CAT/C/61/D/614/2014
Annex
Individual opinion of Committee member Alessio Bruni (dissenting)
1.
It is my opinion that any reference, in the Committee’s decision on communication
614/2014, to violation by the State party of article 22 of the Convention against Torture
because it has not complied with the Committee’s request for interim measures of
protection of the complainant is inappropriate.
2.
Interim measures are contained in rule 114 of the rules of procedure of the
Committee which have not been subscribed by the State party, and they are not contained in
article 22 of the Convention, which, on the contrary, has been voluntarily subscribed by the
State party. The breach, therefore, concerns that rule, which is not legally binding, and not
article 22 of the Convention.
3.
It is stated in paragraph 6.3 of the Committee’s decision that “by making such a
declaration” under article 22 of the Convention “States parties implicitly undertake to
cooperate with the Committee in good faith by providing it with the means to examine the
complaints submitted to it …” etc.
4.
I agree that a State party should cooperate with the Committee in good faith, but
there is no implicit or secret or unilateral clause with regard to interim measures in the
Convention. Every treaty provision should be explicit, transparent and accepted by the
States parties to enable the Committee to assess a violation of the treaty.
5.
This is why interim measures of protection are legally binding in treaties and
protocols which provide for them and are freely adhered to by States parties to those
treaties or protocols. This is the case of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (art. 5), the Optional Protocol
to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (art. 4), the International
Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (art. 31) and the
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(art. 5).
6.
Treaties such as the Convention against Torture, which do not contain such a
provision, should be either amended in accordance with their amending mechanisms or
provided with an additional optional protocol to explicitly include the notion of legally
binding interim measures of protection.
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