Presentation conducted at UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre by Prof. Manfred Nowak from Universitat Wien

1. Criminal Justice Sector Reform,
Prison Conditions and Torture:
Recent Trends and Challenges in the OSCE
Region
UNDP Regional Office
25 June 2012, UNDP Bratislava
Manfred Nowak
Professor of International Law and Human Rights, University of Vienna
Director, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights, Vienna
Former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (2004 – 2010)

2. OVERVIEW
1. Maps & Statistics on the Prison Situation
2. Council of Europe – European Court of Human Rights Statistics
3. CPT Statistic
4. Statistics Regarding the CCPR/Human Rights Committee
5. Death Penalty Statistics
6. UN Special Rapporteur on Torture – Fact-Finding Missions
7. Guantanamo Bay and Secret Detention
8. Conclusions

3. 1. MAPS & STATISTICS on the PRISON SITUATION
- 10 out of the 25 States with the highest number of prisoners are OSCE States
- 42% of the world prison population from OSCE countries (compared to 18 % of overall world
population)
- OSCE States (US, Russia, Georgia, …) among those with the highest prison population rates in the
world
- Overcrowding of prisons: only 8 OSCE States have a prison occupancy rate of less than 80% (e.g.
Central Asian States)
Sources:
- World Prison Brief (http://www.prisonstudies.org/info/worldbrief/; retrieved 20/2/2012)
- UN Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision
3

4. PRISON SITUATION
World Prison Population –
10 out of the 25 States with the highest number of prisoners are OSCE States
1 United States of America 2.266.832
2 China 1.650.000
3 Russian Federation 755.600
4 Brazil 513.802
5 India 376.969
6 Iran 250.000
7 Thailand 224.292
8 Mexico 222.947
9 South Africa 160.545
10 Ukraine 157.866
11 Indonesia 141.689
12 Turkey 127.831
13 Ethiopia 112.361
14 Vietnam 108.557
15 Philippines 104.710
16 United Kingdom 97.164
17 Colombia 84.444
18 Poland 81.382
19 Pakistan 75.586
20 Japan 74.476
21 France 73.149
22 Spain 70.414
23 Germany 69.697
24 Bangladesh 69.650
25 Italy 68.047

5. United States of America (1)* 2.266.832
Total Prison Population of OSCE Russian Federation (3)* 755.600
Ukraine (10)* 157.866
Countries 4.251.737 (42% of total Turkey (12)* 127.831
world prison population of United Kingdom (16)* 86.919
Poland 81.382
10.053.162) France 73.149
* no. indicates position in the
Spain 70.414
world ranking Germany 69.697
Italy 68.047
Kazakhstan 52.464
Uzbekistan 42.000
Canada 39.099
Belarus 36.533
Romania 30.810
Georgia 24.187
Czech Republic 23.435
Azerbaijan 20.470
Hungary 16.328
Netherlands 14.488
Portugal 12.918
Serbia 12.000
Greece 11.364
Turkmenistan 10.935
Belgium 10.561
Slovakia 10.031
Kyrgyzstan 9.828
Tajikistan 9.317
Lithuania 9.139
Bulgaria 9.071
5

6. Austria 8.694
Total Prison Population of OSCE Sweden 7.106
Latvia 7.055
Countries 4.251.737 (42% of total Moldova (Republic of) 6.476
world prison population of Switzerland 6.181
Croatia 5.165
10.053.162) (ctd.) Albania 4.689
Armenia 4.514
Ireland, Republic of 4.279
Denmark 4.091
Norway 3.602
Estonia 3.381
Finland 3.189
Macedonia (former Yugoslav Republic of) 2.329
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Federation 1.671
Montenegro 1.438
Slovenia 1.311
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Republika Srpska 1.046
Cyprus (Republic of) 883
Luxembourg 645
Malta 580
Greenland (Denmark) 194
Iceland 149
Andorra 61
Monaco 23
Liechtenstein 7
6

7. United States of America 730
PRISON POPULATION RATES Georgia 539
per 100.000 inhabitants in the OSCE Russian Federation 529
States Belarus 381
Ukraine 347
Greenland (Denmark) 340
Kazakhstan 323
Latvia 314
Lithuania 276
Estonia 252
Azerbaijan 228
Montenegro 227
Turkmenistan 224
Czech Republic 222
Poland 213
Slovakia 184
Moldova (Republic of) 182
Kyrgyzstan 181
Turkey 171
Serbia 164
Hungary 163
Uzbekistan c.153
Spain 152
Albania 147
Armenia 146
7

8. United Kingdom 146
PRISON POPULATION RATES Romania 144
per 100.000 inhabitants in the OSCE Malta 141
States (ctd.) Tajikistan 130
Luxembourg 124
Portugal 121
Bulgaria 120
Canada 117
Croatia 117
Macedonia (former Yugoslav Republic of) 114
Italy 112
France 111
Cyprus (Republic of) 110
Austria 104
Greece 101
Belgium 97
Ireland, Republic of 95
Netherlands 87
Germany 86
Switzerland 79
Sweden 78
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Republika Srpska 75
Denmark 74
Andorra 73
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Federation 73
Norway 73
Monaco 70
Slovenia 64
Finland 59
Iceland 47
Liechtenstein 19
8

9. PRISON POPULATION RATES
per 100.000 inhabitants in the OSCE
States
9

10. Haiti 335.7%
Benin 307.1%
PRISON OCCUPANCY RATES Philippines c.300%
Iran 294.1%
Sudan 255.3%
Serbia 157.9%
Bulgaria 155.6%
Italy 149.1%
Croatia 147.5%
Cyprus (Republic of) 147.9%
Spain 138.0%
Hungary 132.4%
Greece 129.6%
Montenegro 127.3%
Belgium 119.6%
Macedonia (former Yugoslav Republic of) 119.3%
Slovenia 117.6%
Romania 115.5%
Uzbekistan 113.5%
Czech Republic 113.4%
France 113.0%
Turkey 110.4%
United States of America 110.1%
Albania 107.1%
Belarus 106.7%
Portugal 105.8%
Malta 102.9%
Armenia 102.7%
Georgia 101.8%
Sweden 101.5%
10

11. Greenland(Denmark) 101.0%
Lithuania 100.0%
PRISON OCCUPANCY RATES (ctd.) Finland 99.6%
Denmark 99.0%
Austria 98.0%
Estonia 97.2%
BosniaandHerzegovina:Federation 96.4%
Canada 96.4%
Ireland,Republicof 94.9%
Slovakia 94.5%
Poland 94.3%
Norway 94.1%
Ukraine 92.7%
Iceland 92.5%
Switzerland 92.5%
RussianFederation 91.6%
Luxembourg 90.8%
UnitedKingdom 90.4%
Germany 88.5%
Netherlands 85.3%
Turkmenistan 85.0%
Moldova(Republicof) 81.2%
BosniaandHerzegovina:RepublikaSrpska 78.1%
Azerbaijan 77.7%
Kyrgyzstan 72.6%
Kazakhstan 72.5%
Latvia 70.4%
Tajikistan 61.5%
Andorra 54.4%
Liechtenstein 35.0%
Monaco 28.4%
11

12. PRISON OCCUPANCY RATES
12

13. Mali 88.7%
Liberia c.85%
PRE-TRIAL DETAINEES/ Bolivia 83.6%
Togo c.80%
REMAND PRISONERS Nigeria 77.6%
(percentage within the prison Malta 64.0%
Monaco 60.9%
population) Montenegro 45.8%
Andorra 42.6%
Turkey 42.6%
Cyprus (Republic of) 42.2%
Italy 41.8%
Switzerland 41.0%
Netherlands 40.6%
Luxembourg 38.2%
Canada 37.0%
Belgium 35.0%
Denmark 34.0%
Albania 33.6%
Greece 31.2%
Hungary 29.4%
United Kingdom 28.8%
Liechtenstein 28.6%
Latvia 28.3%
Kyrgyzstan 27.6%
Norway 27.2%
Armenia 26.0%
Ukraine 24.5%
Serbia 24.4%
Sweden 24.4%
Croatia 22.9%
Slovenia 22.7%
13

14. Greenland (Denmark) 22.6%
France 22.5%
PRE-TRIAL DETAINEES/ Moldova (Republic of) 21.4%
Austria 21.2%
REMAND PRISONERS United States of America 20.8%
(percentage within the prison Estonia 20.3%
Portugal 19.3%
population) (ctd.) Bosnia and Herzegovina: Republika Srpska 18.2%
Finland 18.1%
Belarus 17.7%
Romania 16.4%
Spain 16.4%
Ireland, Republic of 16.0%
Russian Federation 15.6%
Germany 15.5%
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Federation 15.3%
Tajikistan 15.0%
Slovakia 14.6%
Azerbaijan 13.5%
Lithuania 13.1%
Kazakhstan 12.6%
Turkmenistan 12.4%
Uzbekistan 11.5%
Czech Republic 10.9%
Bulgaria 10.4%
Poland 10.0%
Macedonia (former Yugoslav Republic of) 8.6%
Iceland 8.1%
Georgia 6.7%
Laos 1.0%
Tonga 0.6%
14

15. PRE-TRIAL DETAINEES/ REMAND PRISONERS
(percentage within the prison population)
15

16. 2. Council of Europe – European Court of Human Rights
- Relating only to 47 member States of the Council of Europe (not US, Canada, Belarus, Central
Asian States)
- Statistics about relevant cases
- Judgments in 2011 finding violations of Articles 2, 3, 5, 6, 13 ECHR
Source: European Court of Human Rights, Annual Report 2011 and Facts and Figures 2011 (available at http://www.echr.coe.int/ECHR/Homepage_EN)
16

17. CoE - ECtHR
17

18. 18

19. 19

20. ECtHR - Violations Judgments by States in 2011
(174)
(133)
(105)
(73)
20

21. ECtHR - Violations by Article and by State in 2011
Right to Life - Deprivation of Life (Art 2 ECHR)
Russia 53
Turkey 6
Romania 3
Belgium 2
Ukraine 2
Bulgaria 1
Georgia 1
Italy 1
Poland 1
Total 70
21

22. Right to Life - Lack of Effective Investigation (Art 2 ECHR)
Russia 58
Romania 8
Ukraine 7
United Kingdom 5
Bulgaria 4
Croatia 2
Georgia 2
Turkey 2
France 1
Italy 1
Total 90
22

23. Prohibition of Torture (Art 3 ECHR)
Russia 6
Ukraine 3
Turkey 2
United Kingdom 2
Bulgaria 1
France 1
Total 15
23

24. Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (Art 3 ECHR)
Russia 62
Turkey 36
Romania 20
Ukraine 15
Greece 10
Republic of Moldova 8
Belgium 6
France 5
Poland 5
Bulgaria 3
Croatia 3
Hungary 3
Italy 2
Slovenia 2
Germany 1
Lithunia 1
Slovakia 1
Total 183
24

25. Art 3 - Lack of Effective Investigation
Turkey 37
Russia 22
Ukraine 9
Romania 6
Republic of Moldova 5
Croatia 4
Bulgaria 3
Lithunia 1
Serbia 1
Spain 1
Total 89
25

26. Right to Liberty and Security (Art 5 ECHR)
Russia 68
Ukraine 42
Turkey 38
Latvia 17
Poland 16
Slovakia 12
Bulgaria 10
Germany 8
Greece 8
Republic of Moldova 7
Belgium 6
Croatia 5
Hungary 5
Netherlands 4
Armenia 3
Azerbaijan 2
Bosnia Herzegovina 2
Italy 2
Romania 2
Czech Republic 1
Estonia 1
France 1
United Kingdom 1
Total 261
26

27. Right to Fair Trial (Art 6 ECHR)
Russia 40
Turkey 30
Ukraine 21
Poland 14
Czech Republic 13
France 11
Romania 9
Croatia 8
Azerbaijan 7
Italy 7
Republic of Moldova 7
Greece 6
Hungary 4
Serbia 4
Spain 4
Malta 3
Lithunia 3
(The FYR of) Macedonia 3
United Kingdom 3
Albania 2
Belgium 2
Bulgaria 2
Slovakia 2
Estonia 1
Luxembourg 1
Montenegro 1
Netherlands 1
Portugal 1
Slovenia 1 27
Total 211

28. Length of Proceedings -(Art 6 ECHR)
Ukraine 66
Turkey 53
Greece 50
Bulgaria 21
Germany 19
Hungary 19
Italy 16
Poland 15
Portugal 13
Russia 13
Romania 10
Slovenia 6
Austria 5
Lithunia 5
Slovakia 5
Croatia 3
Malta 3
Serbia 3
Czech Republic 2
Ireland 2
Finland 2
France 2
(The FYR of) Macedonia 2
Cyprus 1
Latvia 1
Republic of Moldova 1
Montenegro 1
Spain 1
United Kingdom 1 28
Total 341

29. Effective Remedy (Art 13 ECHR)
Russia 58
Greece 32
Bulgaria 26
Germany 10
Portugal 10
Ukraine 9
Slovenia 7
France 6
Turkey 6
Republic of Moldova 5
Romania 4
Albania 3
Slovakia 3
Belgium 2
Austria 1
Croatia 1
Czech Republic 1
Estonia 1
Hungary 1
Ireland 1
Total 187
29

30. 3. European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
- 1990-2011: 315 visits (191 periodic visits + 124 ad hoc visits)
- 264 CPT reports published (Russian Federation: only 1 report published out of 18)
Source: CPT, General Report 2011 (available at http://www.cpt.coe.int/en/annual/rep-21.pdf)
30

31. CPT
31

32. 4. 4. Statistics Regarding the CCPR/Human Rights Committee
Statistics Regarding the CCPR/Human Rights Committee
Views finding violations in relation to CCPR articles
32

33. Statistics Regarding the CCPR/Human Rights Committee
(cont’d)
Views finding violations in relation to States
33

34. 5. Death Penalty
- Europe as a death penalty free zone (except Belarus, Abkhazia, Transnistria)
- Central Asia: recent abolition of capital punishment in Uzbekistan (for all crimes, 2008);
Kyrgyzstan (for all crimes; 2007); Kazakhstan (for ordinary crimes, 2007); Turkmenistan (for all
crimes, 1999); Tajikistan (abolitionist in practice: no execution in the past ten years)
- USA: retentionist; 5th highest number of executions worldwide in 2010
Source: Amnesty International, Death Sentences and Executions Report 2010
34

35. 35

36. 36

37. DEATH PENALTY
37

38. 6. UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (2004 – 2010)
- 18 Fact-Finding Missions
- 5 Fact-Finding Missions to OSCE Countries (Georgia, Denmark & Greenland, Moldova, Kazakhstan,
Greece)
- Joint UN Reports on Guantanamo Bay and Secret Detention in the Context of Countering Terrorism
38

39. FACT-FINDING MISSIONS – OVERVIEW
Denmark &
Greenland Moldova Greece (Russia) Georgia Jordan
May 08 July 08 Oct. 10 Oct. 06 Feb. 05 June 06
Kazakhstan
May 09
(Cuba) Mongolia
Autumn 10 June 05
Guantanamo China
Feb. 06 Nov. 05
Jamaica Nepal
Feb. 10 Sept. 05
Paraguay Papua New Guinea
Nov. 06 May 10
Uruguay Indonesia
March 09 Nov. 07
Sri Lanka
Oct. 07
Sudan Togo Nigeria Equatorial Guinea (Zimbabwe)
Oct. 06 April 07 March 07 Nov. 08 Oct. 09

40. FACT-FINDING MISSIONS IN OSCE COUNTRIES
- Georgia: February 2005
- Denmark and Greenland: May 2008
- Moldova: July 2008
- Kazakhstan: May 2009
- Greece: October 2010

41. GEORGIA (Feb. 2005)
FACT-FINDING MISSION
19 – 25 February 2005
Outcome: Routine practice of torture
In particular, in the first 72 hours of police custody to
extract confessions. Methods: beatings with fists, butts of
guns, use of electric shocks, cigarette burns, broken
bones, etc.
Impunity for perpetrators of torture
Not under Government control:
Abkhazia: applicability of death penalty
South Ossetia: very bad conditions of detentions
Government recognizes some of these problems and undertakes certain reforms,
e.g.: comprehensive police reform, modernization of prisons and establishment of National Preventive
Mechanism (OPCAT); issue of impunity still unresolved, strong increase of prison population, problem
of plea bargaining [Atlas of Torture (EIDHR) - Follow-up Mission April 2011]
41

42. DENMARK and GREENLAND (May 2008)
FACT-FINDING MISSION
2 – 9 May 2008
Outcome: no torture
Herstedvester Institution, Albertslund
‣ High standard of conditions of detention
‣ Prison system: “Principle of normalization“, meaning
that life behind bars reflects life outside to the
greatest possible extent
42

43. MOLDOVA (July 2008)
FACT-FINDING MISSION
4 – 11 July 2008
Joint Visit with UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women
Outcome: Widespread ill-treatment and isolated torture
Chisinau Police HQ
‣ Conditions of detention do not conform to international
standards
‣ Restricted access to medical care
‣ Poor quality of food
‣ Transnistrian region:
‣ Lack of complaint and monitoring mechanism
‣ Torture is not criminalized, death penalty
‣ Follow-up Missions (Sept. 2009; Sept. 2011; Nov./Dec. 2011;
Jan/Feb 2012):
‣ Willingness to implement relevant recommendations relating to
the prevention of torture and improvement of prison conditions Prison in Chisinau
43

44. KAZAKHSTAN (May 2009)
FACT-FINDING MISSION
5 – 13 May 2009
 Preparations of detention facilities prior to inspection;
contradicts the idea of unannounced visits and independent
fact-finding
 Overall, physical conditions and food supply is in line with
international minimum standards
 Outcome: Routine torture and ill- treatment
Almaty UVD 2
 Follow-up Mission (Sept./Oct. 2010):
Willingness to implement relevant
recommendations relating to the prevention of
torture
Astana Investigation Isolator
44

45. GREECE (Oct. 2010)
FACT-FINDING MISSION
10 - 20 October 2010
Outcome: isolated cases of torture
Venna Migration Detention Centre
‣ Prisons and police facilities are overcrowded due
to high number of irregular migrants entering via
Turkey
‣ Law enforcement officials are overwhelmed
‣ Very bad conditions of police and special
migration detention centres
Fylakio Migration Detention Centre

46. GUANTANAMO
JOINT UN REPORT ON GUANTANAMO BAY (2006)
• International law applicable
Human Rights Law is applicable also during times of emergencies and armed
conflict
War on Terror does not constitute an armed conflict in terms of international
humanitarian law
• GITMO: arbitrary detention
Detainees are arbitrarily detained for a prolonged period of time and entitled to
challenge their deprivation of liberty (ICCPR Art 9)
• Interrogation techniques led to torture
Attempts to “redefine” torture
Confusion re: authorized/unauthorized interrogation techniques
Excessive violence during forced feeding amounting to torture
=> Urging closure of GITMO
.
46

47. SECRET DETENTION & TERRORISM
JOINT UN REPORT ON SECRET DETENTION IN THE CONTEXT OF COUNTERING
TERRORISM (2010)
• Black Sites
Secret detention is irreconcilably in violation of international human rights
law, including during states of emergency and armed conflicts
Geneva Conventions, applicable to all armed conflicts, prohibit secret detention under
any circumstances
secret detention amounts to an enforced disappearance.
• Rendition Flights
Responsibility of third countries, incl. European States
Corroborates findings of earlier investigations (Council of Europe, European
Parliament, investigative journalists)
• Detention by Proxy
disregard of the principle of non-refoulement
“outsourcing” of torture
.
47

48. CONCLUSIONS
- Prison crisis in the OSCE: disproportionally high number of prisoners, both in
absolute and relative terms; overcrowding; in many countries continuing practice
of torture and inhuman prison conditions
- Strong reliance on retributive justice and malfunctioning of administration of
justice (corruption, being „tough on crime“, excessive length of proceedings) as
main reasons for torture and prison crisis
- Undermining of the rule of law in the fight against terrorism (secret
detention, torture, illegal rendition flights, unfair trials)
- Significant disparities between best practice (e.g. Denmark) and serious violations
of international human rights law
48

49. ATLAS OF TORTURE WEBSITE
Web portal on the factual
and legal situation of
torture in countries and
topics of special relevance
for the prohibition of
torture
www.atlas-of-torture.org

50. Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human
Rights, Vienna
http://bim.lbg.ac.at
Atlas of Torture
http://www.atlas-of-torture.org
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