A/HRC/4/33/Add.3 page 6 8. The Special Rapporteur wishes to acknowledge with appreciation the support provided to him by the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Ms. Christine McNab, and her staff at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); interpreters from the United Nations Office in Geneva; the drivers and the security officer provided to him; Dr. Derrick Pounder, forensic doctor of the University of Dundee; and Ms. Julia Kozma, of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights. I. LEGAL FRAMEWORK A. International level 9. The Special Rapporteur notes that Jordan is a State party to the major United Nations human rights treaties prohibiting torture and ill-treatment, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Jordan is also party to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Jordan is not a party to the Optional Protocols to the ICCPR, concerning the right of individual petition and the abolition of the death penalty, nor has it recognized the competence of the Committee against Torture (CAT) to consider complaints from individuals by making the declaration under article 22 of the Convention against Torture. Jordan is also not a party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) providing for a system of preventive visits to all places of detention. B. Domestic level 1. Constitutional protection of human rights, including the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 10. Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan provides for “Rights and Duties of Jordanians”. Articles 5 to 23 deal with nationality, equality and non-discrimination, right to work and education, personal freedom, freedom of movement and residence, inviolability of dwelling, right to property, prohibition of compulsory labour, freedom of religion, freedom of opinion and media, freedom of assembly, right to petition, freedom of communication, right of congregational schools, right to education, rights of refugees, right to public offices, and workers’ rights. No specific provision relates to the prohibition of torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. 2. Provisions of the Penal Code criminalizing torture 11. The Convention against Torture, acceded to by Jordan on 13 November 1991, became a binding part of the country’s domestic law upon promulgation by publication in the Official Gazette on 15 June 2006. Prior to this, the Convention’s provisions could be referred to by courts to the extent that they were not inconsistent with existing domestic law. 12. The relevant provision in domestic law which criminalizes torture (art. 208 of the Jordanian Penal Code) stipulates: