CAT/OP/GAB/1
however, that these mechanisms are not very effective, and that people are not
informed of the possibility of lodging a complaint if they have been subjected to illtreatment. The Subcommittee was informed that there are complaint mechanisms in
prisons, but that, in reality, they are weak and ineffective. Although it was informed by
the authorities of the existence of judicial and disciplinary penalties for ill-treatment,
consultation of the registers and interviews conducted by the Subcommittee did not
confirm that any complaints had been made, nor even that penalties had been imposed
on offending agents. Worse still, the Subcommittee is concerned at the general climate
of impunity that seems to prevail in places of deprivation of liberty. This climate is
liable to facilitate, or even encourage, the practice of ill -treatment.
32. The Subcommittee recommends that the Gabonese authorities make the
National Human Rights Commission fully functional by allocating the resources
necessary to its operation, and by ensuring that it complies fully with the Paris
Principles. The Subcommittee also recommends that the Gabonese authorities
continue to train juvenile judges and recruit enough of them to guarantee their
presence in all criminal courts. It further recommends that Gabon establish
reception facilities for minors in conflict with the law as soon as possible, and
avoid custodial measures. The Subcommittee finds that the climate of impunity is
inadmissible and recommends that the authorities take urgent steps to improve
the complaints mechanisms for reporting ill-treatment, foster widespread
awareness of them, facilitate such complaints and take active steps to ensure that
acts of torture committed by police officers, gendarmerie officers and other
responsible officials are prosecuted and punished.
C.
Basic legal safeguards
33. The Subcommittee observes that the State party’s legislation, despite not
complying fully with the Convention, nonetheless provides for the observance of basic
legal safeguards for persons deprived of their liberty.
Right to be informed of one’s rights and the reasons for one’s arrest
34. Article 51 of Act No. 36/2010 of 25 November 2010 establishing the Code of
Criminal Procedure of Gabon stipulates that all persons placed in police custody must
be informed of their rights immediately, either by the criminal investigation officer
personally or under his or her control, and that this should be mentioned in the police
report, which must be signed by the detainee. Nevertheless, the Subcommittee is
concerned that interviews with a large number of persons held in custody consistently
indicate that, during arrest, placement in custody and the hearing conducted by or
under the control of the criminal investigation officer, these persons were not duly
informed of their rights.
35. The State party should ensure that instructions are issued to all officers
responsible for arresting persons and taking them into police custody, to the
effect that persons deprived of their liberty must be effectively and systematically
informed of their rights orally and in writing, in a language that they understand,
immediately on their arrest. These procedures should be duly recorded.
Information on these rights should also be made generally known throughout all
places of detention, through the use of signs or posters put up where detainees
can see them.
Right to inform a third party of one’s detention
36. Article 52 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that all persons held in
custody have the right to inform, by any means, a family member, friend or employer
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