and pointed out that they were all inhabited by democratic communities which had
a very large measure of local autonomy and very similar legal systems based on
the English system.
263. He stated that all the dependent territories except the British Virgin
Islands, the Cayman Islands, Pitcairn and Saint Helena had human rights
provisions in their Constitutions, in each case modelled on and derived from the
European Convention on Human Rights; and each contained a provision explicitly
prohibiting torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In all
cases, the constitutional provisions also included an enforcement provision
giving anyone who claimed to have been subjected to or threatened with torture
or inhuman treatment the right to have access to the Supreme Court and giving
the Supreme Court the power to grant whatever redress the circumstances of the
case required.
264. In addition, the dependent territories had legislative and administrative
measures which laid down in great detail the procedure that the police must
follow in dealing with detained persons, in particular with regard to their
treatment, interrogation, the admissibility in evidence of confessions etc. In
the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) and Saint Helena those measures corresponded
almost exactly to the United Kingdom Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984
and the various codes of practice promulgated under it. In the other
territories, those measures had been elaborated by the Judges’ Rules, a set of
administrative rules drawn up originally in 1913 and revised from time to time
by the judges and brought up to date, as necessary.
265. The representative also pointed out that the discretion to refuse to
extradite, accorded to the Home Secretary in the United Kingdom and to the
governors in the dependent territories, would be used in the sense of
non-extradition in cases where there were substantial grounds for believing
there to be a danger of torture. On the other hand, adequate powers were
available in all circumstances for the extradition of alleged torturers in
accordance with the provisions of articles 7 and 8 of the Convention.
266. Members of the Committee expressed general satisfaction at the way in which
the Convention was being implemented in the United Kingdom dependent territories
and focused their attention on certain points which needed clarification.
267. With reference to article 2 of the Convention, information was requested on
procedures concerning custody and preventive detention and, in particular, their
legal duration, especially in Gibraltar where there was a heavy inflow of
immigrants and economic refugees. It was also asked whether the dependent
territories had any military forces and, if so, whether the rules relating to
power of arrest, interrogation and bringing before a court that applied to the
civilian police forces also applied to military forces. In addition, it was
asked how soon after being taken into custody a person was brought before the
judge, whether legal aid was available, whether a person could be held
incommunicado and whether persons on remand were segregated from convicted
prisoners.
268. With reference to article 3 of the Convention, it was asked how the
extradition laws of the United Kingdom came into play in connection with
expulsion or return (refoulement).
269. In connection with article 7 of the Convention, some clarifications were
requested about the text of provisions relevant to its implementation which were
contained in section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. It was also observed
that some of the dependent territories were relatively close to places where
torture was known to be practised and that it was likely that torturers fled
-45-
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents