OMCT calls for the effective implementation of the decision of the Human Rights Committee for acts of torture and other forms of ill-treatment

OMCT calls for the effective implementation of thedecision of the Human Rights Committee condemning South Africa for acts oftorture and other forms of ill-treatment

Geneva, 26 November 2012. The Human Rights Committee has established in the case McCallum v.South Africa that the State party hadviolated several articles of the International Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights (ICCPR) by subjecting Mr. McCallum to acts of torture and ill-treatmentat the St. Alban’s Maximum Correctional Facility. The OMCT calls upon the Stateof South Africa to effectively implement this decision.

OMCT is concerned about the obstacles for a fullimplementation of the Human Rights Committee’s Views on the individual communicationsubmitted on behalf of Mr. McCallum against South Africa (Communication No.1818/2008). While detained in St. Alban’s Maximum Correctional Facility of theEastern Cape, Mr. McCallum was a victim of acts of torture and ill-treatment inflictedupon him and other inmates by the prison warders during July 2005. After the assault,the St. Alban’s Maximum Correctional facility was placed in a lock-down and Mr.McCallum was denied medical treatment for several months.

On 25 October 2010, the Human Rights Committee concludedthat South Africa has violated the ICCPR article 7 (prohibition of torture andill-treatment) alone and read in conjunction with articles 10.1 (humanetreatment of detainees) and 2.3.a (the right to an effective remedy) in thecase McCallum v. South Africa. The Committeeordered the State party to conduct a thorough and complete investigation andprosecution of those who are responsible, and to provide the victim withadequate compensation.

According to Mr. Egon Oswald, the victim’s counsel, “SouthAfrica has not undertaken serious efforts to proceed to its implementation andhas had an inactive and reluctant attitude during both the procedure before theCommittee and the implementation of the decision.” A criminal investigation hasbeen reinstituted and is currently conducted by a single investigator of thelocal police station, who is the same person who was unable to fully investigatethe allegations of the detainees when they submitted their complaints in 2005.Requests to the police for an investigation of the case on a national level by betterresourced, experienced and skilled investigators, as the complexities of thecase require, have been denied.

Equally, Mr. Oswald has started a civil case fordamages on behalf of Mr. McCallum and 230 other alleged victims of torture andill-treatment at St. Alban’s Correctional Facility, but the South Africanauthorities have been reluctant during this procedure by insisting on theinadmissibility of the case.

OMCT calls upon the South African authorities to fullyengage in the effective implementation of the Human Rights Committee’s Views byundertaking a prompt, thorough and complete investigation and prosecution thosewho are responsible, and by providing Mr. McCallum and the other victims withfull and adequate compensation. OMCT would like to stress the importance of ensuringthe full respect of the fundamental rights enshrined in the ICCPR and otherhuman rights instruments to which South Africa is a State party as part of itsobligations under international human rights law.

For further information, please contact:

OMCT, +41 (0) 22 809 4939