Tibet: CAT recommends China to adopt measures to prevent enforced disappearances

The United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) recommends the People's Republic of China (PRC) to probe the deaths of Tibetans killed in the spring 2008 protests in Tibet and to adopt measures to prohibit and prevent enforced disappearances and to provide information on the fate of missing persons including the XIth Panchen Lama.

The Committee in its concluding observations (CAT/C/CHN/CO/4) on the fourth periodic report of the PRC on the implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment released on 21 November 2008 asked China to ensure that all persons detained or arrested in the aftermath of the Spring 2008 events have "prompt access to an independent lawyer, independent medical care and the right to lodge complaints free from official reprisal or harassment."

The Committee in its observations "identified three over-arching problems, which, collectively, stood in the way of ensuring the legal safeguards that the Committee generally recommended to all States parties to the Convention as necessary for the prevention of torture: the 1988 Law on the Preservation of State Secrets in the People's Republic of China; the reported harassment of lawyers and human rights defenders; and the abuses carried out by unaccountable "thugs" who used physical violence against specific defenders but enjoy de facto immunity."

The Committee earlier received a wide range of alternative reports from the non-governmental organizations including the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) on PRC's violations of the UN Convention Against Torture. The alternative reports alleging widespread torture in China is available at the CAT's website at www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/cats41.htm The Committee's Concluding Observations on the PRC's fourth periodic report on the implementation of the Convention Against Torture is available here

(source: Phayul.com Probe deaths of Tibetans killed in the spring 2008 protests in Tibet, CAT tells China)