CAT/C/MDG/CO/1
Data collection
18.
The Committee regrets the absence of complete and detailed data on complaints,
investigations, prosecutions and convictions in cases of torture or ill-treatment inflicted by
law enforcement officers, security personnel, members of the armed forces or prison staff
and the lack of such information on extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances,
human trafficking, domestic violence, conditions of detention and redress (arts. 12, 13, 14
and 16).
The State party should gather statistics that are useful for monitoring the
implementation of the Convention at the national level, including data on complaints,
investigations, prosecutions and convictions in cases of torture, ill-treatment and other
types of human rights violations as mentioned above, and on the types of redress,
compensation and rehabilitation offered to victims. The Committee invites the State
party to include such data in its next periodic report. The information may be
collected as part of the joint project being run with United Nations specialized
agencies to set up a mechanism to monitor and assess the fulfilment of the State
party’s human rights commitments.
Refugees
19.
The Committee notes that article 19 of the national law against torture prohibits
extradition to a State where a person runs the risk of being tortured but says nothing about
deportation or refoulement cases. The Committee also notes the lack of information on the
situation of refugees in the country and the absence of a law on asylum (art. 3).
The State party should amend article 19 of the law against torture of 25 June 2008 so
that it also covers cases of deportation and refoulement, in accordance with article 3 of
the Convention. The Committee encourages the State party to accede to the 1967
Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees and the Organization of African Unity
Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. It invites
the State party to include information on the situation of refugees in Madagascar in its
next periodic report.
Cooperation with human rights mechanisms
20.
The Committee recommends that the State party intensify its cooperation with
United Nations human rights mechanisms, in particular by authorizing visits inter alia by
the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of
human rights defenders.
21.
Noting the commitment shown by the State party in the course of its universal
periodic review and its dialogue with the Committee, the Committee recommends that the
State party ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
22.
The Committee also recommends that the State party make the declarations provided
for in articles 21 and 22 of the Convention, thereby recognizing the competence of the
Committee to receive and consider individual complaints of violations of the Convention.
23.
The Committee invites the State party to ratify the main human rights instruments of
the United Nations to which it is not yet a party, including the International Convention on
the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the International Convention for
the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
GE.11-47941
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