I am sure this same sort of report goes out covering the activities of many countries on our over-stressed planet but here we have the one published for Israel, that beacon of democracy and human rights in the Middle East.
If nothing else it makes for interesting reading because it is an excellent summary of Israeli crimes against Palestinians, but also leaves on wondering if Israel will deign to respond and, if they do, just what fabrications they will use to justify or attempt to cover up the following charges. It would be good to see the reports sent to the United States and other countries because there is assuredly not one who is not guilty of these crimes.
However, Israel and Palestine are a special case....
ISRAEL AND THE COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE
.
7 May–1
June 2012
.
.
List
of issues prepared by the Committee prior
to the submission of the fifth periodic report of Israel (CAT/C/ISR/5)[1]
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.
ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION
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.
Specific information on
the implementation of articles 1 to 16 of the Convention, including with regard
to the Committee’s previous recommendations[2]
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Articles
1 and 4
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1. Please provide information on any steps taken
by the State party to amend its legislation and incorporate a crime of torture
as defined in article 1 of the Convention, as recommended by the Committee
following the consideration of the previous report (para. 13).
.
.
2. Referring to the previous recommendation by
the Committee (para. 14), please indicate whether the State party completely
removed the doctrine of “defence of necessity” in Israel’s Penal Law as a
possible justification for the crime of torture in the context of physical interrogation
methods by the Israel Security Agency (ISA). Please comment on the reports of
painful shackling and binding, immobilisation in stress positions, sleep
deprivation, the use of threats and verbal abuse during the
interrogations.
.
.
3. Please also provide detailed information on
the number of Palestinian detainees interrogated since 2002 under the “ticking time-bomb”
exception which allows for the use of physical pressure during interrogation by
ISA of terrorist suspects or persons otherwise holding information about
potential terrorist attacks (para. 14).
.
.
4. The Committee kindly requests further
information about the 9 September 2009 ruling of the Supreme Court prohibiting
psychological pressure exerted by making threats against family members of detainees,
and the subsequent modification by the Attorney General of the guidelines for
interrogation by ISA.
.
.
Article 2[3]
.
5. Referring to the previous recommendation by the Committee (para. 16), please describe steps taken to install the audio records and video surveillance system in cells and interrogation rooms used by ISA, in particular the video recording of interviews of detainees accused of security offences as a further means to prevent torture and ill-treatment.
.
5. Referring to the previous recommendation by the Committee (para. 16), please describe steps taken to install the audio records and video surveillance system in cells and interrogation rooms used by ISA, in particular the video recording of interviews of detainees accused of security offences as a further means to prevent torture and ill-treatment.
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6. Referring to the previous recommendation by
the Committee, please indicate what steps have been taken to examine the
legislation and policies in order to ensure that all detainees, without
exception, are promptly brought before a judge and have prompt access to a
lawyer. Have the safeguards against torture and ill-treatment to detainees and
persons accused of security offences been extended, in particular the right of suspects
to have prompt access to a lawyer, an independent doctor and family members
(para. 15)?
.
.
7. Please provide the Committee with documentation
indicating the number of cases in which detainees have been denied the right to
meet with a lawyer for 24 hours or longer. Please indicate the maximum amount
of time during which contact with a counsel may be postponed pursuant to
article 35 of the Criminal Procedure Code “in exceptional cases,” and the
number of times such "exception" has been invoked. Please clarify
whether, in practice, the State party is taking measures to ensure that minors
detained by police or military personnel receive prompt access to a lawyer.
Please provide data on the number of persons apprehended pursuant to the
military legislation and amount of time between apprehension and appearance
before a judge in such cases.
.
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8. Given the previous recommendation of the
Committee to ensure that all detentions are brought into conformity with
article 16 of the Convention (para. 17), please clarify the reported increase
in the number of persons subjected to administrative detention through military
orders based on secret information that is not provided to detainees and their
lawyers. Please indicate the extent of application of the Incarceration of
Unlawful Combatants Law, passed in 2002 and amended in 2008, which allows for
indefinite detention without trial, based on secret information. What steps
have been taken to abolish the administrative detention and repeal the
Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law?[4]
.
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9. What steps have been taken to ensure that
definitions of terrorism and security suspects are precise and limited to the
countering of terrorism and the maintenance of national security, and that relevant
legislation, regulations and military orders comply with the principle of
legality with regard to accessibility, precision and non-retroactivity?[5]
Is the Government considering the derogation of the State of Emergency which has
been in force since 1948?
.
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10. Have any steps been taken to amend current
legislation in order to ensure that solitary confinement remains an exceptional
measure of limited duration, in accordance with international minimum
standards, as recommended by the Committee following the consideration of the
previous report (para. 18)?
.
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11. Please explain in detail the extent of
application of solitary confinement, provision of medical care as well as the
regime of family visits of Palestinian prisoners held for security-related
reasons. Please comment on the reports that since June 2007, there has been a
blanket ban on family visits to over 700 prisoners from the Gaza Strip.[6]
.
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12. Please provide an explanation of the impact of
Prevention of Infiltration Law, adopted on 10 January 2012, which allows for
the automatic and lengthy detention of irregular migrants and asylum seekers,
as exemplified by the detention of some 1890 African migrants on 19 January
2012.
.
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13. Please indicate what further measures have been
taken, following the adoption of the 2006 Anti-Trafficking Law, to prevent and
stop human trafficking as Israel continues to be a transit country and
destination for human trafficking for labour and coerced sex work. Please
indicate the number of complaints, investigations and prosecutions, including
the information about the type of sentences handed down to perpetrators of
human trafficking and reparations to the victims of such crimes, in particular
of labour trafficking.
.
.
14. Please update the Committee about the measures
to combat violence against women and girls including the implementation of the
existing legislation as well as prosecution and punishment of perpetrators of
such violence, and about the training on domestic and sexual violence provided
to the police, public prosecutors, the judiciary and other relevant Government
bodies.[7]
Please also provide statistical data on the incidents of violence against women
and girls within religious communities in Israel, in particular the information
on access to safe shelters and legal support for victims of gender violence,
including from ultra-orthodox communities and from the Palestinian minority, as
well as other minorities such as the Ethiopian and Russian Jewish minorities.
.
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15. Please explain the progress of investigation
into 1 August 2009 killing by a gunman of two persons, Nir Katz, aged 26 and
Liz Trobishi, aged 16, and injuring ten other people, during a weekly meeting
at an LGBT social and advocacy centre in Tel Aviv and describe the measures
taken to prevent violent attacks against LGBT-rights demonstrations from
members of the religious communities as well as administrative obstacles to
organizing the demonstrations from among the police.
.
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Article
3
.
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16. Please indicate if the practice of “immediate returns”
of asylum seekers at the Israel–Egypt border, without being interviewed, has
been discontinued without any conditions and if due appeal process against the
decision of expulsion and an examination into the existence of substantive
grounds for the existence of a risk of torture have been established.
.
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17. Referring to the previous recommendation of the
Committee, what measures have been taken to ensure that the principle of
non-refoulement is incorporated into the domestic legislation of the State
party, so that the asylum procedure includes a thorough examination of the
merits of each individual case under article 3 of the Convention (para. 23)? What
safeguards against refoulement have been put in place when returning persons to
receiving states in the absence of formal readmission agreement or diplomatic
assurances, as recommended by the Committee (para. 24)?
.
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18. Referring to the previous recommendation of the
Committee, please indicate the measures taken to put in place an adequate
mechanism for the review of the decision to remove a person (para. 22).
.
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19. Please indicate any requests for extradition
received and provide detailed information on all cases of extradition, return
or expulsion that have taken place since the previous report and the use, if
any, of diplomatic assurances or guarantees including the State party’s minimum
requirements for such assurances or guarantees; follow-up action taken in such
cases; and the enforceability of the assurances or guarantees given.
.
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20. Please provide data, disaggregated
by age, sex and nationality, collected during the reporting period in regard
to:
(a) The
number of requests for asylum;
(b) The
number of asylum requests granted;
(c) The
number of applicants whose requests were granted because they had been tortured
or because of a real personal risk of torture if they were to be returned to
their country of origin. Recent examples of decisions in this regard would be
useful.
.
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21. Please clarify the steps taken to identify at
the earliest stage possible asylum-seekers who may have been subjected to
torture or ill-treatment, and ensure medical and psychological assistance and
care to those individuals, as well as free legal aid to facilitate the
application procedure. Please provide information on the regime applied to the
irregular immigrants interned in the Saharonim field, in the Negev Desert.
.
.
Articles 5 to 9
.
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22. Please indicate whether the State
party has rejected any request for extradition by another State of an
individual suspected of having committed an offence of torture and has started
its own prosecution proceedings instead since the consideration of the previous
report. If so, please provide information on the status and outcome of such
proceedings.
.
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23. Please provide information on
whether the State party has extradited offenders, in accordance with article 5 and
8 of the Convention, suspected of having committed acts of torture.
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24. Please provide information on
judicial assistance and cooperation with neighbouring countries in connection with
criminal proceedings brought in respect of any of the offences referred to in
article 4 of the Convention, including the supply of all available evidence
necessary for the proceedings.
.
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Article 10
.
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25. What steps have been taken to
provide and intensify human rights education and training to security
officials, including training on the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment,
as previously recommended by the Committee (para. 19)?
.
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26. Please provide information on
efforts to combat excessive use of force and ill-treatment by the police,
including the initial and on-going training on the Convention, international human rights law and on other
standards relevant to their work, including the UN Code of Conduct for Law
Enforcement Officials and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and
Firearms, with the aim of ensuring that force used by police officers when
performing their duties should be no more than is strictly necessary and that,
once persons have been brought under control, they must not be subject to excessive
use of force.
.
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27. Please inform the Committee whether
all professionals who are directly involved in the process of documenting and
investigating torture, as well as medical personnel and other officials
involved with detainees, are trained on the provisions of the Manual on
Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol) and the result of such
training. Please also indicate whether the Istanbul Protocol is used in asylum
determination procedures.
.
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28. Please clarify what training on the
rights of asylum-seekers and refugees, especially how they relate to the
Convention, has been provided to the staff of the Office for Refugees, members
of the judiciary and all other officials involved in the asylum process.
.
.
Article 11
.
.
29. Referring to the previous
recommendation of the Committee, please explain the measures taken to ensure
that interrogation methods contrary to the Convention are not utilized under
any circumstances (para. 19). Given the concerns about the lack of independence
of the Israeli Security Agency Inspector for Complaints, please explain if any
steps have been taken to ensure that complaints of torture or cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment against ISA personnel be referred to the Attorney General’s
office for investigation.[8]
.
.
30. Please indicate what measures have
been taken to ensure that any allegations of ill-treatment by law enforcement
officials made before a prosecutor or judge are recorded in writing and
immediately and properly investigated, including through a forensic medical
examination regardless of the fact whether or not the person concerned bears
visible external injuries.
.
.
31. Please explain what measures have been taken to
ensure that no one is detained in any secret detention facility under its
control, as incommunicado detention constitutes a violation of the Convention.
Have there been any investigations into the existence of incommunicado
detention facility and the authority under which it has been established? What
steps have been taken to ensure impartial investigations into allegations of
torture and ill-treatment of detainees in Facility 1391 and have any
perpetrators been held accountable for violations of the Convention, as recommend
by the Committee (para. 26)?
.
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32. Please indicate how many of the
Palestinian prisoners from the OPT are held within Israel and how frequently
the families from the OPT are permitted by the Israeli army to visit their
relatives in prison.
.
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33. Please indicate the measures taken
to ensure that the detention or imprisonment of a child be used as a measure of
last resort, that solitary confinement never be used by prison authorities as a
means of coercion or punishment of children, and that all facilities in which
children are detained provide educational care appropriate to the age of each
child.[9]
Please also explain the regime applied to children under military detention, in
particular if their interrogations are recorded and if their parents or other
legal representatives can have access to them.
.
.
Articles 12 and 13
.
.
34. Please indicate how many of around
700 complaints of alleged torture or ill-treatment during ISA interrogation
have been properly and impartially investigated. Please provide data on the
perpetrators prosecuted and penalties imposed for the acts of torture or
ill-treatment, as requested by the Committee (para. 19).
.
.
35. Please inform about the number of
complaints of torture and ill-treatment and of criminal procedures that have
resulted in convictions of the accused and the penalties imposed, as requested
by the Committee following the consideration of the previous report (para. 20).
Please provide information on any criminal investigations against law
enforcement officials accused of committing torture or ill-treatment against
detainees during the reporting period and indicate if any of these resulted in
the conviction of the accused and the penalties imposed. Please provide
additional information regarding the 68 cases against police officers that
concluded with a conviction in 2009, as referenced in the State party’s
follow-up submission. Please submit more information about the precise
penalties imposed in these cases, and indicate the offense for which the defendant
was convicted in each case. Please also provide data on the number of
convictions of accused members of the border police and the penalties imposed.
.
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36. Referring to the previous
recommendation of the Committee (para. 21) and the Attorney General’s announcement
that the person in charge of investigating complaints against ISA – the
Interrogee Complaints Comptroller would become independent from its structures,
please indicate the measures taken to ensure external and independent
supervision of ISA interrogation practices.
.
.
37. In light of the Committee’s previous
concluding observations, please inform about the measures taken to conduct an
independent inquiry in relation to the Israeli military’s Operation “Cast Lead”
in the Gaza Strip to ensure a prompt, impartial and effective investigation
into the responsibility of state and non-state authorities for the harmful
impact on civilians, and to make the results public (para. 29). Please indicate
the number and type of sentences handed down to the responsible Israeli
officers as a result of internal military investigations.
.
.
38. Please indicate the circumstances of
illegal arrest and transfer to Israel of Dirar Abu Sisi on 18 February 2011 and
what measures have been put in place to ensure non-repetition of similar
incidents.
.
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39. Please describe the measures, if
any, to improve mechanisms to facilitate the submission of complaints by
victims of torture and ill-treatment to public authorities, including obtaining
medical evidence in support of their allegations. Is there any judicial
revision of compliance with the Law on the military activities in the Occupied
Territories?
.
.
40. Please provide information on the
guarantees of protection from reprisals, especially against the persons who are
deprived of their liberty, for reporting the acts of torture or ill-treatment
and the guarantees of thorough investigation and prosecution thereof.
.
.
41. Regarding the functioning of the judiciary,
please indicate any effective measures undertaken to strengthen the independence
of the judiciary and to provide adequate training on the prohibition of torture
and ill-treatment to judges and prosecutors.
.
.
Article 14
.
.
42. Please indicate what guarantees have
been put in place for all the persons convicted of terrorism related crimes to
have their conviction and sentence reviewed by a higher court, in accordance with
article 14 (5) of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
.
.
43. The Committee would also appreciate
an update on the application of legal and other mechanisms to ensure fair and
adequate compensation for all victims of torture and ill-treatment as well as
information on instances and types of compensation granted. Please also inform
the Committee about whether any programs or services for rehabilitation are
available and accessible to victims of torture and ill-treatment. Please, inform
on the operation and efficiency of the “Committee on claims by the medical
staff, related to damages caused to detainees when submitted to interrogation”. May Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories present any civilian claims in order to obtain reparation for
damages caused by security or military forces?
.
.
44. Please
indicate whether there are any statutory limitations, amnesties or
prescriptions that would exclude or limit the right to a remedy under article
14 of the Convention.
.
.
Article 15
.
45. Referring to the Supreme Court judgement in Prv. Yisascharov v. the Head Military Prosecutor et al, C.A. 5121/98, laying down the doctrine of exclusion of unlawfully obtained evidence, please comment on reports about the continued use of evidence obtained through torture and other ill-treatment of witnesses deemed admissible in court, in particular the admissibility of the testimony of Islam Dar Ayoub, aged 14, arrested on 23 January 2011, as evidence by a military judge although it was obtained through breach of his rights.
.
45. Referring to the Supreme Court judgement in Prv. Yisascharov v. the Head Military Prosecutor et al, C.A. 5121/98, laying down the doctrine of exclusion of unlawfully obtained evidence, please comment on reports about the continued use of evidence obtained through torture and other ill-treatment of witnesses deemed admissible in court, in particular the admissibility of the testimony of Islam Dar Ayoub, aged 14, arrested on 23 January 2011, as evidence by a military judge although it was obtained through breach of his rights.
.
46. Have any legislative measures been
taken to prohibit the use as evidence in any proceedings against the victim of any
statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture, as
recommended by the Committee (para. 25)?
.
Article 16
.
Article 16
.
47. Please comment on the reports on
some 2,300 Jahalin Bedouin Palestinians, from around Maale Adumim settlement to
the east of Jerusalem, being at risk of losing their homes and being forcibly
transferred to a location that is not of their choosing in early 2012. Does the
Government envisage in any way the adoption of a Law on the Rights of Minorities?
.
.
48. Given the prevalence of checkpoints
and roadblocks in the West Bank, limiting movement and access between
Palestinians towns and villages, closing off East Jerusalem, part of Hebron and
the Jordan Valley to Palestinian access, please indicate the statistical data
about the numbers of permits requested and granted to Palestinians. Please
inform on the inquiries undertaken to investigate reported abuse by soldiers at
checkpoints during inspections.
.
.
49. Please provide further information
about the arrest of Massam Rehan, 24-year-old man suffering from nerve failure
in the leg, while travelling in January 2012 to a specialized hospital in
Hebron in the West Bank. Please update the Committee about the framework
governing the access of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to essential medical
care, including in Israel and the West Bank, for which a permit from the
Israeli military is required.[10]
.
.
50. Please provide updated information
about the investigation into the death of Mustafa Tamim, of al-Nabi Saleh, who
died of wounds on 10 December 2011, after being shot in the face at close range
with a tear gas canister, during a protest against the fence/wall that
separates Palestinian villages from their lands.
.
.
51. What measures have been taken to desist from
the policies of house demolitions in violation of article 16 of the Convention,
as recommended by the Committee (para. 33)? Please provide data on the number
of cases in which the State party has partially sealed, totally demolished, or
partly demolished houses on punitive or deterrent grounds.
.
.
Other issues
.
.
52. Please comment on the reported
incidents of October 2011 forcing around 40 of the Palestinian prisoners into
exile in Syria, Qatar and Turkey.
.
.
53. Please clarify the continued
restrictions which prevent Palestinians from Gaza from living with spouses from
the West Bank or Israel, or Palestinians from the West Bank from living with
spouses from Jerusalem or Israel.
.
.
54. Taking due account of the follow-up
responses of Israel to the previous concluding observations of the Committee,[11]
please provide updated information about further measures taken in relation to
specific concerns listed in paragraphs 15, 19, 20, 24 and 33 of the Committee’s
concluding observations.[12]
.
.
55. Taking into account that the Geneva Convention
relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949
has been ratified by Israel, please explain if the Government is considering
its comprehensive incorporation into the domestic law.
.
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56. Please also indicate whether the
Government has considered ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention and
whether it has considered making the declarations under articles 21 and 22 of
the Convention recognizing the competence of the Committee to receive and
consider inter-state and individual communications.
.
.
General
information on the national human rights situation, including new measures and
developments relating to the implementation of the Convention
.
.
57. Please provide detailed information
on the relevant new developments on the legal and institutional framework within
which human rights are promoted and protected at the national level, that have
occurred since the previous periodic report, including any relevant
jurisprudential decisions.
.
.
58. Please provide detailed relevant
information on the new political, administrative and other measures taken to
promote and protect human rights at the national level, that have occurred
since the previous periodic report, including on any national human rights
plans or programmes, and the resources allocated to it, its means, objectives
and results.
.
.
59. Please provide any other information
on new measures and developments undertaken to implement the Convention and the
Committee’s recommendations since the consideration of the previous periodic
report in 2009, including the necessary statistical data, as well as on any
events that occurred in the State party and are relevant under the Convention.
Have the Committee’s recommendations been translated and published also in Hebrew?
[1] The present list of
issues was adopted by the Committee at its 48th session, according to the new
optional procedure established by the Committee at its thirty-eighth session,
which consists in the preparation and adoption of lists of issues to be
transmitted to States parties prior to the submission of their respective
periodic report. The replies of the State party to this list of issues will
constitute its report under article 19 of the Convention.
.
.
[3]
The issues raised under article 2 could also involve other articles of the
Convention, including but not limited to article 16. The General Comment n°2,
paragraph 3, sets out: "The obligation to prevent torture in article 2 is
wide ranging. The obligations to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment (hereinafter “ill-treatment”) under article
16, paragraph 1, are indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. The
obligation to prevent ill-treatment in practice overlaps with and is largely
congruent with the obligation to prevent torture. (...) In practice, the
definitional threshold between ill-treatment and torture is often not
clear." See further Chapter V of the same General Comment.
.
.
[10]
UN World Health Organization, Referral of Patients from Gaza: Data and
Commentary for 2010, 13 July 2011, http://issuu.com/who-opt/docs/who_referral_abroad_report_gaza/1.
.
.
yeah I would LOVE to see the response.
ReplyDeleteMy husband (the Palestinian) said something interesting the other day. His sister in law has always praised Israel for taking care of the Israeli Palestinians with medical care and whatever benefits they get from Israel. But now the Israeli Palestinians are in trouble like the rest of the Palestinians. Their citizenship means less and less. My husband said "now it's their turn."
You know, people never learn.
Noor:
ReplyDeleteApologies for the off topic, just need some help getting this out
Canuck style
http://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.ca/2012/07/oh-canada-caves-to-global-gun-treaty.html
You gotta check out the new "toys" the RCMP is getting?