CAT/C/CR/33/3
page 5
(g)
reports of unsatisfactory conditions in the State party’s detention facilities including
substantial numbers of deaths in custody, inter-prisoner violence, overcrowding and
continued use of “slopping out” sanitation facilities, as well as reports of unacceptable
conditions for female detainees in the Hydebank Wood prison, including a lack of gendersensitive facilities, policies, guarding and medical aid, with male guards alleged to constitute
80% of guarding staff and incidents of inappropriate threats and incidents affecting female
detainees;
(h)
reports of incidents of bullying followed by self-harm and suicide in the armed forces,
and the need for full public inquiry into these incidents and adequate preventive measures;
and
(i)
allegations and complaints against immigration staff, including complaints of
excessive use of force in the removal of denied asylum seekers.
D. Recommendations
5.
The Committee recommends that:
(a)
the State party take appropriate measures in the light of the Committee’s views to
ensure, if necessary explicitly, that the defences that might be available to a charge brought
under Section 134 (1) of the Criminal Justice Act be consistent with the requirements of the
Convention;
(b)
the State party should review, in the light of its experience since its ratification of the
Convention and the Committee’s jurisprudence, its statute and common law to ensure full
consistency with the obligations imposed by the Convention; for greater clarity and ease of
access, the State party should group together and publish the relevant legal provisions;
(c)
the State party should reassess its extradition mechanism in so far as it provides for the
Home Secretary to make determinations on issues such as medical fitness for trial which
would more appropriately be dealt with by the courts;