PANEL II THE ROLE OF THE COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE IN PROVIDING ADEQUATE REPARATIONS TO VICTIMS Remarks of Dean Claudio Grossman Background General Comment No. 3 also considers the status of gender and vulnerable and marginalized groups, including indigenous populations and the poor.5 People are exposed to violations of human rights in different ways, and we need to recognize this in order to equalize compensation and measures of redress and reparations: There are special needs when we talk about vulnerable and marginalized groups. I n November of 2012, the Committee adopted General Comment No. 3.1 In the 25 years of its existence, the Committee has adopted only two [other] general comments—very few in comparison to other committees. The Committee has only ten members, the smallest of all of the human rights treaty bodies, with a considerable workload. The Committee simply has not had the time to engage in standard-setting through general comments. However, it became necessary to adopt a General Comment on the scope of Article 14 that would assist States Parties, Committee Members, and others in applying the Convention. Access to justice is a key procedural guarantee. Access to justice cannot be made conditional on the availability of resources. There are always opportunities and possibilities for society to do justice. In my own experience I have witnessed, time and again, situations of societies that, in spite of being poor, are extremely generous and express solidarity with those who have been badly affected by violations of human rights. A legal procedure loses legitimacy if it does not have a consequence. The Committee, both under the states’ reporting system and the individual complaints procedure, required follow-up by states in accordance with Article 14, but was not specific in determining how to remedy a violation of the Convention. Through the adoption of General Comment No. 3, the Committee firmly established that redress encompasses restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition, giving clear guidelines as to the consequences of violations of the Convention.2 The concept of victim is also key. The victim is not only the person who has been subjected to torture, but their affected family members and dependents are victims as well. This concept of victimhood is not artificial. Anyone who doubts it has not been exposed to the children or spouses of individuals who have been disappeared. Human rights defenders also can be victims as they are continually subject to serious consequences for their actions. Accordingly, another important contribution of General Comment No. 3 is recognition of the legal duty to guarantee the security of victims and human rights defenders, and the importance of victims’ participation and leadership, and the role of civil society as a whole, in the redress.6 The Committee’s Core Principles In adopting General Comment No. 3, it was important for the Committee to lay down core principles. Amongst those principles is that economic compensation certainly plays a role in alleviating violations of human rights, and that compensation involves reparations for both material and moral damages, including pain and suffering.3 Still, anyone who has worked with victims knows that that is not enough. What victims want is justice, investigations, establishment of responsibilities, and punishment that is proportional to the offense. General Comment No. 3 reaffirms that prompt, effective and impartial investigation, prosecution and proportional punishment are required, and that amnesty laws are incompatible with the obligations laid down by Article 14.4 Legal Development Through Jurisprudence The Committee built on its own jurisprudence in order to adopt this General Comment. For example, see Gerasimov v. Kazakhstan (2012).7 In this decision, the Committee records that Article 14 of the Convention recognizes not only the right to fair and adequate compensation, but also requires States Parties to ensure that the victim of an act of torture obtains redress.8 The redress should address all the harms suffered by the victim through the provision of restitution, compensation, rehabilitation of the victim, and measures to guarantee that there is no reoccurrence of the violation, while always bearing in mind the circumstances of the particular case.9 So this General Comment is not a result of the Committee against Torture suddenly learning the complexities of the law of redress, but the result of a process to codify and develop the practice of the Committee. When human rights are violated, we are not dealing only with individual wrongs; thus, it is crucial for society at large to help reestablish the rule of law. Measures of satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition are mandated by Article 14 of the Convention, and are essential forms of redress as states restore support for the rule of law. 19