UN Committee Against Torture Publishes Findings On Cameroon, Jordan, Kuwait, Mongolia, Namibia And Thailand

GENEVA (22 November 2024) - The UN Committee against Torture (CAT) today issued its findings on Cameroon, Jordan, Kuwait, Mongolia, Namibia and Thailand, after reviewing the six States parties in its latest session.

The findings contain the Committee’s main concerns and recommendations on each country’s implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Key highlights include:

Cameroon
The Committee was alarmed by the numerous alleged acts of torture and ill-treatment, summary executions, murders and mass graves, forced displacements, enforced disappearances, abductions, arbitrary and prolonged detention without charge or judicial process, incommunicado detention in unofficial places, and sexual and gender-based violence, committed by defence and security forces, the Rapid Intervention Battalion, the police and gendarmerie forces in the context of counter-insurgency operations and by non-State armed groups in the Far-North, North-West and South-West regions. The Committee urged Cameroon to ensure that such allegations are investigated promptly, thoroughly, and impartially by an independent authority, those responsible are identified, prosecuted, and punished, and victims have access to effective remedies and full reparation.

The Committee was concerned about reports of intimidation, threats, harassment, excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests and detentions, prosecutions, including by military courts, torture and ill-treatment, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial executions of human rights defenders, civil society members, journalists, political opponents, and peaceful demonstrators. The Committee requested that Cameroon take necessary steps to guarantee that these individuals are adequately protected from human rights violations that may occur due to their activities, all such violations are thoroughly and impartially investigated, those responsible are tried and convicted, and that victims or their families receive compensation.

Jordan
The Committee regretted the absence of an explicit provision guaranteeing access to legal counsel during first-instance proceedings. It was concerned about reports of increasing interference and intrusive controls on lawyers in their defence work. The Committee was also alarmed by continuing reports of detainees being held incommunicado, often in the custody of the General Intelligence Directorate, for prolonged periods before being brought before a judicial authority. It urged Jordan to ensure that people deprived of their liberty are offered all fundamental legal safeguards from the outset of their detention, particularly the rights to access a lawyer without delay and to be brought promptly before a judge.

The Committee voiced concern about the potential negative consequences of the new Cybercrime Law enacted in August 2023. It flagged that the Law’s ambiguous and broad provisions could be misused to criminalize legitimate Internet activities, resulting in the arbitrary detention of journalists and anyone engaging in lawful online speech. The Committee recommended that Jordan take steps to protect civic space and amend the Cybercrime Law to provide clear and specific definitions of offences, as well as ensure that its provisions are in line with international human rights law standards, to avoid interpretations that could lead to unlawful restrictions and arbitrary deprivation of liberty.

Kuwait
The Committee was concerned about consistent reports indicating that people in custody, particularly those accused of terrorism, human rights defenders, and members of minorities, are subjected to torture or ill-treatment by law enforcement officers and other security forces members, including those belonging to the General Department of Criminal Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the State Security Agency. It also voiced its severe concern over the alleged lack of accountability, which contributes to a climate of impunity. The Committee urged Kuwait to ensure that all complaints of torture and ill-treatment are investigated by an independent body and that suspected perpetrators and superior officers responsible for ordering or tolerating such acts are duly tried and, if found guilty, punished according to the gravity of their acts.

The Committee was deeply concerned about reports of widespread abuse, exploitation, and ill-treatment of migrant workers, including murders, physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, long working hours, food deprivation, restrictions on movement, passport confiscation, and denial of annual paid leave, which may amount to forced labour and resemble slavery. It further addressed that these practices were enabled by the kafalah system, which puts migrant workers in a very reliant relationship with their employers. The Committee recommended that Kuwait abolish the kafalah system and replace it with a residence permit system for migrant workers to prevent exploitation, abuse, and ill-treatment while also allowing them to change employers without risk or punishment.

Mongolia 

The Committee noted Mongolia’s commitment to submit the draft law on setting up a special unit to investigate torture and ill-treatment by persons deprived of liberty in 2025. Yet, it was concerned about the delays in procedures since the last review. The Committee remained concerned about the potential conflict of interest and ineffectiveness of investigations by the Investigation Division of the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Investigative Division of the General Police Department, as well as the high rate of torture case dismissals. It asked Mongolia to finalise the law establishing an independent mechanism to investigate public officials, especially law enforcement officers who have committed acts of torture and ill-treatment, and to ensure that investigators have no institutional or hierarchical relationship with alleged perpetrators.

While noting Mongolia’s efforts to strengthen procedural legal safeguards, the Committee remained concerned about reports that a high number of arrests, particularly by the General Intelligence Agency and the Anti-Corruption Agency, were still made with the consent of the prosecutor without a court order. Taking note of Mongolia’s measures to enhance judicial oversight of these immediate detentions, the Committee called upon the State party to require law enforcement officials to obtain an arrest warrant issued by a judicial authority to carry out an arrest, except in cases of flagrante delicto (arrest while the crime is ablaze).

Namibia
The Committee expressed concern about reports of prolonged pretrial detention routinely exceeding legal limits. It was also concerned that the majority of pretrial detainees are held in severely overcrowded and dilapidated police detention cells with inadequate facilities and services. The Committee called upon Namibia to uphold the provisions governing pretrial detention, including statutory limits on the duration, and resort to it only when strictly necessary with no other possible measures, for limited periods and according to the law. It also asked Namibia to stop placing pretrial detainees in police detention cells but hold them in appropriate detention facilities.

The Committee stated its concern about the lack of progress in codifying torture as a specific criminal offence in its criminal legislation, as the revised Prevention and Combating of Torture Bill has been awaiting parliamentary approval since 2019. It also observed several shortcomings in the proposed definition of acts of torture in the draft legislation. The Committee called on Namibia to adopt the bill as soon as possible and to ensure that its provisions define torture as a specific offence in its domestic legislation, incorporating all the elements of Article 1 of the Convention.

Thailand
The Committee commended Thailand on adopting the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act in 2022 but voiced reservations about the Act’s definition of torture, which does not align with the Convention. The Committee was also concerned that the Act did not prohibit amnesties for torture and ill-treatment, despite initial drafts including such a provision, nor did it adequately punish superiors who should have known about and prevented torture or ill-treatment. It recommended that Thailand review the new Act to ensure it fully follows the Convention.

Citing allegations raised by special procedures mandate holders, the Committee expressed particular concern over the disappearance of Thai political activists abroad and foreign political activists within Thailand. The Committee was also concerned that, under previous legislation, family members of enforced disappearance victims had to provide a death certificate and autopsy report to collect compensation, making claims impossible. While welcoming the State party’s efforts to develop and approve regulations on assistance, remedy, and rehabilitation of victims, the Committee urged Thailand to promptly investigate and prosecute allegations of enforced disappearance, punishing perpetrators and keeping families informed of progress and developments in their loved one’s cases.

The above findings, officially known as Concluding Observations, are now available on the session page.

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