CAT/C/BFA/CO/2
correctional institutions in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso. It is also concerned about
the conditions of detention of women who are accompanied by infants and young children
and are held at the Ouagadougou short-stay prison and correctional facility. Lastly, the
Committee is very concerned about the deaths of 11 prisoners detained on the night of 14 to
15 July 2019 at the anti-drug unit in Ouagadougou, in circumstances that remain to be
determined (arts. 2, 11 and 16).
22.
The Committee urges the State party to quickly finalize the investigation
opened on 15 July 2019 by the chief prosecutor in the Ouagadougou Tribunal de
grande instance (court of major jurisdiction) so as to determine responsibilities and
prosecute and punish those responsible for the deaths of the 11 persons detained by
the anti-drug unit. Recalling the recommendation it made in its previous concluding
observations (para. 19), the Committee urges the State party to take all necessary
measures to bring the conditions of detention at all places of deprivation of liberty into
line, in practice, with the Nelson Mandela Rules, in particular, to:
(a)
Allocate a sufficient budget to the prison reform policy and improve
material conditions of detention, ensuring that detainees have access to adequate and
sufficient food, adequate health care and decent sanitary conditions;
(b)
Close the Bobo Dioulasso remand prison, built in 1947, which is
impossible to renovate, despite the work already undertaken;
(c)
Step up its efforts to reduce prison overcrowding, first and foremost by
effectively applying existing alternatives to detention, such as reduced sentencing,
judicial supervision or community service;
(d)
Ensure that persons in pretrial detention are separated from convicted
persons and that both categories are treated in a manner that is in accordance with
their legal status;
(e)
Strengthen judicial supervision of conditions of detention;
(f)
Adopt effective measures to prevent deaths in detention and measures
for the protection of mothers and children in detention; and
(g)
Guarantee that the National Human Rights Commission, nongovernmental organizations and the future national mechanism for the prevention of
torture have unhindered access to all places of detention, including through
unannounced visits, and that they are able to speak with prisoners in private.
National Human Rights Commission
23.
While welcoming the efforts made to establish the National Human Rights
Commission, and specifically the appointment of its members, the fact that a number of
visits have been carried out to places of deprivation of liberty and the improvement of the
Commission’s financial independence, the Committee regrets that the Commission is not
yet fully operational and that it has not obtained accreditation with the Global Alliance of
National Human Rights Institutions, despite the Committee’s recommendation to that effect.
Lastly, noting the report that the National Human Rights Commission has received no
allegations of torture or ill-treatment since the Committee issued its last concluding
observations, the Committee is concerned that perhaps the Commission’s complaints
mechanism is ineffective and not well known and also that victims and their families are
not protected against reprisals (art. 2).
24.
The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a)
Continue its efforts to ensure that the members of the National Human
Rights Commission are fully independent, both from a personal and institutional
standpoint, by providing the Commission with adequate and predictable human and
material resources to enable it to fully perform its duties as a national institution and
as the national preventive mechanism in an independent, impartial and effective
manner;
(b)
Request accreditation for the National Human Rights Commission from
the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions;
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