TNAG-2156-FCO40-3076-International-Covenant-on-Civil-and-Political-Rights-(ICCPR)-1990 — Page 54

CCPR/C/58/Add.6 page 22

Torture

at

98. The United Kingdom has ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which came into force for the United Kingdom on 7 January 1989. Torture amounts to the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, physical or mental, the instigation or with the consent or acquiescence of anyone acting in a public capacity, but excluding pain and suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions. Most if not all such actions were already offences under United Kingdom law but, for the purposes of

the Convention, torture was made a specific offence under section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

99.

The United Kingdom also ratified the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment on 24 June 1988. It came into force on 1 February 1989. The Convention provides for the appointment of an independent committee with full rights to enter places of detention and interview detained persons in private in order to ensure that torture or inhuman or degrading treatment does not take place. Places of detention include not only penal establishments but also police stations, detention centres operated by the Immigration Service, places of military detention and places where people are detained under the Mental Health Act. Election of committee members took place in September 1989 but no visits have yet taken place.

Corporal punishment

100. In 1982, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the United Kingdom was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights in failing to respect the philosophical convictions of parents who were opposed to the use of corporal punishment for their children in schools. In its second periodic report, the United Kingdom Government recorded its intention to introduce legislation which would give effect to the Court's judgement.

101. Sections 47 and 48 of the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 and an Order in Council for Northern Ireland abolished the use of corporal punishment in State-maintained schools. The law also exempts from corporal punishment most pupils at independent schools whose fess are met by the Government or by local education authorities. Regulations are due to be made which will effectively exempt the remainder of such pupils and those whose fees are met by other public bodies.

102. Corporal punishment in privately funded schools has not been made unlawful as such but, althouth no statistics are available, the Government believes that it is now rarely used. The Society of Teachers Opposed to Physical Punishment has stated that no girls' schools now use corporal punishment and that only 40 per cent of boys' schools continue to make the penalty available.

103. When the law changed, a number of applications to the European Commission of Human Rights which had arisen from the use of corporal punishment in State-maintained schools remained outstanding. The Government offered the applicants ex gratia payments on condition that they withdrew their applications. These offers have been accepted. The European Commission of Human Rights is currently considering the admissibility of further applications relating to corporal punishment in private schools.