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External sources (not reviewed)

These include proposals for the establishment of (a) 13 Safety and Security posts under section 35, comprised of 5 General Service (Other level) posts in Geneva to implement a necessary canine unit and lead crisis management training, and 8 General Service (Local level) posts in Addis Ababa to support the security control centres, (b) 4 General Service (Other level) posts under section 24 to provide administrative and clerical support to the Human Rights Council and the treaty bodies, including the Committee on Enforced Disappearances and the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, (c) 2 General Service (Other level) posts to support the International Court of Justice and (d) 2 General Service (Local level) posts in UNTSO to provide transportation services across international borders.

The European Union believed that a more determined effort must be made to fight poverty and HIV/AIDS, which were synonymous with denial of rights; the economic, social and cultural rights must be more vigorously promoted through legislation; torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment had to be firmly condemned; and all human rights defenders, whom it hailed for working in the face of considerable risk, should be strongly supported.

(a) The specific measures taken to fight impunity for violations of human rights, including disappearances and torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment committed by public officials as well as private actors acting with the acquiescence or consent of government officials.

The Subcommittee has already pointed out, in the section on public defence, that it is the lack of differentiated legal services in the criminal justice realm that puts indigenous persons at greatest risk of being subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, especially at the initial stage of the preliminary investigation, because many do not know the Spanish language, because they do not understand the criminal justice system and because of all the factors that prevent them from understanding their legal status.

[...] [...] penalty was the most cruel and serious punishment [...]

Equally relevant are the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 12, concerning the obligation of States to eliminate discrimination against women in health care; the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, article 25 (b), which requires that health services be “designed to minimize and prevent further disabilities, including among children and older persons”; and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 7, which prohibits torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and includes the prohibition of medical or scientific experimentation without free consent.

[...] [...] Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading [...] [...]

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

These safeguards are considered not so much as due process safeguards — this task falls to other United Nations bodies — but as instruments of prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Reiterating that the burden of proof was not placed on the accused in cases of torture, he said that, in accordance with the Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol), judges were authorized to take any steps necessary to ascertain the facts in allegations of torture.

[...] persons with disabilities shall not [...]

Particular challenges for the realization by older persons of the right to liberty and security of person, the right to privacy, freedom of movement, freedom of expression, freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, the right to personal integrity, the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, among others, are common but have often not been adequately regulated.

(a) Immediately fulfil its obligations under the Convention to prevent and protect all individuals under its jurisdiction from torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment; the Committee recalls, in this regard, that no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture

[...] willing to use ruthless and indiscriminate [...] [...]

A State shall not expel an alien to a State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

[...] [...] Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman [...]

[...] [...] Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment instituted by the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading [...] [...]

The State party should either provide the Chancellor of Justice with a broader mandate to more fully promote and protect all human rights or achieve that aim by some other means, in full compliance with the Paris Principles, and take into account in this regard the requirements for the national preventive mechanism under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Only complaints from persons under the jurisdiction of States that have officially accepted these committees’ procedures may be examined. Such acceptance is effected by means of ratification (Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) or by means of an express statement (International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment).

See also the objection by Poland to the reservation formulated by Pakistan to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment: “The Islamic Republic of Pakistan refers in the above-mentioned reservations to the Sharia laws and to its domestic legislation as possibly affecting the application of the Convention.

It remains important that the Iraqi authorities recognize that all detainees, including those previously under United States detention, must be afforded due legal process, treated humanely and protected from ill-treatment and torture, particularly now that Iraq has ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

In 2006, ICJ submitted legal comments on draft general comments as follows: (a) draft general comment No. 32 of the Human Rights Committee on the right to equality before courts and tribunals and to a fair trial; (b) in 2007, draft general comment No. 19 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the right to social security; (c) draft general comment No. 2 of the Committee against Torture on the prohibition of torture and the duty of the States parties to implement article 2 of the Convention against Torture, Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and (d) second submission on draft general comment No. 32 in the Human Rights Committee on the right to equality before courts and tribunals and to a fair trial.

(b) To ensure that existing legislation is not implemented in a discriminatory manner or does not result in discrimination based on religion or belief, that no one within their jurisdiction is deprived of the right to life, liberty or security of person because of religion or belief and that no one is subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or arbitrary arrest or detention on that account and to bring to justice all perpetrators of violations of these rights

Under the Constitution of the Territory, provision is made regarding the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual.35 As previously reported (see A/AC.109/2008/16, para. 55), the following international human rights instruments were extended to Montserrat: the European Convention on Human Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.