CAT/C/NLD/CO/5-6
held accountable and none of the victims or their families received redress and reparation as
part of the 2007 Haarlem court judgement (art. 14).
The Committee requests the State party to indicate in its next periodic report the
number of requests for redress and reparation, including compensation, the number
granted, the amounts of compensation ordered and actually provided in each case. In
particular, the State party should grant redress and reparation to the victims of the
fire in the immigration detention centre at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport in 2005 or
their families. The Committee draws the State party’s attention to the recently
adopted general comment No. 3(2012) on article 14 of the Convention which explains
the content and scope of the obligations of States parties to provide full redress to
victims of torture.
Trafficking
25.
The Committee notes with concern that the number of criminal investigations of
trafficking in human beings rose to 150 in 2012 and that there have been 140 convictions
for trafficking in human beings in 2012 which represents a substantial increase compared to
previous years. The Committee is thus concerned at the State party’s information that ‘since
trafficking is very difficult to detect it is impossible to say if there has been an increase or
decrease in the total number of cases, i.e. identified and unidentified cases of sexual
exploitation and trafficking taken together’ (para. 150 of the report) (arts. 2, 3, 12, 14 and
16).
The Committee recommends that the State party, in particular:
(a)
Prevent, and promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigate,
prosecute and punish trafficking in persons and related practices, including the
incidents of trafficking of minors;
(b)
Provide adequate protection and means of redress to victims of
trafficking, including the assistance to report incidents of trafficking to the police, in
particular by providing legal, medical and psychological aid and rehabilitation
including adequate shelters, as well as protection of witnesses, in accordance with
article 14 of the Convention;
(c)
Prevent return of trafficked persons to their countries of origin where
there is a substantial ground to believe that they would be in danger of exploitation
and torture or ill-treatment;
(d)
Provide regular training to the police, prosecutors and judges on
effective prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of acts of trafficking,
including on the guarantees of the right to be represented by an attorney of one’s own
choice, and inform the general public on the criminal nature of such acts;
(e)
Undertake research into the impact of preventive measures and criminal
justice responses to counter trafficking in human beings with a view to increasing
their efficiency;
(f)
Compile disaggregated data on trafficking in human beings including
cases of sexual exploitation and trafficking of children, to be regularly updated.
Physical restraints in places of detention and incidents of death
26. The Committee notes with concern the reports of the incidents of death in places of
detention, some of which have allegedly been related to the excessive use of physical
restraints such as isolation measures.
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