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GA / HRC WRAP
STORY: GA / HRC WRAP
TRT: 3.28
SOURCE: UNIFEED-UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SPANISH / NATS
DATELINE: 21 OCTOBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY / RECENT
RECENT – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
21 OCTOBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, General Assembly
3. Wide shot, General Assembly podium
4. Med shot, delegates voting
5. Wide shot, conference staff carrying ballot boxes
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Sam Kutesa, President of the General Assembly:
"The following 15 States have thus been elected members of the Human Rights Council for a three year term in office beginning first of January 2015: Albania, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Botswana, the Congo, El Salvador, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Latvia, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Paraguay, Portugal and Qatar."
7. Med shot, delegate congratulating
8. Wide shot, dais of the press conference room in United Nations Headquarters
9. SOUNBITE (English) Malcolm Evans, Chair of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture:
“One of the main things of the annual report we presented this year was the clear connection between torture, ill treatment and corrupted practice, and if we are going to be effectively preventing torture and ill treatment corruption is something that needs to be addressed as well, both corruption within systems as a whole, as well as within places of detention.”
10. Med shot, journalist
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Juan Ernesto Mendez, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment:
“My thematic report this year was about forensics. Although, forensic science and medical science have achieved great advances on detecting torture, it is very rarely used around the world.”
12. Med shot, presser
13. Med shot, journalist interviewing Mr. Juan Mendez
14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Juan Ernesto Mendez, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment:
"I am convinced that if states could detect torture in a timely manner, it would constitute a disincentive for police or interrogators torture if they know that this can be scientifically detected and relatively soon.”
15. Wide shot, Mr. Juan Mendez talking to journalist during the interview
16. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Juan Ernesto Mendez, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment:
“My main finding is that the most important thing is not the scientific knowledge that is available -we are not talking about high-technology-, but the will to have independence and impartiality -and especially functional independence- for the forensic scientists to detect whether there was torture or not, and avoid that the investigations are made by services that depend on the police or the prosecution or the courts themselves. Unfortunately, in most countries of the world these services are clearly not independent and therefore they are not impartial.”
17. Med shot, journalist interviewing Mr. Juan Mendez
The United Nations General Assembly today (21 Oct) elected 15 new members to sit on the UN Human Rights Council. The Council was created by the General Assembly in 2006 to address human rights violations.
The five regional groups include Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Western Europe and Eastern Europe.
The President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa made the announcement.
The 15 States elected for the Human Rights Council for a three year term in office beginning first of January 2015 were Albania, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Botswana, the Congo, El Salvador, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Latvia, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Paraguay, Portugal and Qatar.
Composed of 47 Member States, the membership of the UN Human Rights Council is based on equitable geographical distribution. Some countries like the Republic of Congo have been elected for a second time. The Members cannot be re-elected after two consecutive terms.
Also today, United Nations experts on Human Rights presented their reports to the General Assembly.
In a press conference at UN Headquarters, Malcolm Evans, Chair of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, noted that States must do more to tackle corruption as part of efforts to prevent and eliminate torture and ill-treatment.
He said “one of the main things of the annual report we presented this year was the clear connection between torture, ill-treatment and corrupted practice, and if we are going to be effectively preventing torture and ill treatment corruption is something that needs to be addressed as well, both corruption within systems as a whole, as well as within places of detention.”
The report notes that in States with higher levels of corruption, there may be less likelihood of torture and ill-treatment being either discovered or prosecuted.
Also speaking to reporters, Juan Mendez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture, said “my thematic report this year was about forensics. Although, forensic science and medical science have achieved great advances on detecting torture, it is very rarely used around the world.”
In his report, the human rights expert urged governments to undertake effective investigations whenever there are indications of torture or other ill-treatment, even without an express or formal complaint.
In an interview after the press conference, Mendez said "I am convinced that if states could detect torture in a timely manner, it would constitute a disincentive for police or interrogators torture if they know that this can be scientifically detected and relatively soon.”
He underlined the responsibility of States to prevent torture or ill-treatment to happen.
Mendez also said “my main finding is that the most important thing is not the scientific knowledge that is available -we are not talking about high-technology-, but the will to have independence and impartiality -and especially functional independence- for the forensic scientists to detect whether there was torture or not, and avoid that the investigations are made by services that depend on the police or the prosecution or the courts themselves. Unfortunately, in most countries of the world these services are clearly not independent and therefore they are not impartial.”
He noted that during his visits he often observed that States are reluctant to carry out criminal investigations into torture allegations and that accurate statistics on the incidence of torture are difficult to obtain.
Torture may cause physical injury such as broken bones and wounds that heal slowly, or may leave no physical scars. It often takes place in secret, behind closed doors where there are no witnesses, and many torture methods used are becoming increasingly sophisticated and designed to be as painful as possible without leaving physical marks.
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