II COUNCIL OF EUROPE
| DOI | 10.1177/092405190101900305 |
| Author | Leo Zwaak |
| Date | 01 September 2001 |
| Published date | 01 September 2001 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
NQHR3/2001
territories occupied by Israel in light
of
Article 16
of
the Convention.
It
decided to consider
the third periodic report
of
Israel during its next session in November and advised the
Permanent Mission ofIsrael to the United Nations Office at Geneva that experts would raise
questions on the situation in the occupied territories.
So far, only one case from the 25th session (fall 2000) has been made available on the
Internet in English.
Communication No. 122/1998, MR.P. vs Switzerland, views
of
24 November 2000 (no
violation
of
Article 3)
The author
of
the communication is a citizen
of
Bangladesh who applied for asylum in
Switzerland. His application was turned down, he claimed that his forcible repatriation to
Bangladesh would constitute aviolation by Switzerland
of
Article 3
of
the Convention
against Torture. According to the Committee the author had
not
produced enough evidence
to show that he would run a personal real and foreseeable risk
of
being tortured in
Bangladesh.
It
therefore concluded that the information submitted to it did not demonstrate
that there were substantial grounds for believing that the author would be in danger
of
being
personally tortured
if
returned to Bangladesh.
D. The Committee on the Rights of the Child
The Committee on the Rights
of
the Child held its 27 th session from 21 May - 8 June 2001
in Geneva.
It
considered reports submitted by Bhutan, Cote d'Ivoire, Denmark, Guatemala,
the Democratic Republic
of
the Congo, Monaco, Tanzania and Turkey. During its next
session, it will hold a day
of
general discussion on violence against children within the family
and in schools.
E.
The
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
The Committee on the Elimination
of
Racial Discrimination held its 58th session from 5-23
March 2001 in Geneva.
It
considered reports submitted by Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh,
Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Japan, Portugal and Sudan. Further, it examined the
situation
of
the implementation
of
the Convention in Gambia, SierraLeone, and Togo, whose
periodic reports were seriously overdue. The Committee also discussed the forthcoming
World Conference Against Racism (Durban, South Africa, 31 August - 7 September 2001).
IT COUNCIL OF EUROPE
LeoZwaak
A. Extradition of Milosevic to The Hague
On 29 June 2001 the Chairman
of
the Committee
of
Ministers and the President
of
the
Parliamentary Assembly, and the Secretary General
of
the Council
ofEuope
welcomed the
extradition
offormer
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia(the Hague Tribunal). Theystated that with this decision,
the authorities in Belgrade have complied with Yugoslavia's directly applicable and
prevailing obligations under international law. In doing so, the authoritiesdemonstrated their
commitment to justice and the rule
oflaw
and removed amajor obstacle for their country's
integration into Europe and its full membership in the organisation.
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Human Rights News
B. Chechnya
In his speech on one year
of
presence in Chechnya on 28 June 2001, the Secretary General
of
the Council
of
Europe, Mr Schwimmer, highlighted the fact that the work
of
three Council
of
Europe experts in the Office
of
Vladimir Kalamanov, the Russian President's Special
Representative for human rights in Chechnya, yielded unquestionable results. They were
instrumental in making the Office
work
effectively and in gaining the trust
of
local people
- a confidence demonstrated by more than 16,000 applications to the Office,
of
which over
6,000 were registered. After the Office's intervention, more than 300 detainees were released
from pre-trial detention centres and prisons, Mr Schwimmer said, and over a third
of
900
claims for missing persons resulted in those persons being found - though, sadly, not always
alive. The experts contributed to the restoration
of
acourt system in Chechnya, with twelve
courts currently operatingin four locations. However, the competent Russian authorities must
do better than deliverpromises -
'they
must deliverresults and they must deliver them soon',
stressed Mr Schwimmer.
'What
is at stake is the credibility
of
our Organisation, and the
Russian commitmentto our values', he said. He expressed his hope that action by the Russian
authorities, with the help
of
two joint working groups - between Mr Kalamanov's and the
Prosecutor General's offices and between the Council
of
Europe Parliamentary Assembly
and the Russian State Duma - will institute real progress in the situation and make it possible
to extend the experts' mandate after 4 October 2001, with more diversified tasks.
C. Turkey
Turkey should continue with and put into practice the reforms that it has carried out to meet
Council
of
Europe standards, said the Parliamentary Assembly, while recognising
nonetheless that progress has been made. The resolution on the honouring
of
obligations and
commitments by Turkey, adopted by a large majority in the Assembly on 28 June 2001,
encourages the Turkish authorities to press on with reform in priority areas such as respect
for human rights in the fight against terrorism, freedom
of
expression, conditions in police
custody, and the elimination
of
torture and inhuman treatment.
It
called on the Turkish
Government to abolish the death penalty dejure and, in the meantime, to continue to abide
by the principle that has been respected de facto since 1984 that death sentences will not be
enforced.
It
stresses that, although the recent decision by the Turkish Constitutional Court
to ban the Virtue Party may be in accordance with Turkish law, the decision goes against the
principles
of
pluralist democracy. The Assembly recognises that steps taken to increase
freedom
of
expression were beginning to bear fruit though it consideres that the number
of
people being detained for 'crimes on expression
of
opinion' is still excessive. The
parliamentarians point out that, in spite
of
an unprecedented economic crisis, Turkey had
devised an ambitious National Programme to adopt European Community standards in
preparation for its membership
of
the European Union. They welcome this move, which
covers practically all the fields identified by the rapporteurs, while regretting that some
of
the programme objectives are 'flexibly worded' and that deadlines for their implementation
are 'imprecise and wide'.
D. Macedonia
The Assembly condemned in the strongest terms the action
of
the extremist groups
of
Albanian origin and urged them to cease military action and lay down their arms.
It
called
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