Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman Or Degrading
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United Nations CAT/C/NIC/2 Convention against Torture Distr.: General 1 October 2019 and Other Cruel, Inhuman English or Degrading Treatment Original: Spanish English, French and Spanish only or Punishment Committee against Torture Second periodic report submitted by Nicaragua under article 19 of the Convention, due in 2013* [Date received: 14 May 2019] * The present document is being issued without formal editing. GE.19-16804 (E) 100120 130120 CAT/C/NIC/2 Contents Page Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3 I. Information on new measures and new developments relating to the implementation of the Convention .......................................................................................................................... 3 II. Compliance with the Committee’s conclusions and recommendations ........................................ 6 Recommendation contained in paragraph 10 ................................................................................ 6 Recommendation contained in paragraph 11 ................................................................................ 7 Recommendation contained in paragraph 12 ................................................................................ 9 Recommendation contained in paragraph 13 ................................................................................ 10 Recommendation contained in paragraph 14 ................................................................................ 13 Recommendation contained in paragraph 15 ................................................................................ 14 Recommendation contained in paragraph 16 ................................................................................ 17 Recommendation contained in paragraph 17 ................................................................................ 17 Recommendation contained in paragraph 18 ................................................................................ 20 Recommendation contained in paragraph 19 ................................................................................ 21 Recommendation contained in paragraph 20 ................................................................................ 21 Recommendation contained in paragraph 21 ................................................................................ 24 Recommendation contained in paragraph 22 ................................................................................ 26 Recommendation contained in paragraph 23 ................................................................................ 27 Recommendation contained in paragraph 24 ................................................................................ 28 Recommendation contained in paragraph 25 ................................................................................ 29 2 GE.19-16804 CAT/C/NIC/2 Introduction 1. The State of Nicaragua, acting in accordance with article 19 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, hereby submits its combined second and third periodic reports, corresponding to the period from 2008 to 2018. 2. In 2007, Nicaragua submitted its initial report to the Committee against Torture. Following its consideration of the report, the Committee issued a series of observations and recommendations regarding the various aspects of the Convention. 3. The present document is based on the compilation of guidelines on the form and content of reports to be submitted by States parties to the international human rights treaties. It provides information on new measures and new developments relating to the implementation of the Convention, as well as measures taken by the Nicaraguan State to take action on the conclusions and recommendations issued by the Committee during its consideration of the initial report. I. Information on new measures and new developments relating to the implementation of the Convention Article 2 New legislative, administrative and judicial measures to prevent torture Legislative measures Act on Enforcement, Privileges and Judicial Oversight of Criminal Sanctions (No. 745) 4. The Act on Enforcement, Privileges and Judicial Oversight of Criminal Sanctions (No. 745), which entered into force on 26 January 2011, regulates the oversight of criminal sanctions by judges, prison supervision and the monitoring of security measures, and establishes procedures for ancillary proceedings on matters of enforcement and prison supervision. 5. Article 3 of the above-mentioned Act strengthens existing provisions in our legal system that relate to the protection of human dignity and the human rights of persons deprived of their liberty, particularly protection against torture and ill-treatment, when it provides that “the State must guarantee the physical, moral and psychological integrity of convicted persons, who shall not be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading procedures, treatment or punishment”. 6. Also in relation to protection against torture and ill-treatment, article 26 of the Act provides that the prison authority must request approval from the Sentence Enforcement and Prison Supervision Court of any measure involving solitary confinement, placement in an individual cell or holding of a prisoner under a secure regime for longer than 48 hours. Such requests must be accompanied by details of the administratively imposed measure, a medical evaluation of the convicted person, the justification for the request and an indication of the exact duration of the measure. 7. Article 23 of this Act expands on one of the powers of the sentence enforcement and prison supervision judges, as set forth in article 407 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, by stipulating that those officials must visit places of deprivation of liberty at least twice a month to conduct inspections, engage in discussions or hold interviews, unimpeded by prison or police authorities. After each visit, they are required to draw up a report of their findings with the corrective measures to be taken. 8. The Act strengthens the powers of the Ombudsman for Prisons of the Office of the Human Rights Advocate, by providing that he or she must be informed of the following: reports of prison visits and the corrective measures ordered by sentence enforcement and prison supervision judges (art. 22); transfers of persons deprived of their liberty to hospitals or to psychiatric treatment units of the Ministry of Health (arts. 58 and 61); incidents of refusal to eat on the part of persons deprived of their liberty; and deaths of persons deprived GE.19-16804 3 CAT/C/NIC/2 of their liberty while in prison, in a health-care facility or in the course of transfer to such a facility. New law to prevent and eliminate violence against women 9. The Comprehensive Act on Combating Violence against Women and Amendments to Act No. 641 containing the Criminal Code (No. 779), entered into force on 22 June 2012. It is a special, stand-alone law that represents major progress in dealing comprehensively with the phenomenon of gender-based violence, which is recognized as a symptom of the discrimination and inequality experienced by women in relation to the power dynamics that exist in a patriarchal society, as well as a public health and public security problem. 10. The Act defines the various forms of violence against women and prescribes penalties for them. It establishes the offence of femicide and defines other behaviour as criminal, including the following: physical violence and psychological violence, which are autonomous in relation to the existing offence of domestic and family violence set forth in our Criminal Code; patrimonial and economic violence, in any of the six forms identified in article 13 of the Act; intimidation or threats against women; child abduction; violence in the workplace; and violence in the exercise of official functions committed against women. 11. On 5 July 2017, Act No. 952, entitled “Act amending Act No. 641, the Criminal Code of the Republic of Nicaragua, Act No. 779, Comprehensive Act on Combating Violence against Women and Amendments to Act No. 641 containing the Criminal Code, and Act No. 406 containing the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Nicaragua”, entered into effect. It stipulated harsher penalties for a series of offences related to violence against women, children and adolescents, such as femicide, rape of a child under the age of 14 years and aggravated rape. New act and disciplinary regulations of the National Police 12. On 7 July 2014, the Act on the Organization, Functions, Career and Special Social Security Scheme of the National Police (No. 872), entered into force, superseding the previous legislation. It constitutes the new legal corpus that regulates the nature, mission, fundamental principles, organization and powers of the police institution of the State of Nicaragua. 13. It is important to note that article 5 of the Act includes respect for human rights among the institution’s doctrinal principles, by recognizing that human beings are the centre and raison d’être of police activity. Similarly, article 6 establishes the decent treatment of human beings as one of its principles of conduct. As a result, members of the police institution must protect and respect the life and physical and mental integrity of individuals, especially when they are being held in custody. 14. The new disciplinary regulations