CAT/C/CZE/CO/6
cases are investigated and, on a finding of criminal responsibility, lead to a penalty
proportionate to the gravity of the offence. The State party should also ensure
detection, monitoring and protection of vulnerable detainees with a risk of suicide,
and provide them with appropriate assistance, including psychiatric care and other
preventive measures;
(f)
Ensure adequate access to health services, free of charge, and to
interpretation services during medical examinations or consultations, if needed;
(g)
Consider allowing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to regularly
monitor all places of detention to complement the monitoring undertaken by the
national preventive mechanism.
Situation of asylum seekers and other foreign nationals
20.
The Committee is concerned at the State party’s practice of detaining individuals
seeking international protection, including those in particularly vulnerable situations, and at
the lack of alternative accommodation for families. Taking into account the fact that the
Asylum Act prohibits the detention of asylum-seeking children, the Committee is
particularly concerned that families with children continue to be detained at the BěláJezová facility, often for periods of more than two months. The Committee regrets that
persons detained at immigration detention centres lack adequate access to free legal
assistance, resulting in low levels of awareness of their rights to apply for asylum, or to
appeal against a negative decision. It is also concerned at reports of the absence of a
standard operating procedure to identify and protect persons in vulnerable situations, the
use of excessive force, such as indiscriminate handcuffing when expelling foreign nationals,
and the obligation of foreign nationals awaiting deportation to pay for their detention (arts.
3, 11 and 16).
21.
The State party should take all the measures necessary to:
(a)
End the practice of detaining persons in need of international protection,
particularly children, and ensure the provision of alternative accommodation for
families with children;
(b)
Continue its efforts to improve material conditions in reception centres
and detention facilities, including with regard to provision of basic necessities, healthcare services and educational and recreational opportunities for children;
(c)
Provide free legal assistance at all reception and detention centres, and
facilitate access to those places by NGOs providing legal assistance;
(d)
Develop and implement a standard procedure for the identification and
protection of persons in vulnerable situations, including victims of torture and illtreatment;
(e)
Review the policy of obliging detained foreigners awaiting deportation to
pay for their detention, with a view to abolishing it.
Stateless persons
22.
The Committee is concerned at the absence of a legal definition of statelessness in
the domestic legislation, and the lack of a separate mechanism to identify and protect
stateless persons, who need specific procedural safeguards (art. 3).
23.
The State party should introduce a definition of statelessness into its domestic
legislation. It should also establish a dedicated statelessness determination procedure,
provide stateless persons with identification documents, and create a central database
of stateless persons in its territory.
Inclusion of Roma children
24.
While noting the measures taken by the State party to implement the decision of the
European Court of Human Rights in D.H. and others v. the Czech Republic, and the
increase in the number of Roma children in mainstream education, the Committee is
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