CAT/C/EST/CO/5
(c)
Ensure the right of persons with mental and psychosocial disabilities or
their legal guardians to be sufficiently informed about criminal proceedings and
charges against them, the right to a fair hearing and the right to adequate and
effective legal assistance for their defence;
(d)
Provide training to medical and non-medical staff on how to administer
non-violent and non-coercive care, and establish clear and detailed regulations on the
use of restraints and other coercive measures in psychiatric institutions;
(e)
Establish an independent complaints mechanism, and counsel and
effectively and impartially investigate all complaints of violations of the Convention,
bring those responsible to justice, and provide redress to victims.
Corporal punishment of children
21.
While taking note that corporal punishment is unlawful in schools and in the penal
system, the Committee is concerned by the absence of legislation which explicitly prohibits
corporal punishment in all settings (arts. 2 and 16).
The Committee recommends that the Child Protection Act be amended to prohibit
explicitly corporal punishment of children in all settings, including at home and in
alternative care settings, as an offence under the law.
Stateless persons
22.
While welcoming the significant reduction of statelessness in the State party from 32
per cent in the 1990s, and noting the information provided by the representatives of the
State party, the Committee is concerned that some 7 per cent of the population continues to
have “undetermined citizenship” and by the low level of registration as citizens of children
born in Estonia to non-citizen parents (art. 2).
The State party should:
(a)
Adopt legal and practical measures to simplify and facilitate the
naturalization and integration of stateless persons and non-citizens, including by
revisiting the requirements for the granting of citizenship;
(b)
Consider offering language courses free of charge to all non-citizens who
wish to apply for Estonian citizenship;
(c)
Continue and enhance the efforts by the Citizenship and Migration
Board to raise the awareness of parents whose children are eligible for naturalization
through the simplified procedure of the requirements for citizenship, and consider
granting automatic citizenship at birth, without previous registration by parents, to
the children of non-citizen parents who do not acquire any other nationality;
(d)
Ensure the effective implementation of the Integration Strategy and of
the State Integration Programme for 2008–2013, and extend the Programme beyond
2013;
(e)
Despite the information provided by the State party regarding its
decision not to ratify the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
and the 1961 Convention on the reduction of statelessness, reconsider such ratification
as a matter of priority.
Data collection
23.
While appreciating the data provided on complaints and convictions on torture and
ill-treatment as well as on trafficking and other items, the Committee regrets the
information from the State party that statistical data is not collected in ways that would
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