Human Rights Council: Joint intervention in the framework of the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment

Joint oral statement delivered by The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), a non-governmental organisation in general consultative status, and The International Federation of ACAT (FIACAT), a non-governmental organisation in special consultative status

Thank you, Mr. President.

Mr. Nowak,

OMCT and FIACAT would like to thank you for your reports (A/HRC/10/44 and Add. 2 and 3) to this Council, in particular with regard to the issue of the death penalty in light of the prohibition of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and the report on your joint visit with the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Dr. Ertürk, to the Republic of Moldova.

On the first issue, OMCT and FIACAT, both members of the World Coalition against the Death Penalty composed of 83 organisations committed to the universal abolition of capital punishment, recall that they consider capital punishment as a form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

OMCT and FIACAT welcome your conclusions and recommendations and would like to ask you whether in addition to a more comprehensive legal study on the issue by the Human Rights Council, you would consider useful for the Committee against Torture to adopt a general comment on article 16 of the Convention?

More generally, as you have indicated, inconsistencies exist in the approach to capital punishment towards corporal punishment. In your opinion, what steps could and should be taken to remedy this problem?

With regard to your joint mission with Dr Ertürk to the Republic of Moldova, OMCT and FIACAT welcome this initiative as it firmly believe that joint missions have the advantage of comprehensively addressing complex issues such as gender-based violence.

More specifically we welcome the integration in your report of information gathered during a visit to a shelter for trafficking and domestic violence victims. We hope that in future country visits you will also pursue this practice, which allows to shed light on States’ due diligence obligations to prevent these forms of violence, and as you outlined, to provide protection and full rehabilitation to survivors of these extremely traumatic violations. We would like to encourage you to further elaborate on States’ duty to treat trafficking victims as persons requiring protection like any other torture victim, who should never be treated as illegal migrants and whom we consider should also be entitled to asylum.

Mr. Nowak, OMCT and FIACAT would like to take this opportunity to thank you very much for your important work as Special Rapporteur on Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.