CAT/C/FIN/CO/7
law enforcement personnel only. The State party should revise the regulations
governing the use of such weapons with a view to establishing a high threshold for
their use and expressly prohibit their use on children and pregnant women. The
Committee is of the view that electrical discharge weapons should be subject to the
principles of necessity and proportionality and should not form part of the equipment
of custodial staff in prisons or any other place of deprivation of liberty. The
Committee recommends that the State party provide more stringent instructions and
adequate training to law enforcement personnel authorized to use electric discharge
weapons and to strictly monitor and supervise their use through mandatory recording,
reporting and reviews of each use. Stringent instructions and adequate training
should also be applied to the use of the FN303.
Violence against women and domestic violence
28.
The Committee is concerned at the prevalence of violence against women in the
State party, including domestic and sexual violence, the underreporting of cases and the
lack of funding allocated to tackle it. It is also concerned that rape continues to be
categorized according to the degree of physical violence and not the lack of consent, by the
reported lack of sufficient support to victims, including specialized services, as well as at
the absence of a sufficient number of shelters for victims of violence and their children. The
Committee is further concerned that forced marriage is not included in the Criminal Code
as a distinct criminal offence (arts. 2, 12-14 and 16).
29.
The State party should:
(a)
Draw up a new national action plan to reduce violence against women,
ensuring that it receives adequate funding, and effectively implement the key
provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating
Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention);
(b)
Establish an effective and independent complaints mechanism for
victims of domestic violence;
(c)
Ensure that all allegations of domestic violence, including sexual violence
and violence against children, are registered by the police and are promptly,
impartially and effectively investigated and that perpetrators are prosecuted and
punished;
(d)
Ensure that victims of domestic violence benefit from protection,
including restraining orders, and have access to medical and legal services, including
counselling, as well as redress, including rehabilitation;
(e)
Revise the definition of rape in national legislation so that it includes lack
of consent, increase the number of rape crisis centres and ensure a higher rate of
reporting; strengthen the support services available to victims of sexual violence and
develop a low-threshold service network that also provides long-term support;
(f)
Provide safe and adequately funded shelters for victims and their
children, including for victims of honour-based violence, throughout the country;
(g)
Provide mandatory training for police and other law enforcement
officers, social workers, judges and prosecutors on the legislation criminalizing
violence against women and on the vulnerabilities of victims of gender-based and
domestic violence, including child victims;
(h)
Include forced marriage as a distinct criminal offence in the Criminal
Code.
7