CAT/C/SRB/CO/2
procedure, as well as in misdemeanour proceedings and when they are detained at the
airport, in order to enable them to challenge the lawfulness of their deportation and
detention orders.
Non-refoulement
15.
Noting the Supreme Court’s decision that expulsion to a “safe third country” should
be contingent on the asylum officer’s obligation to assess the situation on a case-by-case
basis, the Committee is concerned at reports that, in practice, the safe third country rule is
almost automatically applied. Moreover, the Committee is concerned about the State
party’s implementation of its forced return procedures and at reports of ill-treatment,
including beatings and extortion of money, of undocumented migrants by law enforcement
officials. It is also concerned at information that persons expelled from Hungary into Serbia
are subjected to forced return to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in
application of the readmission agreements, without effective procedural guarantees to gain
access to legal remedies against the decision, free legal aid or information provided through
interpretation services. The Committee is concerned that those individuals are at a
heightened risk of refoulement, including chain refoulement (arts. 2, 3 and 16).
The Committee calls on the State party to ensure that the asylum determination
procedure provides for a substantive review of applications that respects the principle
of non-refoulement, irrespective of whether the country of destination is considered
safe. The State party should also ensure full protection from refoulement by
establishing the necessary legal and administrative safeguards and remedies in forced
return procedures and thereby guarantee at all times that no person in need of
international protection will be returned to a country where he or she is in danger of
being subjected to acts of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,
conditions or punishment or to chain refoulement. The State party should also
establish formalized border monitoring mechanisms, in cooperation with the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and civil society organizations,
and take strong action to combat ill-treatment and extortion of undocumented
immigrants by the police, including by sending a clear and unambiguous message that
such acts are unacceptable, and by prosecuting and punishing the perpetrators.
Gender-based and domestic violence
16.
The Committee regrets the lack of disaggregated data on the number of reported
incidents of all forms of violence against women, and on the number of investigations and
prosecutions carried out in respect of those incidents. It is also concerned about the low
penalties imposed in cases of gender-based and domestic violence, the majority of which
have ended in suspended sentences. The Committee also notes with concern the lack of
emergency protection orders in place, the growing number of feminicides and child victims
of domestic violence, and the insufficient State support and assistance provided to victims
of gender-based violence during and after criminal proceedings (arts. 2, 12-14 and 16).
The State party should redouble its efforts to combat gender-based and domestic
violence, inter alia, by:
(a)
Investigating, promptly, effectively and impartially, all incidents of
violence and prosecuting and punishing perpetrators in accordance with the gravity of
their acts;
(b)
Ensuring the effective implementation of the State party’s general and
special protocols for conduct in cases of violence against women in the family and in
intimate relationships and adopting new protocols for proceedings in other cases of
gender-based violence;
7