Menschenrechte West Europa: Frankreich: Wirksames Mandat für [ein neues Amt]: "Menschenrechtsverteidiger" (engl.)

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Frankreich: Wirksames Mandat für [ein neues Amt]: "Menschenrechtsverteidiger" (engl.)

France: An Effective Mandate for the Defender of Rights

Contents
Background.............................................................................................5
Continued reports of ill-treatment in France ....................................6
Independent Investigations - an international obligation ...............7
What are the weaknesses of the CNDS? ............................................8
Lack of direct access ............................................................................9
Under-resourcing .................................................................................9
Inadequate public profile...................................................................10
No powers of enforcement ................................................................11
Charges of “false accusation” ............................................................13
Recommendations ................................................................................15
Endnotes ................................................................................................17

BACKGROUND
For a number of years, Amnesty International has been raising concerns regarding allegations
of human rights violations (including torture, ill-treatment and unlawful killings) by law
enforcement officials in France, and the lack of effective redress for victims of such acts.
Amnesty International is concerned that the procedures for investigating such allegations and
bringing those responsible to justice are failing to live up to international and European
human rights standards.

Until now, the only independent body in France mandated to investigate complaints against
law enforcement officials was the National Commission on Ethics in Security (CNDS). The
CNDS was created in 2000 with a mandate to investigate complaints about individual cases
of apparent misconduct by law enforcement officials, with powers to recommend disciplinary
sanctions and/or criminal investigation in cases where it deemed appropriate. The work of
the CNDS was welcomed by the UN Committee against torture and by the Council of Europe
Commissioner for Human Rights, and it has played a valuable role in providing impartial and
independent investigation of complaints against law enforcement officials. However, its
limited mandate, powers and resources have, since its creation, raised concerns about its
capacity to function effectively. Many of these concerns are shared by Amnesty
International, the Committee against torture, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human
Rights, and the CNDS itself.

On 21 July 2008, parliament adopted Law 2008-724 on Modernisation of the Institutions of
the Fifth Republic. Article 41 of this law creates a new institution, the Defender of Rights,
whose role would be to ensure that the administrative bodies of the state and other public
institutions respect the rights and freedoms of individuals. Any individual who considers that
their rights have been infringed will be able to make a complaint to the Defender of Rights,
who will also be able to take action on its own initiative. The Defender of Rights is to be
named by the President of the Republic for a non-renewable six-year term, and will be
responsible to the President and parliament.

Specific details of the mandate, powers and working methods of the Defender of Rights will
be determined in subsidiary legislation which will be debated in parliament in the first half of
2009. On 29 May 2008 the Minister of Justice issued a statement explaining that the role
of the Defender of Rights would incorporate that of some existing independent administrative
authorities, such as the CNDS.1 It might also eventually include the office of the Inspector
General of Detention Centres, which is the newly-created body set up under the requirements
of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) as a “national preventive
mechanism”. It is mandated to conduct inspection visits to places of detention and make
recommendations on its findings to the authorities, but does not examine individual
complaints.

Amnesty International is concerned that the merging of the CNDS into a larger body may lead
to a loss of specialisation, expertise, and resources for the work currently carried out by the
CNDS, and may even restrict its capacities, thus impacting negatively on the effective
independent oversight of the law enforcement agencies. Conversely, the current reforms
could be used to ensure that investigations of alleged human rights violations by law
enforcement officials are brought into line with international standards, by ensuring that the
Defender of Rights not only maintains at minimum the mandate and powers of the CNDS but
also expands on these to correct the weaknesses which have hampered the work of the
CNDS. This paper investigates these issues and concludes with recommendations for reform.
In order to be effective, Amnesty International considers that the body mandated to
investigate complaints against law enforcement officials must be empowered to investigate
all allegations of human rights violations, and should replace the functions of the law
enforcement agencies’ internal inspectorates in such cases. Such a mechanism should have
powers to order disciplinary proceedings to be instigated and, where it considers appropriate,
to submit cases directly to the prosecutorial authorities for criminal charges to be brought. It
also requires adequate staff and financial resources to carry out its mandate effectively, as
well as a suitably high public profile, and should be directly accessible to complainants.

Ungekürzter Bericht unter: EUR 21/002/2009 vom 1 January 2009

Labels: Frankreich, Polizeibrutalität