60
8. The report of the NPM
facts and circumstances that indicate that the staff members of certain places
of detention have failed to comply or complied belatedly with their obligation to cooperate, stipulated in Section 25(1) of the Ombudsman Act. Under
findings, I also have to elaborate whether the fundamental-rights-related
impropriety, uncovered during the visit, is the result of the wrong interpretations of the law, a redundant, unclear, or inadequate provision of a legal
act, or the absence or the deficiency of the given issue’s legal regulation.121
Pursuant to Article 16(1) of the UN Convention against Torture, each
State Party “shall undertake to prevent in any territory under its jurisdiction other
acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount
to torture as defined in article 1, when such acts are committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting
in an official capacity”. The UN Convention against Torture does not give a
definition of “other acts” of ill-treatment which do not qualify as torture as
defined in Article 1. The prohibition of “other acts” when performing my
tasks related to the National Preventive Mechanism compels me to raise
my voice against various types of treatment that fall outside the concept of
torture but cause suffering to the persons deprived of their liberty.
My experience shows that, in the case of detainees, enduring not only
treatment and/or placement conditions violating the prohibition of torture
and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment but also
treatment and/or placement conditions resulting in an impropriety related
to fundamental rights may cause serious physical or psychological ordeal.
Since the “full respect for the human rights of persons deprived of their liberty” is a
common responsibility shared by all,122 in my reports published within my
activities as NPM, in addition to preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, I also consider myself tasked
with establishing and preventing other fundamental-rights-related improprieties and the threat thereof.123
When establishing a fundamental-rights-related impropriety or the threat
thereof, in my argument I refer, in particular, to the interpretation of the law by
the European Court of Human Rights, the CPT, the Committee on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities,124 the other organs of the UN and the Council of
Europe, as well as by the Constitutional Court.
121
122
123
124
See also Article 11 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, promulgated by Law-decree 3 of 1988.
See the Preamble of the OPCAT.
See Article 30(1) of the Fundamental Law.
See Article 34 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,
promulgated into law by Act XCII of 2007.
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