CAT/C/BIH/CO/2-5
The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that adequate
psychosocial support by multidisciplinary teams is provided for patients in
psychiatric institutions, that all places where mental-health patients are held
for involuntary treatment are regularly visited by independent monitoring
bodies to guarantee the proper implementation of the existing safeguards, and
that alternative forms of treatment are developed. Furthermore, the State party
should ensure the full and timely implementation of the recommendations
made by the Ombudsmen, as contained in their special report on the situation
in institutions for accommodation of mentally disabled persons.
Individual complaints
21.
Notwithstanding the information provided in the State party’s report on the
possibility for prisoners and detainees to present complaints, the Committee is concerned
that it continues to receive information on the lack of an independent and effective
complaint mechanism for receiving and conducting impartial and full investigations into
allegations of torture and on the failure to provide prisoners and detainees with the existing
complaints procedures (arts.12 and 13).
The State party should ensure that every individual who alleges that he or she
has been subjected to torture or ill-treatment has the right to complain to the
competent authorities without any impediment and that such individuals have
access to their medical file upon their request. Furthermore, in line with the
recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture
and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, all detainees and
prisoners should be provided with information on the possibilities for lodging
complaints, including on the right to correspond on a confidential basis with
outside judicial and complaints’ bodies, and that closed complaints boxes be
installed in the prisons (CPT/Inf (2010) 10, para. 36).
Training
22.
While welcoming the detailed information provided by the State party on training
programmes for law enforcement officials and the judiciary, the Committee remains
concerned at the lack of standardized capacity at the State level for training of all public
officers and at the insufficient information on monitoring and evaluation of the
effectiveness of these programmes in preventing and detecting torture and ill-treatment
(arts. 10 and 16).
The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a)
Ensure that medical personnel and others involved in the custody,
interrogation or treatment of any individual subjected to any form of arrest,
detention or imprisonment are provided on a regular and systematic basis with
trainings on the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(Istanbul Protocol) and that the Manual is translated into all appropriate
languages and applied as widely as possible;
(b)
Develop and implement a methodology to assess the effectiveness
and impact of such educational and training programmes on the reduction of
cases of torture and ill-treatment and regularly evaluate the training provided
to its law enforcement officials;
(c)
Strengthen its efforts to implement a gender-sensitive approach
for the training of those involved in the custody, interrogation or treatment of
women subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment;
8