Claiming Human Rights

• UN Treaty Bodies
  • Political and Civil Rights (CCPR)
  • Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)
  • Racism (CERD)
  • Women (CEDAW)
  • Torture (CAT)
    • Definition
    • Conceivable Actions
    • Concrete Cases
    • Schematic procedure
    • State Reporting and NGOs
    • Scheme state reports
  • Children (CRC)
  • Migrant Workers (ICRMW)
  • Enforced Disappearance
  • Disabilities (CRPD)
• Human Rights Council
• Other UN mechanisms
• African Union
• African regional organizations
• European Union
• OECD
• International Criminal Court

Concrete African Cases related to CAT

Communication No. 187/2001: Tunesia 20/11/2003. CAT/C/31/D/187/2001

This communication was presented by a Tunisian citizen, member of an islamic organization who declared having been arrested in 1991 and placed in a cell in the basement of the Ministry of the Interior. He affirmed having been tortured there and presented medical certificates as evidence for his request as well as a list of persons who had tortured him. He added that he has been denied the assistance of a lawyer and placed in isolation, remote from his family, and sentenced in absence as he emigrated to Switzerland and as he did not benefit from the right to a appropriate recourse.

Tunisia denied the admissibility of the request because the claimant has not exhausted all domestic possibilities of recourse and contested the merits the accuracy of the allegations contained in the communication.

The Committee has decided to consider the communication since there was only a very slight chance that exhausting all domestic possibilities of recourse will satisfy the claimant. On these grounds, the Committee has stated that the fault of the authorities to make an investigation of the allegations of torture entails a violation of Articles 12 and 13 of the Convention against Torture. It urgently invited the authorities to open up an investigation on the allegations of torture or bad treatment of the claimant.

Text of the decision: http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/CAT.C.31.D.187.2001.En?Opendocument

Concerning other examples of the Committee’s decisions relating to African States, see also:

Communication No. 181/2001 : Senegal. 19/05/2006. CAT/C/36/D/181/2001
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/aafdd8e81a424894c125718c004490f6?Opendocument

Communication No. 188/2001 : Tunisia. 20/11/2003. CAT/C/31/D/188/2001
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/e2cbdbc44a6a4364c125722c004b3fd7?Opendocument

Communication No. 188/2001: Tunisia. 20/11/2003. CAT/C/31/D/189/2001
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/4230f5e5c89e05adc125722c004b3fd8?Opendocument