Economic and Social Council Resolution 1989/65 of 24 May 1989
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UNITED NATIONS E Economic and Social Distr. Council GENERAL E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.1 27 March 2006 ENGLISH/FRENCH/SPANISH COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS Sixty-second session Item 11 (b) of the provisional agenda CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE QUESTION OF DISAPPEARANCES AND SUMMARY EXECUTIONS Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Report of the Special Rapporteur, Philip Alston Addendum Summary of cases transmitted to Governments and replies received* ** __________________ * The present document is being circulated as received, in the languages of submission only, as it greatly exceeds the word limitations currently imposed by the relevant General Assembly resolutions. ** The report was submitted late in order to reflect the most recent information. GE.06-12183 E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.1 page 2 CONTENTS Paragraphs Page Introduction…………………………………………………. 1 3 I. COMMUNICATIONS AND REPLIES ……………… 2 – 21 3 A. Violation alleged………………………………... 3 – 12 3 B. Subject(s) of appeals……………………………. 13 4 C. Character of reply………………………………. 14 – 20 4 D. Observations of the Special Rapporteur………… 21 5 II. TABULATION OF COMMUN ICATIONS AND REPLIES 22 – 26 5 A. “Communications sent” and “Government responses received”………………………………………… 23 5 B. “No. and category of individuals concerned”….. 24 5 C. “Alleged violations of the right to life upon which the Special Rapporteur intervened”……………… 25 5 D. “Character of replies received”………………….. 26 5 Annex 6 E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.1 page 3 Introduction 1. This report contains a comprehensive account of communications sent to Governments up to 1 December 2005, along with replies received up to the end of January 2006. It also contains two additional categories of communication: (1) those sent after 1 December 2005 to which responses were received in time for inclusion, and (2) responses received to communications that were sent in earlier years. I. COMMUNICATIONS AND REPLIES 2. Along with fuller reproductions or summaries of correspondence, this report summarizes the correspondence regarding each communication under four headings for ease of reference: A. Violation alleged 3. Violations are classified into the following categories: 4. Non-respect of international standards on safeguards and restrictions relating to the imposition of capital punishment (“Death penalty safeguards”) 5. Death threats and fear of imminent extrajudicial executions by State officials, paramilitary groups, or groups cooperating with or tolerated by the Government, as well as unidentified persons who may be linked to the categories mentioned above and when the Government is failing to take appropriate protection measures (“Death threats”) 6. Deaths in custody owing to torture, neglect, or the use of force, or fear of death in custody due to life-threatening conditions of detention (“Deaths in custody”) 7. Deaths due to the use of force by law enforcement officials or persons acting in direct or indirect compliance with the State, when the use of force is inconsistent with the criteria of absolute necessity and proportionality (“Excessive force”) 8. Deaths due to the attacks or killings by security forces of the State, or by paramilitary groups, death squads, or othe r private forces cooperating with or tolerated by the State (“Attacks or killings”) 9. Violations of the right to life during armed conflicts, especially of the civilian population and other non-combatants, contrary to international humanitarian law (“Violations of right to life in armed conflict”) E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.1 page 4 10. Expulsion, refoulement, or return of persons to a country or a place where their lives are in danger (“Expulsion”) 11. Impunity, compensation and the rights of victims (“Impunity”) 12. The short versions contained in parentheses are used in the tabulation of communications. B. Subject(s) of appeal 13. The subjects of communications are classified in accordance with paragraph 6 of Commission of Human Rights resolution 2004/37. C. Character of reply 14. The replies received have been classified according to the following five categories designed to assist the Commission in its task of evaluating the effectiveness of the mandate: 15. “Largely satisfactory response” denotes a reply that is responsive to the allegations and that substantially clarifies the facts. It does not, however, imply that the action taken necessarily complies with international human rights law. 16. “Cooperative but incomplete response” denotes a reply that provides some clarification of the allegations but that contains limited factual substantiation or that fails to address some issues. 17. “Allegations rejected but without adequate substantiation” denotes a reply denying the allegations but which is not supported by documentation or analysis that can be considered satisfactory under the circumstances. 18. “Receipt acknowledged” denotes a reply acknowledging that the communication was received but without providing any substantive information. 19. “No response”. 20. There are two minor, additional characterizations: (i) Where a response has been received but has not yet been translated by the United Nations, the response is characterized simply as “UN translation awaited”. (ii) Where a response has not been received from the Government but less than 90 days has elapsed since the communication was sent, that fact is indicated by characterizing the response as: “No response (recent communication)”. E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.1 page 5 D. Observations of the Special Rapporteur 21. In order to underscore the importance of the dialogue between the Special Rapporteur and Governments and to avoid any appearance that the principal goal is the exchange of correspondence for its own sake, this report contains brief comments by the Special Rapporteur on the extent to which he considers each reply to have responded adequately to the concerns arising under the mandate. An indication is also provided in instances in which additional information is required to respond effectively to the information received. As the procedures of the Human Rights Council evolve in an effort to establish a more effective, credible, comprehensive and integrated system for promoting respect for human rights these comments will ideally be taken into account in the peer review procedure which is likely to be set up. II. TABULATION OF COMMUNICATIONS AND REPLIES 22. To provide an overview of the activities of the mandate in the past year, this report also contains a table, that contains the following information: A. “Communications sent” and “Government responses received” 23. These columns contain the total number of communications sent by the Special Rapporteur and the total number of responses received from Governments. The columns also contain subtotals for urgent appeals (UA) and allegation letters (AL). B. “No. and category of individuals concerned” 24. The subjects of communications are classified in accordance with paragraph 6 of Commission of Human Rights resolution 2004/37. C. “Alleged violations of the right to life upon which the Special Rapporteur intervened” 25. This column lists the number of communications containing allegations of a particular category. (See Section I (1) above) D. “Character of replies received” 26. See Section I (3) above. E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.1 Page 6 ANNEX Country Communications Government No. and category of Alleged violations of Character of replies sent responses individuals concerned the right to life upon received received which the Special Rapporteur intervened Afghanistan 2 (2 UA, 1 AL) 0 1 female Death penalty No response (2) safeguards (2) 7 males Algeria 1 (UA) 1 (UA) General Impunity (1) Cooperative but incomplete response (1) Australia 1 (AL) 1 (AL) 1 male (ethnic minority) Death in custody (1) Largely satisfactory response (1) Bangladesh 4 (2 UA, 2 AL) 2 (1 UA, 1 AL) 2 females (1 journalist) Death threats (1) Largely satisfactory response (1) 1 male Death in custody (1) Receipt acknowledged 4 persons of unknown Death penalty (1) sex (persons exercising safeguards (1) their freedom of opinion No response (2) or expression) Excessive force (1) Barbados 1 (UA) 0 1 male Death penalty No response (1) safeguards (1) E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.1 page 7 Brazil 4 (1 UA, 3 AL) 1 (AL) 2 females (2 HRD) Impunity (2) Largely satisfactory response (1) 3 males (2 HRD, 1 Death threats (2) lawyer) No response (3) Attacks or killings (1) 8 persons of unknown sex (7 minors) Burundi 1 (UA) 0 General Death penalty No response (1) safeguards (1) Chad 1 (UA) 0 19 males Death penalty No response (1) safeguards (1) E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.1 page 8 China 6 (3 UA, 3 AL) 6 (3 UA, 3 AL) 1 female (member of Death penalty Largely satisfactory religious minority, safeguards (4) response (3) person exercising right to freedom of opinion and Deaths in custody (2) Cooperative but expression) incomplete response (1) 8 males (2 members of Translation awaited (2) ethnic minority, 1 member of religious minority) Group of persons (members of religious minority, persons exercising right to freedom of opinion and expression) Colombia 5 (2 UA, 3 AL) 5 (2 UA, 3 AL) 6 females (3 minors, 1 Attacks or killings (5) Largely satisfactory HRD) response (1) 18 males (8 minors, 2 Cooperative but HRD) incomplete response (4) Democratic 2 (2 AL) 0 1 male (HRD) Attacks or killings (2) No response (2) Republic of the Congo Over 30 persons of unknown sex E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.1 page 9 Côte d’Ivoire 1 (UA) 1 (UA) 2 males (HRD) Death threats (1) Allegations rejected but without adequate substantiation (1) Egypt 3 (3 AL) 2 (2 AL) 1 female Death