United Nations Human Rights Website - Treaty Bodies Database - Document - Sessional/Annual Report of Committee - 249. The Namibian authorities should institute proper procedures in order to comply with article 3 of the Convention, i.e. to enable refugees to apply for residence in cases where substantial grounds exist for believing that they would be in danger of being subjected to torture if expelled, returned or extradited to another country. 250. The Committee recommends the prompt abolition of corporal punishment insofar as it is legally still possible under the Prisons Act of 1959 and the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977. 251. The Committee recommends that victims of torture in Namibia be given standing to institute, apart from civil action for damages, criminal procedures against the perpetrators of torture. 252. In view of the normal separation of disciplinary proceedings from criminal procedure, the Committee considers the legal dependence in Namibia of disciplinary proceedings against the perpetrator of torture upon the outcome of criminal proceedings as unnecessary. M. Israel 253. The Committee considered the special report of Israel (CAT/C/33/Add.2/Rev.1) at its 295th, 296th and 297th meetings, on 7 and 9 May 1997 (CAT/C/SR.295, 296 and 297/Add.1), and adopted the following conclusions and recommendations. 1. Introduction 254. The special report of Israel was submitted on 18 February 1997, pursuant to the request contained in the letter to the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Office at Geneva, dated 22 November 1996 (see para. 25 above). It responded to a number of concerns of the Committee contained in its conclusions on the first periodic report of Israel and the Committee's reaction to certain decisions of the Supreme Court of Israel. The Committee thanks the Israeli delegation for its informative opening statement and its frank and open responses to the Committee's questions. 2. Conclusions 255. The information provided by Israel in its special report and in the opening statement of its representatives was essentially a reiteration of its position described in the initial report, namely, that interrogation, including the use of "moderate physical pressure" where it is thought that interrogatees have information of imminent attacks against the State which may involve deaths of innocent citizens, is lawful if conducted in accordance with the "Landau rules", which permit "moderate physical pressure" to be used in strictly defined interrogation circumstances. 256. It is Israel's position that interrogations pursuant to the "Landau rules" do not breach prohibitions against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment as contained in article 16 of the Convention against Torture and do not amount to torture as defined in article 1 of the Convention. 257. However, the methods of interrogation, which were described by non-governmental organizations http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/de75e94f920bd0a0802565a600537744?Opendocument (40 of 109)16/10/2006 9:54:12 AM