Article 5
(11) The Committee is concerned that, in case of acts of torture committed abroad, the State party may only
establish its jurisdiction thereto when the alleged offender is present in its territory if the punishment foreseen for the
offences in the country where they have been committed is, at least, of five years of imprisonment. In this respect,
the Committee is concerned that this may create situations of impunity, in cases where the country in which acts of
torture are committed is not a party to the Convention, does not have a specific offence of torture in its legislation,
or sanctions it with penalties less than five years of duration.
The State party should consider abolishing the double criminality requirement for the crime of torture
and apply the aut dedere aut judicare principle when an alleged offender for acts of torture committed
abroad is present in its territory, in accordance with article 5, paragraph 2, of the Convention.
Articles 6, 7, 8 and 9
(12) The Committee, while welcoming the State party’s ratification of the Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court, regrets the bilateral agreement concluded with another State party to the Convention aimed at
exempting the latter’s nationals present in the State party’s territory from being extradited to the International
Criminal Court for crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court, including torture.
The State party should, in accordance with article 6 and 8, consider reviewing the relevant terms of
those agreements which prevent the nationals of certain States who are on the territory of the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia from being brought before the International Criminal Court.
(13) The Committee takes note of the information received by the State party with respect to the developments on
the investigations and prosecution of the cases of enforced disappearances occurred during the conflict in 2001.
The Committee recommends that the State party complete a thorough investigation of the
above-mentioned cases of disappearances, including those related to the four cases referred back to the
State party from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and prosecute and
punish the perpetrators of this crime. The State party should make the results of these investigations
public as well as provide information in this respect to the Committee (arts. 6, 7, 8, 9, 12 and 13).
Article 10
(14) The Committee notes the State party’s efforts with respect to education and information regarding the
prohibition of torture, including the training organized in cooperation with the OSCE for 5,500 police officers on
“Police, Human Rights and Freedoms” in 2004 and 2005 as well as the plan to establish by the end of 2008 a new
permanent training centre for prison staff. However, the Committee is concerned that training programmes for
medical personnel for the identification and documentation of cases of torture, as well as for the rehabilitation of
victims, seem to be lacking. Likewise, training to develop a more gender sensitive approach both in legal and
medical institutions is inadequate.
The State party should:
(a)
Ensure that education and training of all law enforcement personnel, are conducted on a
regular basis;
(b)
Include in training modules on interrogation rules, instructions and methods, and specific
training for medical doctors on how to identify signs of torture, and cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment;
(c)
Regularly evaluate the training provided to its law-enforcement officials, as well as,
ensure regular and independent monitoring of their conduct;
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