CAT/C/56/D/671/2015
Appendix
Individual dissenting opinion of Committee member Alessio Bruni
1.
The following sentence at the end of paragraph 9.2 of the Committee’s decision on
communication No. 671/2015 should be deleted: “The Committee refers to article 27 of the
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, according to which a party may not invoke the
provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty”.
2.
The reference is wrong. The State party has invoked its obligations under an
extradition treaty, not the provisions of its internal law.
3.
In paragraph 9.3 of the decision, the words “the State party seriously failed in its
obligations under article 22 of the Convention” should be replaced with the words “the
State party seriously failed in its expected cooperation in good faith with the Committee”.
4.
In paragraph 11 of the decision, the words “acting under article 22 (7) of the
Convention” should be deleted; and the words “a breach by the State party of article 22 of
the Convention” should be replaced with the words “an evident lack of cooperation by the
State party with the Committee and a serious obstacle to the Committee’s deliberation”,
without reference to article 22 of the Convention.
5.
Interim measures are contained in rule 114 of the rules of procedure of the
Committee, which have not been subscribed to by the State party and are not contained in
article 22 of the Convention, which, on the contrary, has been subscribed to by the State
party. The breach, therefore, concerns that rule and not article 22 of the Convention.
6.
Interim measures are legally binding in those treaties and protocols that provide for
them, and are freely adhered to by States. Treaties, such as the Convention against Torture,
which do not contain such provisions, should be amended in accordance with their
amending mechanism in order to include the notion of legally binding interim measures.
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