The report and resolution on the issue of allegations of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in detention facilities in Europe, presented by Cypriot MP Kostis Efstathiou, in his capacity as Rapporteur of the Committee on Legal and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), were approved with a large majority at committee level. According to a press release by the House of Representatives, in his intervention, Efstathiou said that in many places of detention in Europe, inhuman and degrading practices continue to exist, in violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which explicitly prohibits any form of abuse or punishment. He also strongly criticised the fact that in some countries, such as Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, such phenomena are widespread and recurrent, making the problem systemic. The Cypriot Rapporteur underlined that the tolerance, lack of accountability, inefficiency of investigations and case-finding and non-compliance of the competent national authorities with decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) of the Council of Europe, are the main obstacles to the elimination of these phenomena, which are a major threat to human rights and human dignity. Efstathiou’s report and resolution will be tabled at the PACE Plenary for adoption by the end of the year, the press release concludes.
Source: Cyprus News Agency