20.
The territory has no psychiatric institution of its own. A consultant psychiatrist based in Nassau, Bahamas, at the Sandilands Institute, visits the country periodically and provides specialist advice and assistance. Suitable cases are referred to the Institute for residential treatment, either by consent of the Institute or an order of the court. A man who has been treated in England at a secure psychiatric unit since 1981 is soon to be returned to the region, to be treated at the Sandilands Institute as a resident patient, in the hope that he will benefit from a return to a familiar environment and possibility of family contacts. He had been sentenced to imprisonment for manslaughter in 1979.
21.
Article 13
By way of correction of what was stated in the second report (CCPR/C/32/Add.14, annex J, para. 23), an appeal against a deportation order is not to "the Governor in Council", i.e. the Governor seeking and accepting the advice of the Executive Counil; it is to the Governor acting in the exercise of his discretionary powers, i.e. without consulting the Executive Council. Such an appeal does have a suspensive effect.
Article 16
22.
The Constitution safeguards the rights of all persons to whom the territory's laws might be applied.
Article 17
23. The requirements of this provision are met by the safeguards of the Constitution and by the locally enforceable law relating to defamation of character, which in general is the same as English law.
24.
At the meeting to discuss the United Kingdom's second report on its dependent territories, it was asked what kind of personal data could be stored in computers and who could hold such information (CCPR/C/SR.857, para. 31). The only permanent data bank kept by the Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands is that relating to expenditure and revenue. Therefore the only personal records involved are those relating to salaries and deductions which are authorized by civil servants. Information on individuals, such as personnel files on civil servants, are kept in a documentary form. There is a rule that individuals should be informed of any adverse comment recorded against them. Records kept by private sector institutions such as banks are left to the discretion of such bodies. They are subject to confidentiality laws which limit disclosure to third parties.
25.
The process of compiling permanent data banks of computerized information is only beginning to get under way in the Turks and Caicos Islands. At the same time, concern has been expressed in the private sector that existing laws may be inadequate to cover the release of confidential information by a process as simple as transmission by telephone from a computer in the Islands to a computer overseas. It is therefore likely that plans will have to be made to introduce local legislation of a nature similar to the Data Protection Act of the United Kingdom.
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