had at least one round of exchanges relating to follow-up to individual complaints. Mr. Liu urged the relevant States parties to take sufficient, efficient actions to carry out the decisions of the Committee according to their obligations under the Convention.
Ana Racu, Committee Rapporteur on follow-up to reprisals, said since the previous session, no recent allegations of reprisals had been received, and no corresponding protection requests sent to States parties. However, the Committee had taken actions to prevent risks of retaliations and reprisals under article 19 of the Convention. In February this year, the Committee received allegations of possible intimidation or reprisals in connection with a country review that took place in 2022. The Chair of the Committee and Ms. Racu had requested further information from the source and received a reply. The case was being treated with due diligence, and the Committee would be kept informed regarding proposed actions for this case. On reprisals under article 20, there were no new allegations of reprisals that would be eligible to be taken under consideration by the members of the Committee.
Documents relating to the Committee’s work are 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 will next meet in public on Friday, 28 July at 10 a.m. to adopt its concluding observations on the reports of New Zealand, Romania, Spain and Switzerland, which were reviewed during the session, and close the session.
