TNAG-2156-FCO40-3076-International-Covenant-on-Civil-and-Political-Rights-(ICCPR)-1990 — Page 23

Medical institutions

104. The United Kingdom has nothing to add to what was said in the second periodic report about protection of people in medical institutions.

Remedies

105. To sum up, and responding in particular to paragraph 1 of general comment 7/[16] (CCPR/C/21/Rev.1), persons who are being or have been subjected to ill-treatment have a variety of avenues of complaint which are largely or wholly independent of government. Where ill-treatment is proved, redress is available through the criminal law and, where officials are involved, through disciplinary codes. Victims of ill-treatment which causes physical injury are also able to avail themselves of compensation through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, awards of damages in the civil courts, and through compensation awarded in criminal actions.

106. The protection of detainees by proscribing incommunicado detention and the granting of access to visitors who can discover where detainees are held were discussed in the first periodic report. Training for the police and the prison service in England and Wales includes the treatment of detainees under the codes of practice issued under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the prison service's internal instructions, which reflect the standards set out in the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment and the Standard Minimal Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. In Northern Ireland, detailed internal instructions to the police on the treatment and detention of arrested persons are already in place. When the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 comes into operation early in 1990, these instructions will be reinforced by codes of practice similar to those which currently apply in England and Wales under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.

107. These questions will also be discussed in the United Kingdom's first periodic report under the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which is due by 6 January 1990.

Article 9

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 - England and Wales

108. The second periodic report briefly described the Police and Criminal Evidence Bill, which was enacted in 1984 and came into force on 1 January 1986. The Act codifies and in some respects extends police powers in respect of:

(a) Stop and search: the police may stop and search any person or vehicle for stolen or prohibited articles if they have reasonable grounds to suspect that such articles are being carried;

(b) Entry and search of premises and seizure of evidence;

(c) Arrest: the police may arrest anyone without a magistrate's warrant in respect of an arrestable offence, i.e. one that carries a penalty of five years' or more imprisonment, or in respect of any lesser offence if certain specified conditions, which make the service of a summons