UN questions China on torture
The UN Committee Against Torture will question China for 2 days on their adherence to the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. China will be asked questions it usually tries to avoid.
Amnesty International, along with a dozen other NGO's made a submission to the UN ahead of this two day review.
China has signed and ratified the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and it is this document that the Committee Against Torture utilises to monitor countries' actions relating to torture. As is usual procedure, the UN panel submitted questions to Chinese authorities ahead of the verbal review. The 10-member panel asked about sexual violence in prisons, targeted attacks on human rights campaigners, and the fate of those people still detained from the uprisings in Tibet in March 2008.
The panel was upfront in its information to China, stating: "According to information before the Committee, the criminal justice system is still strongly focused on the admission of guilt, confessions and re-education through labour, which create conditions for the occurrence of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"
China responded with a 52-page document outlining its laws which banned torture and rejected several of the panel's questions, calling them "groundless".
This review is unique for China in that they cannot evade international scrutiny and questioning, as China so often attempts to do. Responses such as '...it is a state secret' will not be accepted by the panel, and China is obliged to provide much more having ratified the treaty.
Comments
john greenwell | Posted on 20 November 2008, 06:31PM | Report comment
I would be interested whether, in the discussion before the Committee against Torture,the Chinese delegation indicated if China had yet introduced a law prohibiting the admission into evidence of statements obtained by torture.China has for many years had a very general prohibition on torture but the effective preventative measure to eliminate torture, we all know, is the prohibition of its admissibility. The police and security forces in China are under a very strong temptation,especially during ‘strike hard campaigns, to use evidence obtained by torture to obtain convictions and enhance their own personal advancement. For a number of years—around 2000-2001—Chinese authorities said they were preparing a law to prohibit torture-procured evidence but when I was last aware China had not enacted such a law.
Did the Committee ask about this and did the Chinese delegation answer any question asked”?
John Greenwell