Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/SlovakRepublic.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in the Slovak
Republic. 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 announces periodic visits to eight countries in 2023 European Committee
for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment CPT, 27 July 2022 [accessed 28 July
2022] The European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (CPT) has announced today its 2023 programme
of periodic visits. The Committee
intends to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in the
following countries: Albania, Armenia,
Cyprus, Hungary, Luxembourg, Malta, North Macedonia, and the Slovak Republic. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Slovakia 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/slovakia/
[accessed 5 August
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT A report released
in June 2019 by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of
Torture (CPT) found a number of credible allegations of deliberate physical
mistreatment consisting of kicks and baton blows prior to or immediately
following police arrest. The report also cited allegations of threats and
verbal abuse by police officers. The CPT criticized the continuing practice
of handcuffing detained persons to wall fixtures or similar objects in police
establishments for several hours and occasionally overnight. Council of Europe
anti-torture Committee publishes report on the Slovak Republic Executive Summary,
19 June 2019 [accessed 1 June
2020] It is matter of
serious concern for the CPT that a considerable number of persons who were or
had recently been detained by the police –including juveniles –made credible
allegations of deliberate physical ill-treatment by police officers (such as
kicks and baton blows after the person concerned had been brought under
control).The delegation also heard several allegations of threats and verbal
abuse. The Committee
is again very
critical of the continued
practice of handcuffing detained
persons to wall fixtures or
similar objects in police
establishments. Some detainees even alleged having been handcuffed to
a fixed object inside secure “designated areas” for up to four hours. The CPT once again
calls upon the
Slovak authorities to
stamp out the
practice of handcuffing
persons to fixed objects. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/slovakia/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 13 May
2020] IS THERE PROTECTION
FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND
INSURGENCIES?
- Police abuse of suspects is a persistent problem. However, some efforts
have been made to tackle the issue, including attaching cameras to police uniforms,
instituting changes to guidelines on the use of force, and implementing
better psychological training for new police recruits. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment -- Doc.
A/56/44, paras. 99-105 (2001) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/slovakia2001.html [accessed 5 March
2013] D. Subjects of
concern 104. The Committee
expresses concern about the following: (a) The lack of
specificity in the Criminal Code of the State party about the purposes of any
act of torture, as defined in article 1 of the Convention; (b) Exceptions to
the guarantees of article 3 regarding the return of persons at risk of
torture, in contradiction to the absolute prohibition of article 3; (c) Allegations of
instances of police participation in attacks on Roma and other members of the
population, as well as allegations of inaction by police and law-enforcement
officials who fail to provide adequate protection against racially motivated
attacks when such groups have been threatened by "skinheads" or
other extremist groups; (d) Failure on the
part of the authorities to carry out prompt, impartial and thorough
investigations into allegations of such acts or to prosecute and punish those
responsible; (e) Allegations
that law-enforcement officials have ill-treated detainees during detention
and in police custody, particularly in lock-ups and police cells; (f) Allegations of
harassment of human rights defenders as well as threats, reportedly to deter
submission of complaints, which are allegedly not adequately investigated; (g) The lack of adequate
guarantees of the rights of persons deprived of liberty to have access to
counsel and a doctor of their choice, as well as prompt medical examinations. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 ENFORCED
STERILIZATION OF ROMANI WOMEN - The European Court issued two further
judgements in cases of forced sterilizations of Romani girls and women in the
early 2000s. It held that sterilizations without full and informed consent
amounted to a violation of the women’s right not to be subjected to inhuman
or degrading treatment, as well as a violation of their right to respect for
private and family life. Following the
judgements, the NGO Centre for Civil and Human Rights (Poradňa)
criticized the government for failing to investigate all the alleged cases of
enforced sterilizations and to apologize and offer compensation to all
victims. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For more
articles:: Search Amnesty
International’s website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=slovakia+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 5 August 2021] 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/2005/61674.htm [accessed 12
February 2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61674.htm [accessed 7 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices, and in contrast to previous years, there were no
reports that government officials employed them. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Slovak
Republic", http://gvnet.com/torture/SlovakRepublic.htm, [accessed
<date>] |
