OMCT E-Bulletin - July 2021, 71st session of the Committee against Torture
The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has resumed its country reviews after an interruption of 18 months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The 71st session of the Committee, including the review of Belgium and the NGO briefing, was conducted fully online. The considerations of the other reports initially scheduled for the 71st session have been postponed to 2022.
During the online consideration of the fourth periodic report of Belgium, the CAT mainly focused on the following five areas: police violence; detention conditions, counter-terrorism; non-refoulement; repatriation of nationals and extradition. Like in 2013, the Committee expressed its concerns about the prevalence of ill-treatment and the excessive use of force by the police, including when detaining persons, which has in some cases led to the deaths of those arrested.
Other topics detailed in this E-Bulletin include
- a January thematic briefing on extra-custodial use of force the OMCT organised with CAT members and other experts
- OMCT virtual missions to Belarus, Mexico, and Togo and related reports.
Upcoming States reviews
72nd CAT session 8 November - 3 December 2021: Bolivia, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Nigeria (in the absence of a State report), Serbia, Sweden.
73rd CAT session 25 April - 20 May 2022: Cuba, Iceland, Kenya, Montenegro, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay.
74th CAT session 11 - 29 July 2022: Iraq, Nicaragua, State of Palestine, Ukraine.
Read the E-Bulletin here in: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic