UNITED A NATIONS General Assembly Distr. GENERAL A/HRC/4/33 15 January 2007 Original: ENGLISH HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Fourth session Item 2 of the provisional agenda IMPLEMENTATION OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION 60/251 OF 15 MARCH 2006 ENTITLED “HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL” Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak GE.07-10215 (E) 190107 A/HRC/4/33 page 2 Summary The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment submits his first report to the Human Rights Council. Section II summarizes the activities of the Special Rapporteur undertaken between August and December 2006 (i.e. the period since the submission of his interim report to the General Assembly, document A/61/259), including updates on country visits to the Russian Federation and Paraguay, future visits and pending requests for invitations, and highlights of key presentations and meetings. In Section III, the Special Rapporteur discusses the obligation of States parties to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to establish universal jurisdiction. The Special Rapporteur notes that, with few exceptions, States remain reluctant to make use of their rights and obligations to exercise universal jurisdiction. The Special Rapporteur discusses recent practice and the developments related to the case of the ex-dictator of Chad, Hissène Habré. Given that impunity is one of the main reasons for the widespread practice of torture in all regions of the world, he calls upon States to exercise universal jurisdiction to fight impunity and deny torturers any safe haven in the world. Section IV contains a discussion on the importance of cooperation between the Special Rapporteur and regional mechanisms established to combat torture. Section V discusses the right of victims of torture to a remedy. The summary of communications sent by the Special Rapporteur from 16 December 2005 to 15 December 2006 and the replies received thereto from Governments by 31 December 2006 are found in addendum 1 to the present report. Addendum 2 contains a summary of the information provided by Governments and non-governmental organizations on implementation of recommendations of the Special Rapporteur following country visits. Addendum 3 is the report of the country visit to Jordan, and addendums 4 and 5 contain preliminary notes on the missions to Paraguay and Sri Lanka, respectively. A/HRC/4/33 page 3 CONTENTS Paragraphs Page I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 1 - 3 4 II. ACTIVITIES OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ..................... 4 - 40 4 III. THE OBLIGATION OF STATES PARTIES TO ESTABLISH UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION ACCORDING TO THE PRINCIPLE AUT DEDERE AUT IUDICARE ............................. 41 - 47 11 IV. COOPERATION WITH REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS ....... 48 - 60 15 V. THE RIGHT OF VICTIMS OF TORTURE TO A REMEDY AND REPARATION ................................................................... 61 - 68 20 A/HRC/4/33 page 4 I. INTRODUCTION 1. The Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, Manfred Nowak, hereby submits his first report to the Human Rights Council, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 60/251. 2. Section II summarizes the activities of the Special Rapporteur undertaken between August and December 2006 (i.e. the period since the submission of his interim report to the General Assembly, document A/61/259). In Section III, the Special Rapporteur discusses the obligation of States parties to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the Convention) to establish universal jurisdiction, and Section IV contains a discussion on regional cooperation. Section V discusses the right of victims of torture to a remedy. In particular, the Special Rapporteur points to the obligation of States under article 14 of the Convention against Torture to, among other things, pay the costs of rehabilitation. He calls for the development of mechanisms whereby States found to be systematic violators would contribute to funds such as the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture. 3. The summary of communications sent by the Special Rapporteur from 16 December 2005 to 15 December 2006 and the replies received thereto from Governments by 31 December 2006 are found in addendum 1 to the present report. Addendum 2 contains a summary of the information provided by Governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on implementation of recommendations of the Special Rapporteur following country visits. Addendum 3 is the report of the country visit to Jordan, and addendums 4 and 5 contain preliminary notes on the missions to Paraguay and Sri Lanka, respectively. II. ACTIVITIES OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR 4. The Special Rapporteur draws the attention of the Council to his second interim report to the General Assembly (A/61/259, paras. 6-43), in which he described his activities for the period from January to July 2006 (i.e. the period since the submission of his report to the Commission on Human Rights, document E/CN.4/2006/6 and addenda). The Special Rapporteur would like to inform the Council about the key activities he has undertaken since the submission of his report to the General Assembly, i.e. during the period August to December 2006. Communications concerning human rights violations 5. During the period 16 December 2005-15 December 2006, the Special Rapporteur sent 79 letters of allegations of torture to 35 Governments and 157 urgent appeals to 60 Governments on behalf of persons who might be at risk of torture or other forms of ill-treatment. Country visits Jordan 6. The Special Rapporteur undertook a visit to Jordan from 25 to 29 June 2006 and draws attention to the full report, including his findings and recommendations, contained in A/HRC/4/33 page 5 addendum 3. He expresses his appreciation to the Government for the full cooperation it extended to him. Consistent and credible allegations of torture and ill-treatment were brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur, particularly with respect to the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) for the purpose of obtaining confessions and intelligence in pursuit of counter-terrorism and national security objectives, and within the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to extract confessions in the course of routine criminal investigations. On the basis of all the evidence gathered, including the consistency and credibility of the allegations, the denial of the possibility of assessing these allegations by means of private interviews with detainees in the GID, taking into account the deliberate attempts by the officials to obstruct his work in the CID and the forensic evidence obtained, the Special Rapporteur confirms that the practice of torture is routine in the GID and the CID. With respect to conditions of detention in prisons and pretrial detention centres, the Special Rapporteur found that the Al-Jafr Correction and Rehabilitation Centre was in fact a punishment centre, where detainees were routinely beaten and subjected to corporal punishment amounting to torture. The conditions in other Correction and Rehabilitation Centres were found to be more humane, although he continued to receive credible reports of regular beatings and other forms of corporal punishment by prison officials there. No allegations of ill-treatment were received in the Juweidah (Female) Correction and Rehabilitation Centre, though he remains critical of the policy of holding females in “protective” detention, under the provisions of the 1954 Crime Prevention Law, because they are at risk of becoming victims of honour crimes. The Special Rapporteur concludes that the practice of torture persists in Jordan because of a lack of awareness of the problem and because of institutionalized impunity. The heads of the security forces and of the detention facilities he visited denied any knowledge of torture, despite having been presented with substantiated allegations. Moreover, in practice the provisions and safeguards laid out in Jordanian law to combat torture and ill-treatment are meaningless because the security services are effectively shielded from independent and public criminal prosecution and judicial scrutiny. The fact that no official has ever been prosecuted for torture under article 208 of the Penal Code underlines this conclusion. In view of the commitment of the Government to human rights, the Special Rapporteur is confident that every effort will be made to implement the recommendations in his report. To this end, the Special Rapporteur welcomes the recent implementation of his recommendation to close the Al-Jafr Correction and Rehabilitation Centre. Iraq 7. The Special Rapporteur recalls that on 1 and 2 July 2006, following his country visit to Jordan, he met in Amman with Iraqi torture victims and NGOs from different regions of Iraq, as well as representatives of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) in order to gather information about the situation of torture there. Meetings were also held by video-link with representatives of NGOs, the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights and UNAMI staff in Baghdad. Despite widespread and continuing media coverage, the Iraqi NGOs expressed their frustration at the current situation and appealed for the United Nations and other international entities to pay greater attention to the human rights situation in Iraq, and for the urgent intervention