CAT/C/CR/33/3
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Act however provides for a defence of “lawful authority, justification or excuse” to a charge
of official intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, a defence which is not restricted
by the Human Rights Act for conduct outside the State party, where the Human Rights Act
does not apply; moreover, the text of section 134(5) of the Criminal Justice Act provides for
a defence for conduct that is permitted under foreign law, even if unlawful under the State
party’s law;
(b)
the State party’s limited acceptance of the applicability of the Convention to the
actions of its forces abroad, in particular its explanation that “those parts of the Convention
which are applicable only in respect of territory under the jurisdiction of a State party cannot
be applicable in relation to actions of the United Kingdom in Afghanistan and Iraq”; the
Committee observes that the Convention protections extend to all territories under the
jurisdiction of a State party and considers that this principle includes all areas under the de
facto effective control of the State party’s authorities;
(c)
the incomplete factual and legal grounds advanced to the Committee justifying the
derogations from the State party’s international human rights obligations and requiring the
emergency powers set out in Part IV of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001;
similarly, with respect to Northern Ireland, the absence of precise information on the
necessity for the continued emergency provisions for that jurisdiction contained in the
Terrorism Act 2000;
(d)
the State party’s reported use of diplomatic assurances in the “refoulement” context in
circumstances where its minimum standards for such assurances, including effective postreturn monitoring arrangements and appropriate due process guarantees followed, are not
wholly clear and thus cannot be assessed for compatibility with article 3 of the Convention;
(e)
the State party’s resort to potentially indefinite detention under the Anti-terrorism,
Crime and Security Act 2001 of foreign nationals suspected of involvement in international
terrorism and the strict regime applied in Belmarsh prison;
(f)
the investigations carried out by the State party into a number of deaths by lethal force
arising between the entry into force of the Convention in 1988 and the Human Rights Act in
2000 which have failed to fully meet its international obligations;