Judicial Body: UN Committee Against Torture (CAT)

In April 2013, TRIAL submitted an alternative report to the UN Committee against Torture.

The report analyses the state of implementation of the Convention against Torture by Kenyan authorities and it focuses in particular on the human rights situation prevailing in Kenya’s Mont Elgon disctrict, notably the massive violations committed there in 2008 and the enduring and complete state of impunity that still lingers.

TRIAL and eight local Mexican human rights organizations are submitting a report to the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) assessing the measures taken by Mexico to comply with its obligations under the International Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The “war on drugs” initiated by former Mexican president, Felipe Calderón (2006-2012), claimed the lives of over 60,000 people. It is estimated that over 26,000 people disappeared in the same period. Human Rights Watch has considered this “the most severe crisis of enforced disappearance in Latin America in decades.”

According to government estimates over 26,000 people disappeared in Mexico between 2006 and 2012. Many of these involve migrants from Central America in transit to reach the United States. This group is particularly vulnerable to become victims of human trafficking and to abuse from authorities and their families face innumerable obstacles in the search for them. But according to the NGOs, Mexico hasn’t show significant progress to comply with its international obligations to the Convention:

• The recommendations previously issued by the CAT have not been duly implemented.
• The situation remains especially grave with regard to victims of enforced disappearance and their relatives, all the more when they are migrants.

“Despite reiterated recommendations issued by international bodies, there are not enough progresses in the investigation of cases of enforced disappearance, in the identification of those responsible and in their prosecution and sanction,” says Gabriella Citroni, TRIAL’s Senior Legal Advisor.

TRIAL and its partners highlight that in order to fully implement the Convention against Torture, Mexico must:

• establish a unified register of persons deprived of liberty;
• ensure that persons held in migrant-holding centres are granted measures of assistance and protection and that they can maintain regular communication with their loved ones;
• establish a unified register of persons victims of enforced disappearance ensuring that enforced disappearance of migrants is documented and its transnational dimension is taken into account;
• establish mechanisms for searching disappeared persons that are effective and with a transnational scope;
• facilitate access to justice for relatives of disappeared persons, in particular for migrants.

The situation of migrants subjected to enforced disappearance is particularly grave because neither Mexican authorities nor the authorities of the neighbouring countries count with any precise data on the exact number of victims of this crime. This makes it very difficult to implement an effective search and investigation.

“Relatives of disappeared people, and in particular of migrants, face significant obstacles in accessing justice. Often they are not recognized as victims and, especially when they live abroad, they cannot count on legal representatives before Mexican authorities“, adds Gabriella Citroni.

• read TRIAL report (in Spanish)
• read TRIAL executive summary (in English)

On 31 October and 1 November 2012, the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) examined and discussed the report submitted by Mexico with a delegation of the Mexican government. TRIAL participated in a private meeting with the CAT prior to its open session with the Mexican delegation in order to raise issues related to the violations by Mexico of its international obligations under the Convention against Torture.

In May 2012, TRIAL (Swiss Association against Impunity) together with nine local associations dealing with the subject of enforced disappearance in Mexico[1], submitted to the CAT an alternative report for the consideration of Mexico’s 5th and 6th periodic reports, highlighting the existing obstacles in the implementation of the Convention against Torture by Mexico, including: the failure to codify enforced disappearance as an autonomous offence in line with international standards both at the federal and the state levels and to adopt a General Law on Enforced Disappearance; the failure to adopt adequate and effective preventive measures; the lack of an adequate legal framework on universal jurisdiction; the ongoing impunity for the perpetrators of enforced disappearance; the failure to protect relatives of disappeared people, their associations and witnesses from threats and harassment; and the failure to provide compensation and integral reparation to victims of enforced disappearance and their families.

On 30 October 2012, TRIAL participated in a private meeting in Geneva with the CAT, together with delegations of Mexican and international NGOs. At this occasion TRIAL raised issues related to the above-mentioned ongoing violations by Mexico of its international obligations, stressing that enforced disappearance is a form of torture and relatives of disappeared people are subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment because of the length of time over which their ordeal is dragged out by State authorities and because of the attitude of official indifference in the face of their acute anxiety to know the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones.

On 31 October and 1 November 2012, the CAT examined the report submitted by Mexico with a delegation of the government. During the session, the CAT raised a number of issues, including those previously pointed out by TRIAL, and it sought explanations and clarifications from the State.

At the end of the month, the CAT will publish its concluding observations and recommendations which will represent a road-map for Mexican authorities in order to take further steps to effectively comply with their international obligations under the Convention against Torture.

For more information

See the alternative report submitted by TRIAL in May 2012 to the CAT [in Spanish]

See the executive summary of the alternative report submitted by TRIAL in May 2012 to the CAT

¹I(dh)eas – Litigio Estratégico en Derechos Humanos; Foro Nacional para las Migraciones en Honduras – FONAMIH; Fundación para la Justicia y el Estado Democrático de Derecho; Centro Diocesano de Derechos Humanos Fray Juan de Larios, A.C.; Fuerzas Unidas por Nuestros Desaparecidos(as) en Coahuila – FUUNDEC; Comité de Familiares de Migrantes Fallecidos y Desaparecidos – El Salvador – COFAMIDE; and Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos y Víctimas de Violaciones de Derechos Humanos en México – AFADEM.

On 4 November 1998, exactly fourteen years ago, Mr. Hanafi died following acts of torture he suffered while in the hands of the Algerian authorities. Despite the condemnation of Algeria by the UN Committee against Torture in June 2011, those responsible for committing such acts have still not been punished, and the family has not received any compensation.

On 16 June 2011, the Committee issued a decision in which it condemned Algeria for the torture inflicted on Mr. Hanafi which led to his death. Following this decision, the Committee urged the Algerian government to initiate an impartial investigation without delay in order to prosecute those responsible for torture and compensate the family.

The proceedings initiated before the UN Committee against Torture and the decision condemning Algeria allowed the family of Mr. Hanafi to obtain justice. However, those responsible for the acts of torture that led to the death of Mr. Hanafi have not been punished under criminal law yet. The Algerian authorities are required to open an investigation immediately to identify the perpetrators and put an end to this intolerable situation. It is only through these measures that the family will enjoy a real and complete restorative process and that an end will be put to impunity.

In this light TRIAL contacted in May 2012 the Attorney General of Tiaret in order to ensure that the decision of the Committee will be effectively implemented and that a thorough, independent and impartial investigation will be carried out with a particular focus on the acts of torture that caused Mr. Hanafi’s death. On 30 July 2012, TRIAL informed the Committee against Torture about this step and drew its attention on the lack of response from the Algerian authorities.

However, more than sixteen months after the adoption of this decision by the Committee against Torture, no investigation has been initiated and those involved in the perpetration of acts of torture were not prosecuted. Additionally, the family has not received any compensation so far.

In light of the forthcoming meeting of the Committee against Torture on 16 November 2012 dedicated to the follow-up of the individual communications, TRIAL wrote today to the Committee to ask for an active monitoring of the activities of the Algerian authorities to ensure that the international decision is fully respected.

TRIAL also asked the Committee to consider whether to initiate joint efforts with the Human Rights Committee, which also issued several decisions on Algerian cases. Four of them concern cases of enforced disappearances submitted by TRIAL and whose decisions have not yet been implemented. Holding a joint mission of the two committees in Algeria should thus be considered in order to urge the Algerian authorities to finally comply with their international human rifghts obligations.

For more information

• See the Hanafi case
• See the letter sent by TRIAL to the Committee against torture
• See the website of the Committee against torture

In May 2012, TRIAL submitted an alternative report to the UN Committee against Torture.

The report highlights the existing obstacles in the implementation of the Convention against Torture by Mexico, providing numerous concrete examples as well as recommendations to improve the situation.

The report was submitted in partnership with seven Mexican and Central American human rights organisations namely, i(dh)eas – Strategic Human Rights Litigation (Litigio Estratégico en Derechos Humanos); the National Forum for Migration in Honduras (Foro Nacional para las Migraciones en Honduras – FONAMIH); the Foundation for Justice and the Democratic Rule of Law (Fundación para la Justicia y el Estado Democrático de Derecho); the Diocesan Centre for Human Rights Fray Juan de Larios (Centro Diocesano de Derechos Humanos Fray Juan de Larios, A.C.); United Forces for our Disappeared in Coahuila (Fuerzas Unidas por Nuestros Desaparecidos(as) en Coahuila – FUUNDEC); the Committee of Relatives of Deceased and Disappeared Migrants – El Salvador (Comité de Familiares de Migrantes Fallecidos y Desaparecidos – El Salvador – COFAMIDE); and the Association of Relatives of Disappeared-detainees and victims of human rights’ violations in Mexico (Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos y Víctimas de Violaciones de Derechos Humanos en México – AFADEM) .

In October 2011, TRIAL and 19 associations of relatives of missing persons, of victims of sexual violence and of former concentration camps detainees in Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted to the United Nations Committee against Torture a 52-page report showing how the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina have failed to enforce the November 2010 recommendations of the Committee against Torture.

Read the press release

Geneva 5 July 2011

The United Nations Committee against Torture has condemned Algeria for the death under torture of Mr. Djilali Hanafi, a 32 year old shopkeeper and father of two children who was arrested on 1 November 1998 in Mechra Sfa. Mr. Hanafi had been released on 3 November, only to die a few hours later at his home as a result of the torture inflicted upon him at the gendarmerie headquarters in Mecchra Sfa. This condemnation is the first ever to be handed down by the Committee against Torture concerning Algeria.

For years the relatives of the victim have tried to obtain justice. However no enquiry whatsoever was ever opened up, since the authorities asserted that the victim had died of natural causes. In April 2008, TRIAL brought the case before the Committee against Torture, the UN body in charge of overseeing the respect of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, ratified by Algeria in 1989

In its June 2011 decision, which has just been made public, the Committee decided that the facts did indeed “constitute torture” under the terms of the Convention, and that the demise of the victim was the direct outcome of such torture. According to this UN agency, “during the whole time the victim was detained and despite corroborative evidence from witnesses indicating that he had been tortured, at no time did the authorities institute proceedings nor did they order a doctor to check the state of his health despite the fact that his fellow prisoners had alerted the guards that the victim was in a critical state. Furthermore, despite the fact that the death certificate made mention of ‘death under suspicious circumstances’ at no time did the public prosecutor take up the case”.

Only within the context of the procedure brought before the Committee did the family at last have access to the autopsy report carried out just before the victim was buried. The report concluded that the victim had died as a result of heart failure. TRIAL however submitted this report to several legal medical experts who for their part noted its incomplete and dubious nature, which could not allow a conclusion on the real cause of his death.

Contrary to the terms of the Convention against Torture, none of the torturers has been put on trial or punished. The Committee considered in this respect that “no impartial and serious criminal inquiry whatsoever was ever instituted in order to shed light on the death of the plaintiff’s husband despite the passing of 12 years since the events occurred, a fact not contested by the State party. The absence of any enquiry is even more inexplicable given that the death certificate issued in April 2006 made reference to the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of the victim”!

The UN organ therefore concluded that Algeria was in violation of articles 1, 2 paragraphs 1, 11 12, 13 and 14 of the Convention against Torture. Moreover, the Committee denounced as “inacceptable”, and incompatible with the Convention, the practice of interrogating former fellow prisoners as well as the family of the deceased with the intended purpose of making them withdraw their previous testimony before the Committee.

According to Philip Grant, Director of TRIAL, “Algeria cannot continue its policy of impunity. The victims of torture and other serious violations committed during the civil war have the right to know the truth and to obtain justice. The Committee against Torture has handed down a verdict which sets an important legal precedent”. For Mr. Grant “cases of torture like that of Djilali Hanafi must be the subject of a thorough enquiry and the authors of these acts must be prosecuted and punished. A true criminal investigation should be opened immediately”

Under the terms of the decision, Algeria is under the obligation to initiate an impartial enquiry into the events in question with the aim of bringing to justice the persons responsible for the treatment inflicted on the victim. Algeria has been given 90 days to inform the Committee on measures taken, including the compensation awarded to the wife of the deceased.

TRIAL is currently handling 64 cases before different international instances (European Court of Human Rights, the Human Rights Committee and the Committee against Torture) concerning cases of enforced disappearances, extra judicial executions and torture in several countries including Algeria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Libya and Nepal. Sixteen of these cases concern Algeria.

General Context

The events concerning the case in question occurred within the context of the violence that devastated Algeria during the 1990s. Under cover of the fight against terrorism, the Algerian government set in place a repressive system of exceptional violence. Summary executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, torture and other violent acts committed by the State security apparatus between 1992 and 1998 can be counted in tens of thousands.

Nevertheless, Algeria has never accepted (and far less given reparations) the consequences of such violations. Indeed the State has never taken upon itself to render justice for such crimes, to bring proceedings against and punish those responsible and to provide proper reparations for the victims or their close relatives. On the contrary, a real policy of impunity continues to apply and has even been legalized with the promulgation of the Ordinance bringing into application the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation in February 2006, which forbids victims of exactions committed during this period from taking legal action with a view to obtaining justice.

(Sarajevo/Geneva, 23 November 2010) – The UN Committee against Torture (CAT) issued recommendations to BiH for resolving the problems related to missing persons and victims of rape or other forms of sexual violence during the war. These recommendations were formulated after the organization TRIAL, along with 11 local associations from all of BiH, filed a 80-page-long report last October, on the subject of enforced disappearances and rape or other forms of sexual violence during the war.

The CAT recommendations emphasized some of the progress made by the State but also highlighted the remaining obstacles to the full implementation of the UN Convention against Torture by BiH. For TRIAL, it is evident that the CAT considers that BiH does not respect its international obligations defined in the Convention against Torture and must swiftly undertake policy changes with regards to civilian victims of the war.

«The Committee does not consider that the unsolved problems of victims of sexual violence and of relatives of missing persons belong to the past», statedLejla Mamut – Abaspahić, TRIAL Coordinator for Human Rights in BiH. She added that«authorities at all levels should swiftly adapt the legal framework to international standards and provide integral reparations to civilian victims of war». Speaking about the details of the Report to the CAT, Mrs. Mamut – Abaspahić emphasized that the families of missing persons and victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence most frequently face problems such as the slow pace of tracing missing persons; the non existence of documenting of missing persons; the lack of redress for families of missing persons and victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence; persisting impunity; and the lack of witness protection and shortage of psycho-social support for victims.

The CAT clearly emphasized the obligation to bring all perpetrators of war crimes to justice. «We are particularly pleased that the UN calls on Bosnia and Herzegovina to especially prosecute authors of sexual crimes» said Selma Korjenić, TRIAL Human Rights Officer in charge of sexual violence, noting that such crimes have so far not been given the attention they deserve. Mrs. Korjenić highlighted the welcomed CAT recommendations linked to some problematic issues: the changes in the legal definition of torture and its harmonization in the entities laws; the needed modification of the definition of sexual violence; the obligation to tackle impunity; the necessity to enforce Constitutional Court judgments; the requirement to adopt a law on victims of torture and civilian victims as well as the Strategy for Transitional Justice.

TRIAL and its partner organizations have in the past repeatedly underlined the frequent lack of implementation of Constitutional Court judgments. The Committee agrees that «it is necessary to fully implement the Constitutional Court’s judgments without further delay, in particular with regard to cases on enforced disappearances, and prosecute failure to comply with such judgments». TRIAL will thus shortly write to the Constitutional Court and to the State Prosecutor to call on them to urgently and earnestly follow this important recommendation.

The Committee granted Bosnia and Herzegovina a full year to make good on its recommendations and report back to it. TRIAL will monitor this process and interact with the various national and local actors involved, and in due time will provide the Committee with the relevant information.

For more info:

• Read CAT recommendations here.
• Read the TRIAL report here.
• Read the executive summary of the report here.

In October 2010, TRIAL and 11 associations of families of disappeared from all Bosnia-and-Herzegovina, submitted a report on the situation of the families of missing persons in this country.

Read the full report.

Geneva, 18 October 2009 – Mr. Bouguerra SOLTANI, leader of the Islamist party Movement for the Society of Peace, who was in Switzerland last Friday and against whom a criminal complaint alleging acts of torture was submitted to Fribourg’s investigating judge, left Switzerland before he could be arrested.

On 12 October 2009 TRIAL (Track Impunity Always – Swiss Association against Impunity) submitted a criminal complaint to the investigating judge in the Canton of Fribourg, charging Mr. Bouguerra SOLTANI with acts of torture. The following day, the victim, Mr. Nouar ABDELMALEK, joined the proceeding as a civil party.

In July 2009, TRIAL had already filed an individual communication against Algeria before the UN Committee against torture on behalf of M. ADBELMALEK. The communication referred to the multiple tortures he suffered in his country between 2001 and 2005. Mr. SOLTANI is among the individuals denounced by the victim for having organized a torture session. Mr. ABDELMALEK, owing to the abuses he endured, was later granted refugee status in France, where he is now living.

In the framework of his functions at the Ministry of Defense, M ABDELMALEK published a report in 1998 in which he expressly mentioned Mr. SOLTANI’s implication in the recruitment of a young Algerian Islamist sent to Afghanistan. After the report was released, Mr. ABDELMALEK was discharged from his official functions but continued criticizing Mr. SOLTANI in the press.

In June 2005, Mr. ABDELMALEK was arrested on the basis of fallacious charges. Policemen brought him to the brigade of Beni Messous where he suffered torture for several days. In the morning of the 1 July 2005, officials transferred Mr. ABDELMALEK to the Châteauneuf facility, notorious for being Algeria’s main center for torture and arbitrary detention.

Electric shocks and other abuses

On the same day, Mr. SOLTANI, then Minister of State, went to the room where Mr. ABDELMALEK was detained in order to personally direct a torture session which lasted for about 2 hours. During that session, the victim was subjected to waterboarding, to several electric shocks on the stomach, feet and hands, his ankles were twisted as if to break them and a screwdriver was even introduced into a recent wound on his right foot.

With the purpose to make Mr. ABDELMALEK sign fake declarations and blank documents, Mr. SOLTANI openly directed the session, encouraging and inciting the agents to carry out these inhuman acts. Mr. ABDELMALEK was also threatened of not leaving the facility alive.

Switzerland implements its international obligations

Mr. ABDELMALEK was heard on Friday 16 October 2006 by the investigating judge, in the presence of a psychiatric expert who established the credibility of his statement. According to Damien CHERVAZ, the victim’s lawyer, “it was planned at the end of the audience that Mr. SOLTANI was to be arrested and that a direct confrontation between the two subjects would consequently be organized”.

But the confrontation never took place. Mr. SOLTANI was seen and recognized in Geneva on Friday 16 October 2009 by a number of people and was interviewed by the press agency Alquds Press. He presumably escaped Switzerland shortly thereafter and probably never reached Fribourg, where he was awaited.

TRIAL regrets Mr. SOLTANI’s escape but is satisfied that Swiss authorities  seriously tried to implement their international obligations by initiating a proceeding against an individual suspected of acts of torture.

According to the Convention against torture, entered into force in our country in 1987, Switzerland is bound to detain any person presumed of having perpetrated acts of torture, even if committed abroad (principle of universal jurisdiction) and must submit the case to its judicial authorities if it does not extradite the accused to be judged abroad. For Philip GRANT, President of TRIAL, Mr. SOLTANI’s capture “would have been a strong sign that impunity is no longer an option for torturers and that justice is on the side of the victims”.


For further information:

• TRIAL website
• Proceeding before the UN committee against torture
• Text of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Severe torture inflicted on Mr. Nouar Abdelmalek

In July 2009, the Advocacy Center TRIAL (ACT) filed an individual communication against Algeria before the Committee against Torture on behalf of Mr. Nouar Abdelmalek.

This is the fourteenth application submitted against Algeria by ACT.

A former member of the Algerian army, Mr. Abdelmalek was arrested twice in 2001 and 2005. He was subjected to multiple acts of torture on the part of Algerian security forces, either in secret as well as official detention centers. The irreversible after-effects of the torture inflicted on Mr. Abdelmalek can still be seen today.

Mr. Abdelmalek has consistently protested the torture to which he was subjected, to each judicial authority he has appeared before, but to no avail.  No investigation has been undertaken and no one has ever been charged with the crimes.

With his life being under threat, he was forced to flee his country and ask for asylum in a third party country, where he was granted refugee status.

Mr. Abdelmalek has requested that the Committee against Torture acknowledge that he has been a victim of torture within the terms of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and that Algeria has violated Articles 2 (1), 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 of the Convention, and subsidiarily Article16.

The author also requests the Committee to direct Algeria to open up a thorough investigation into the affair, to bring those responsible to justice, and to provide appropriate reparations.

More on the Abdelmalek case here.