UNITED NATIONS CAT Convention against Torture Distr. and Other Cruel, Inhuman or GENERAL Degrading Treatment or CAT/C/TCD/1 22 September 2008 Punishment ENGLISH Original: FRENCH COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 19 OF THE CONVENTION Initial reports of States parties due in 1996 CHAD [4 September 2007] GE.08-44268 (EXT) CAT/C/TCD/1 page 2 CONTENTS Paragraphs Page Introduction ......................................................................................... 1 - 8 4 PART I: GENERAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROHIBITION AND ELIMINATION OF TORTURE I. General legal framework ................................................................... 9 - 40 5 II. The judicial and administrative authorities or other competent bodies concerned with areas targeted by the Convention .................. 41 - 62 11 A. The judicial authorities ............................................................. 41 - 48 11 B. The administrative authorities .................................................. 49 - 58 12 C. Other competent authorities ..................................................... 59 - 62 13 III. Actual status of implementation of the Convention .......................... 63 - 78 14 A. Act on reproductive health ....................................................... 65 14 B. Code of Ethics of the National Police ...................................... 66 - 78 14 PART II: INFORMATION CONCERNING EACH SUBSTANTIVE ARTICLE OF THE CONVENTION (ARTICLES 2-16) Article 2: Measures taken to prevent torture ............................................ 79 - 167 16 A. Legislative measures ................................................................ 80 - 110 16 B. Regulatory or administrative measures .................................... 111 - 136 19 C. Judicial measures ...................................................................... 137 - 167 23 Article 3: Measures taken to prohibit expulsion, return (refoulement) and extradition of a person to a State in which he is in danger of being subjected to torture ......................................................... 168 - 222 27 A. Legislative measures ................................................................ 174 - 178 27 B. Administrative measures .......................................................... 179 - 212 28 C. Judicial measures ...................................................................... 213 - 222 31 CAT/C/TCD/1 page 3 Paragraphs Page Article 4: Repression of acts of torture in domestic law .......................... 223 - 255 33 A. Legislative measures ................................................................ 223 - 247 33 B. Administrative measures .......................................................... 248 - 254 36 C. Judicial measures ...................................................................... 255 36 Article 5: Principles of territoriality and extraterritoriality ...................... 256 - 267 37 Article 6: Preventive detention : Police custody ...................................... 268 - 296 38 A. Preventive detention ................................................................. 269 - 282 38 B. Police custody .......................................................................... 283 - 296 40 Article 7: Conditions governing extradition ............................................. 297 - 304 41 Article 8: Obligation to cooperate ............................................................ 305 - 307 42 Article 9: Mutual judicial assistance ........................................................ 308 - 314 43 Article 10: Programme of training to combat torture ................................. 315 - 337 43 Article 11: Mechanisms for the surveillance of detainees .......................... 338 - 361 46 A. Legislative measures ................................................................ 338 - 349 46 B. Administrative measures .......................................................... 350 - 361 48 Article 12: The obligation to proceed to a prompt investigation in cases of torture ................................................................................... 362 - 374 49 A. Legislative measures ................................................................ 362 - 371 49 B. Administrative measures .......................................................... 372 - 374 51 Article 13: The right of victims to file complaints ..................................... 375 - 383 51 Article 14: The guarantee of redress and fair and adequate compensation 384 - 391 52 Article 15: Invalidity of confessions obtained under duress ...................... 392 - 398 52 Article 16: Prohibition of acts similar to torture ........................................ 399 - 409 53 CAT/C/TCD/1 page 4 Introduction 1. The present report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions of article 19 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“the Convention”), which recommends that the States parties submit reports on the measures they have taken to give effect to their undertakings. 2. Chad acceded to the Convention on 9 June1995. It made no reservation and no interpretative statement at that time. 3. Owing to special circumstances that led it to seek technical cooperation from the United Nations, the Chadian Government has thus far been unable to submit a report, making it necessary to submit an initial report, due on 9 July 1996, and two periodic reports, due on 9 July 2000 and 2004 respectively. 4. The present report responds to the obligation on States parties to submit reports. The special characteristic of this report is that it is cumulative, inasmuch as it combines Chad’s initial and second and third periodic reports. 5. The context in which this report was prepared is marked by the proclamation of a state of emergency. This state of emergency, instituted by Decree No. 1014 of 13 December 2006, is intended to put an end to the serious breaches of the peace in the wake of the insecurity that has been plaguing the six regions concerned as a result of the troubles, as well as the town of N’Djamena. 6. Pursuant to article 124 of the Constitution and of Ordinance No. 44 of 27 October 1962 proclaiming the state of emergency, which sets forth the conditions for the enforcement of this regime restricting public freedoms, the Council of Ministers, meeting on 13 November 2006, decreed the state of emergency and the Government informed the Bureau of the National Assembly. 7. Since the state of emergency falls under the law and may be extended beyond 12 days only with the authorization of the National Assembly, the Government requested authorization from the Assembly to extend it for a period of six months, which was granted through National Assembly resolution No. 004/AN/2006 of 23 November 2006. To that end, resident ministers were appointed to govern these troubled regions. 8. The terms of reference of the mission of the resident ministers specifying the context of this regime that restricts public freedoms point out that the state of emergency was decreed following intercommunal clashes that cost the lives of many people and a great deal of livestock. Villagers have been destroyed, causing large-scale displacement of villagers. The humanitarian agencies working in the east of the country in connection with the Darfur conflict estimate that 120,000 persons have been displaced. CAT/C/TCD/1 page 5 PART I GENERAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROHIBITION AND ELIMINATION OF TORTURE I. GENERAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK 9. The general legal framework for the protection of human rights is fairly solid inasmuch as all international legal instruments, once ratified, form part of domestic legislation, to which must be added the Constitution, the Criminal Code and the other laws that we shall be examining in the course of the report. 10. Since the early years of independence the Republic of Chad has had a long tradition of secret detentions, torture and disappearances, fed by intercommunal conflicts and bloody internecine civil wars in the struggle for power. 11. While illegal arrests, arbitrary detentions and abductions are prohibited and severely punished under the 1967 Criminal Code, torture is not a separate offence in our current national legal instruments. 12. This situation is linked to the lack of harmonization of our domestic legal framework with the Convention that is the subject of this report. However, the 1967 legislature defined torture as an aggravating circumstance in criminal proceedings. 13. The Constitution, the supreme law of the country, reaffirms in its preamble Chad’s attachment to the general principles of human rights as defined by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights; the principle of the inviolability of the human person is also affirmed. Thus, the Constitution, in its article 17, paragraph 1, stipulates that: “The human person is sacred and inviolable.” 14. In thus establishing through its Constitution some provisions that prohibit the practice of torture, Chad unquestionably adheres to the perception of international law to the effect that torture is a crime and as such destroys the victim’s personality and is no less than a negation of the dignity inherent in the human person. 15. However, so as better to define the context in which acts of torture nowadays considered as violations of human rights are practised, one must remember that French