Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/France.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in France. Some of these links may lead to websites that
present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt
has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** Council of Europe
anti-torture Committee publishes report on France Executive Summary,
24 March 2020 [accessed 31 May
2020] [Translation to
English by Google Translate] The vast majority
of persons deprived of their liberty with whom the
delegation spoke said that they had been treated properly by police officers,
during their arrest, their detention or their retention in the waiting zone.
However, in all of the administrative detention centers (CRAs) visited, a
small number of people alleged to have been physically abused by border
police officials, most often in the context of verbal altercations. Several
people also reported insults, particularly of a racist nature, and
disrespectful remarks by border police officials, in the CRAs as well as in
the waiting area (terminals and ZAPI 3) of the Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle
Airport. The Committee recommends that the French authorities remind border
police officers assigned to CRAs and waiting areas at regular intervals that
any form of ill-treatment, including insulting words or disrespectful
behavior, is unacceptable and will be A small number of those detained also
alleged that they had been subjected to violence by co-detainees. However,
these people indicated that staff generally acted quickly, and the delegation
witnessed on two occasions appropriate staff intervention during physical
altercations between those detained. However, the delegation noted a number
of factors that could exacerbate tensions between people detained in ARCs,
including the near-total lack of activity and little contact with staff. The
Committee encourages the French authorities to remain vigilant and to use all
the means at their disposal to prevent acts of violence and intimidation
between detained persons, in particular the development of positive
relationships between staff and detained persons, based On the concepts of
protection and dynamic security, as well as a satisfactory offer of
activities, are decisive factors in this context. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: France U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor,
30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/france/
[accessed 18 July
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT Following several
protests across the country against police violence and racism, on June 8,
then interior minister Castaner announced adoption
of new measures, including banning police use of chokeholds, improving and
continuing training, requiring law enforcement officers to make their police
identification number visible, increasing the use of body cameras, suspending
officers under investigation for racism, and strengthening the IGPN to make
it more “coherent” and independent. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS The CPT visited
five administrative detention centers, four waiting areas, and the
Franco-Italian border to examine the situation of persons not admitted to
French territory. In its March 24 report, the CPT expressed concern regarding
the austerity of the facilities, the absence of activities for detainees, and
the lack of contact with staff. The visit to the “sheltering” premises at a
police station in Menton-Pont-Saint-Louis for
detained migrants revealed substandard physical conditions. A small number of
detainees also claimed to have been subjected to violence by codetainees. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/france/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 12 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? The country has not
seen a large-scale terrorist attack since 2015, though the state of emergency
persisted throughout most of 2017, and was eventually replaced by the new
antiterrorism legislation. In 2016, the UN Committee against Torture
criticized France over its use of excessive force during police operations
conducted under the state of emergency. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/FRA/CO/3
(2006) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/france2006.html [accessed 27
February 2013] Provisions
concerning the custody and treatment of arrested, detained and imprisoned
persons 16. The Committee
is concerned about the amendments to the Act of 9 March 2004 which, under the
special procedure applicable in cases of organized crime and delinquency,
delay access to a lawyer until the 72nd hour of police custody. These new
provisions are likely to give rise to violations of article 11 of the
Convention, since it is during the first few hours after an arrest,
particularly when a person is held incommunicado, that the risk of torture is
greatest. The Committee is also concerned about the frequent resort to
pretrial detention and the duration of such detention (art. 11). The Committee
recommends that the State party should take appropriate legislative measures
to guarantee access to a lawyer within the first few hours of police custody,
with a view to avoiding any risk of torture, in accordance with article 11 of
the Convention. In this connection, the Committee also recommends that the
State party should extend to adults the practice of filming minors in police
custody. The Committee further recommends that measures should be taken to
reduce the length of pretrial detention and its use. Impartial
investigation 20. The Committee
continues to be concerned about the system of discretionary prosecution,
which gives State prosecutors the option of not prosecuting the perpetrators
of acts of torture and ill-treatment in which police officers are implicated,
or even of not ordering an investigation, which is clearly contrary to
article 12 of the Convention (art. 12). The Committee
reiterates its recommendation (A/53/44, para. 147) that, in order to comply
with article 12 of the Convention in letter and in spirit, the State party
should consider abrogating the system of discretionary prosecution so as to
remove all doubts regarding the obligation of the competent authorities to
launch impartial inquiries systematically and on their own initiative in all
cases where there are reasonable grounds for believing that an act of torture
has been committed in any territory under its jurisdiction, in the spirit of
the recommendation of the Human Rights Committee (CCPR/C/79/Add.80, para.
15), which calls on the State party to “take appropriate measures to fully
guarantee that all investigations and prosecutions are undertaken in full
compliance with the provisions of articles 2, paragraphs 3, 9 and 14 of the
Covenant”. Right of complaint 22. While welcoming
the establishment of the National Commission on Security Ethics (CNDS), the
Committee is concerned that the Commission cannot accept cases referred to it
directly by a person who has been subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment, but only cases referred to it by a member of Parliament,
the Prime Minister or the Children’s Ombudsman (art. 13). The Committee recommends
that the State party should take the necessary measures to allow the CNDS to
accept cases referred to it directly by any person who claims to have been
subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in any
territory under its jurisdiction, in accordance with article 13 of the
Convention. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 DEATHS IN CUSTODY Concerns about the promptness,
effectiveness and independence of investigations into cases of deaths in
police custody remained. Investigations into four long-standing cases of
death in custody were closed. TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT The Criminal Code
continued to lack a definition of torture in line with international
standards. There was a lack of prompt, independent, impartial and effective
investigations into allegations of ill-treatment by law enforcement
officials. On 19 April, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture
called for “zero tolerance” of police ill-treatment and for limiting the use
of electro-stun devices. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=france+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 1 January 1, 2019] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights Reports
» 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61648.htm [accessed 28 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61648.htm [accessed 4 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices; however, there were occasional reports that law
enforcement officers used excessive force, including during the civil unrest
that occurred in October and November. There were reports that security
forces abused detainees. Authorities investigated reports of abuse by
officials and punished those responsible when the reports were substantiated. However, an April
Amnesty International (AI) report claimed that the government's continued
failure to address abuses has led to a climate of effective impunity for law
enforcement officials, resulting in a lack of public confidence that law
enforcement officials always operate under the rule of law and are held
accountable for their actions. In its annual report for 2004 released on
April 16, the NCCPSF cited "significant breaches" by those involved
in public security and an increase in complaints of police abuse and
violence. The number of cases submitted to court increased from 70 in 2003 to
107 in 2004. The investigation
of the February 2004 case of three police officers who allegedly beat and
sodomized a driver and a fourth officer who allegedly destroyed evidence was
ongoing at year's end. On July 13, the
NCCPSF issued a decision in the April 2004 case of Sukhwinder
Singh, an Indian asylum seeker who alleged a police officer beat him and
stole his money while apprehending him for illegally operating as a street
vendor. The NCCPSF found that the actions of the police officer involved were
not only against the code of conduct for security forces but subject to
criminal prosecution. The NCCPSF did not present specific recommendations on
the case because the officer involved had already been fired and was under
criminal investigation. Two of three Lille
police officers who allegedly raped a prostitute in 2003 were released under
strict judicial control and charges were dropped against the third. The case
had not gone to court by year's end. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
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ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century-
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