4.
64.
Subjects of concern
The Committee is concerned about the following:
(a) The practice of vigorous interrogation of detainees under the
emergency powers, which may sometimes breach the Convention;
(b)
orders;
The method adopted in forcibly returning persons under deportation
(c)
The rate of suicide in prisons and places of detention;
(d)
The renewal of emergency powers relating to Northern Ireland;
(e) The practice of the refoulement of asylum-seekers in circumstances
that may breach article 3 of the Convention;
(f) The practice of the army in Northern Ireland of dispersing, with
plastic bullets, what have been described by non-governmental organizations as
peaceful demonstrations;
(g) The failure of the United Kingdom to declare in favour of article 22
both for itself and its overseas dependencies;
(h) The failure to provide for counsel to be present during interrogation
in Northern Ireland for terrorist-related offences;
(i)
The standards of detention of the Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong;
(j) The allegations of discrimination in the treatment of Black citizens
in the United Kingdom by police and immigration authorities.
5.
Recommendations
65. The Committee recommends that the Government of the United Kingdom take the
following measures:
(a) Abolishing detention centres in Northern Ireland and the repealing
the emergency legislation;
(b) Reviewing of practices related to deportation or refoulement where
such practices may conflict with the State party’s obligations under article 3
of the Convention;
(c) Re-educating and retraining police officers, particularly
investigating police officers, in Northern Ireland as a further step in the
peace process;
(d) Training immigration officers on how to manage violent prisoners with
a minimum at risk of harm to all those involved;
(e) Extending the taping of interrogations to all cases and not merely
those that do not involve terrorist-related activities and in any event to
permit lawyers to be present at interrogations in all cases;
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