B. Positive aspects
(4)
The Committee welcomes the ratification, inter alia, of:
(a)
The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, in 2006;
(b)
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography, in 2004;
(c)
The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at
the abolition of the death penalty, in 2003;
(d)
(5)
The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, in 2003.
The Committee also welcomes the entry into force of:
(a)
The Victim Support Act in 2004 and its amendment in 2007;
(b)
The State Legal Aid Act, in 2005;
(c)
The new Code of Criminal Procedure, in 2004;
(d)
The amendment to the Refugees Act, in 2003.
(6)
The Committee further notes with satisfaction the important effort made for the renovation of detention
facilities, the closure of old arrest houses and the construction of new prisons, especially the Tartu prison which
opened in 2002, to improve the general living conditions of all persons deprived of liberty in the State party, as well
as to move from an old style camp-based system to a modern cell-based penitentiary system.
(7)
The Committee notes positively the publication of the reports of the European Committee for the Prevention
of Torture and the responses by the State party, which enables a general debate by all interested parties.
C. Principal subjects of concern and recommendations
Definition of torture
(8)
While noting that the Convention has entered into force in the State party in 1991 and the Penal Code
in 2002, the Committee continues to regret that the definition contained in article 122 of the Penal Code, even if read
in conjunction with the criminal offenses of articles 291, 312 and 324 of the Penal Code, does not fully reflect all
elements contained in article 1 of the Convention, notably mental pain and suffering, discrimination and
acquiescence of a public official (art. 1).
The Committee reiterates its previous recommendation (CAT/C/CR/29/5, para. 6 (a)) that the State
party should bring its definition of torture fully into conformity with article 1 of the Convention. By
naming and defining the offence of torture in accordance with the Convention and distinct from other
crimes, the Committee considers that States parties will directly advance the Convention’s overarching
aim of preventing torture, inter alia, by alerting everyone, including perpetrators, victims, and the
public, to the special gravity of the crime of torture and by improving the deterrent effect of the
prohibition itself.
Fundamental legal safeguards of detained persons
(9)
The Committee is concerned about the practical implementation of the fundamental legal safeguards of
detained persons, including access to an independent medical doctor, as well as about the registration of all detained
persons (art. 2).
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