United Nations CAT/C/SR.

1683
Convention against Torture Distr.: General
21 November 2018
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment Original: English

or Punishment

Committee against Torture

Sixty-fifth session
Summary record of the 1683rd meeting*
Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Tuesday, 13 November 2018, at 10 a.m.
Chair: Mr. Modvig

Contents
Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention
Seventh periodic report of Peru

* No summary record was issued for the 1682nd meeting.

This record is subject to correction. Corrections should be set forth in a memorandum and also
incorporated in a copy of the record. They should be sent within one week of the date of the present
record to the Documents Management Section ([email protected]).
Any corrected records of the public meetings of the Committee at this session will be reissued for
technical reasons after the end of the session.

GE.18-19323 (E) 161118 211118

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The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m.

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the

Convention
Seventh periodic report of Peru (CAT/C/PER/7 and CAT/C/PER/QPR/7)
1. At the invitation of the Chair, the delegation of Peru took places at the Committee
table.
2. Mr. Sánchez Velásquez (Peru) said that the Committee’s preceding concluding
observations had served to guide the Government in the design and implementation of
concrete policies, including the National Human Rights Plan 2018–2021. The Plan
contained a number of objectives, including the development of a strategic pathway for
dealing with cases of torture, the establishment of a multisector platform for coordination in
tackling such cases, and the implementation, planned for 2019, of a single registry for cases
of torture and a protocol for preventing and addressing the torture of adolescents in youth
assessment and rehabilitation centres.
3. During the reporting period, the Government had taken steps to alleviate prison
overcrowding. The implementation of a sentence conversion procedure, as part of the 2018
national prison policy, was intended to promote alternative forms of punishment such as
electronic tagging and community service. The Dignity in Prisons policy comprised three
lines of action, namely the construction of two new megaprisons that would accommodate
approximately 6,500 individuals, the expansion of existing prison infrastructure, and the
installation of beds designed to make better use of space.
4. Health care for persons deprived of their liberty was a Government priority. The
Ministry of Health had instituted a visiting system to monitor the treatment of tuberculosis
patients in 12 prisons. Since 2015, with support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria, the system had been expanded to cover 90 per cent of
tuberculosis cases.
5. The Productive Prisons programme, aimed at helping prisoners reintegrate into the
labour market, had shown encouraging results. The Minister of Justice and Human Rights
had visited 32 prisons throughout the country to observe the progress made, and 130
agreements had been signed with private enterprises undertaking social responsibility
activities in prisons. A total of 304 workshops had been set up, covering 10 per cent of the
prison population.
6. Nine Youth Assessment and Rehabilitation Centres and 25 adolescent guidance
services had been transferred from the Judiciary to the Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights. The authorities intended to provide education to more than 3,800 adolescents in
conflict with the law, enabling them to reintegrate into society.
7. In April 2018, by means of Ministerial Decision No. 487-2018-IN, the human rights
handbook for police staff had entered into force. The handbook had been developed with
the aim of providing human rights training for police officers, with a particular focus on the
reasonable use of force. Every police officer had an obligation to treat persons deprived of
their liberty with humanity and dignity.
8. In the area of violence against women, the President of Peru had used his 2018
annual address to the nation to urge the three branches of power and the general public to
work to eradicate macho culture and all forms of violence against women. An emergency
commission had been established to make proposals aimed at preventing violence against
women and handling cases. The commission’s work centred around 11 urgent areas of
action, including the adoption of a protocol for dealing with cases of femicide, the
establishment of a Safe Schools programme, and the development of a mapping tool to
record cases of gender-based violence by region.
9. In addition, the Government had passed Act No. 30819, which expanded the
criminal provisions relating to violence against women and domestic violence, Act No.
30838, which imposed harsher sentences for offences against sexual freedom and
inviolability, and Legislative Decree No. 1410, which incorporated the offences of stalking

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and sexual harassment into the Criminal Code. The Decree, which had been adopted in
September 2018, had strengthened the Public Defence Service and facilitated the provision
of care and legal representation for vulnerable groups.
10. The Government was also striving to improve access to reparations for persons who
had been victims of sexual violence between 1980 and 2000. The Reparations Board had
already identified and registered 4,624 female victims. In August 2018, List No. 26 of the
Economic Reparations Programme had been adopted, thereby authorizing the payment of
reparations to 687 civilians and police and military personnel who had suffered serious
human rights violations.
11. The newly adopted guidelines on reparations plans tailored to women and lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons were intended to facilitate the
granting of reparations using a gender-sensitive approach that was rooted in equality and
took account of diversity. The Government had begun to make reparation payments to
persons who had suffered multiple human rights violations; 96 per cent of such cases had
already been resolved.
12. With regard to persons who had disappeared between 1980 and 2000, the authorities
had so far recovered and identified 1,188 individuals and returned their remains to their
families. In September 2018, the Government had adopted Legislative Decree No. 1398
establishing a genetic database for the search for persons who had disappeared.
13. Under the National Human Rights Plan 2018–2021, in September 2018 a working
group had been established to provide a comprehensive response to forced sterilizations
that had occurred between 1996 and 2000. The Public Prosecution Service had laid charges
in relation to 2,000 victims.
14. In September 2018, the Government had adopted Legislative Decree No. 1384,
which recognized the legal capacity of persons with disabilities on an equal basis with
others and removed the restrictions on voting, marriage and exercise of parental authority
that had previously been imposed on them. Legislative Decree No. 1417 had also been
enacted to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities, in particular with regard to
reasonable accommodation in recruitment processes and in the workplace.
15. There were currently 296 persons with disabilities in prisons, whose status had not
been legally certified; in order to address the situation, the Government intended to train 13
doctors in the issuance of such certification.
16. In the area of contemporary forms of slavery, under the National Action Plan against
Trafficking in Persons 2017–2021, the Government had adopted 15 regional plans and was
using new tools to ensure large-scale dissemination of information on the issue. During the
previous year, residential reception centres had provided care for 65 child and adolescent
victims of trafficking. A team of labour inspectors had been set up to ensure that
fundamental rights were respected with regard to forced and child labour, and bilateral
agreements had been concluded with Chile and Argentina on cooperation in the fight
against human trafficking in the region.
17. In the area of asylum, more than 500,000 persons had fled to Peru as a result of the
serious humanitarian crisis that was unfolding in Venezuela. The authorities had found
creative solutions such as the issuance of temporary residence permits. Between 2012 and
2018, 1,323 persons from 49 countries had been granted refugee status, including 466
Venezuelans. No refugees or asylum seekers had been extradited or expelled from Peru or
subjected to refoulement.
18. The national mechanism for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment, which was part of the Ombudsman’s Office, had
published its second report in June 2018. The Government was committed to implementing
the recommendations of the Ombudsman’s Office and had made every effort to address the
difficulties that had been reported to it in connection with visits to prisons.
19. The definition of torture that had been incorporated into the Criminal Code in
January 2017 was compatible with the one set forth in the Convention. Although the
Committee had expressed concern that the previous definition had not included

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discrimination as one of its elements, it had recognized in its general comment No. 2 on
implementation of article 2 by States parties that broader domestic definitions also
advanced the object and purpose of the Convention. The Inter-American Convention to
Prevent and Punish Torture did not require that there be a specific reason for the infliction
of torture in order for the act to qualify as that offence. Article 321 of the Criminal Code
reflected that same approach. In addition, criminal legislation in Peru made provision for
harsher sentences in cases where torture was inflicted on vulnerable groups or when the
perpetrator was a member of the armed forces, the National Police or other security
services.
20. The Government’s commitment to fulfilling its international human rights
obligations was reflected in the Bicentennial Plan, which contained the most important
national development policies to be implemented in the run-up to 2021, when Peru would
celebrate 200 years of independence. The full exercise of fundamental rights was the
overarching driver in those policies.
21. Mr. Heller Rouassant (Country Rapporteur) said that the inclusion of the element
of discrimination of any kind in the domestic definition of torture was of fundamental
importance given the ethnic make-up of the State party, the social inequalities found there
and the problems of discrimination against women and the lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and intersex (LGBTI) communities. The current definition referred to the use
of methods that obliterated the personality of the victim; the wording of the Inter-American
Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture was broader in that it referred to “methods
intended to obliterate”.
22. He would appreciate the delegation’s comments regarding the absence of provisions
for the disbarring of civil servants or public officials involved in torture and for the
prosecution of judicial personnel implicated in such offences. The Committee was
concerned that less serious offences, such as aggravated robbery, carried harsher penalties
than offences relating to acts of torture.
23. He would be grateful for additional details of the funding allocated to the
Ombudsman’s Office, which lacked the technical, logistical, financial and human resources
it required to carry out its mandate. It was unclear how tasks were divided between the
Office and the national mechanism for the prevention of torture. The work of the
mechanism appeared to be concentrated in Lima; there was an urgent need to expand its
reach into the regions. The Committee would welcome information on the procedures for
appointing officials to the Office, particularly in the light of the fact that for political
reasons the post of Ombudsman had remained unfilled for the five-year period preceding
2016.
24. Urgent action was required in a number of areas, including the issue of prison
overcrowding, the lack of virtual hearings for persons in detention, the need to increase the
use of alternatives to detention, inappropriate treatment of women and foreign nationals in
prisons, human rights violations in psychiatric facilities, deaths in custody, particularly in
police stations in Lima, and the use of torture as a form of discipline by military personnel.
It would be helpful to hear the delegation’s comments on all of those matters. Information
would be welcome on the implementation of the recommendations issued by the national
mechanism for the prevention of torture and their impact on the development of public
policies.
25. He asked whether it was true that, although the National Human Rights Plan 2018–
2021 provided for the establishment, by 2019, of a national protocol to prevent and combat
torture and ill-treatment, and, by 2020, of a register of cases and the action taken in respect
of them, the Plan covered only juvenile rehabilitation centres, rather than all prisons. The
delegation should indicate whether the Plan provided for rehabilitation and reintegration
programmes for victims of torture and ill-treatment.
26. Noting the creation, in 2014, of the Directorate for the Investigation of Trafficking
in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants within the Peruvian National Police, he asked why
the issues of human trafficking and people smuggling had been treated on the same footing
and requested information on the implementation of Act No. 28950 on Trafficking in
Persons and Smuggling of Migrants.

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27. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
care was needed in the application of Legislative Decree No. 1350 on Migration and its
implementing regulations to ensure that asylum seekers did not face barriers on entering the
State party and that refugees had access to a permanent residence. Noting that Peru was
experiencing the arrival of large numbers of Venezuelan migrants, he asked whether
asylum claims were analysed in detail to assess whether applicants had been tortured or
were at risk of being subjected to torture in the event of their return to their country of
origin. He would like to hear the delegation’s thoughts on the fact that, under a law adopted
in August 2018, asylum seekers were required to present a passport, even though many of
them did not have one. He would also appreciate comments on the 31 October deadline for
applying for a temporary residence permit and on the policies adopted by the Government
to deal with the migrant crisis that was affecting South America.
28. He would be grateful for an update on the status of the proposal, mentioned during
the State party’s most recent universal periodic review, to reform the Criminal Code,
including by bringing the definition of crimes into line with the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court.
29. It was clear that, despite the progress made by the State party with regard to the
prevention of torture, cases continued to occur, mainly in places of deprivation of liberty
and military barracks. According to the Ombudsman’s Office, between 1 April 2017 and 31
May 2018, there had been 174 recorded cases of violations ranging from torture and ill-
treatment to arbitrary deprivation of life. Figures from the national preventive mechanism
showed that 40 per cent of the young inmates interviewed at Ancón II prison had claimed to
have suffered physical violence at the hands of the police. In its first annual report, the
mechanism had identified deaths in police custody as a major issue. While the police had
claimed that some had been deaths resulting from suicide, it had been determined that, in
certain cases, the deceased had been assaulted and murdered. Notable examples included
those of Mr. J.A.D. in 2003 and Mr. J.A.R.E., who had been arrested on 29 April 2017 and
had been found dead the following day.
30. The Human Rights Commission had observed a number of shortcomings during the
investigation and prosecution of cases of torture. Some prosecutors and judges refused to
open investigations or inquiries into torture or to order the detention of perpetrators and
determine the responsibilities of high-ranking State officials. Magistrates continued to use
medical certificates as the sole basis for deciding whether torture had been committed,
without taking into account the context in which injuries had been inflicted. Persons found
guilty of torture were sometimes given suspended sentences or sentences below the
minimum established by law. In October 2013, for instance, Lieutenant Urbina Carrasco
had been sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment for the torture of three individuals in
Ayacucho in 1990, despite having been sentenced by the same criminal court chamber in
2010 to 6 years’ imprisonment for the torture and murder of another individual who had
been detained together with the other three.
31. The National Criminal Court returned a high number of acquittals. In 2012, it had
delivered seven judgments in torture cases, only one of which had been a conviction. There
was also an inadequate implementation of the Istanbul Protocol. The failure to conduct
proper forensic medical examinations had led to the issuance of highly dubious rulings in
cases where the existence of a systematic practice of torture had been ascertained, as in a
case dating back more than 30 years that concerned the naval military base in Huanta.
32. Turning to paragraph 148 of the State party’s report (CAT/C/PER/7), he asked why
the Clinical Forensic Division of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Science had
so few staff members, bearing in mind the size of Peru and of its population. He found
worrying the acknowledgement in paragraph 149 that the Institute did not yet have an
independent register of torture cases and required additional funding to enable it to improve
its infrastructure and material and human resources.
33. The Human Rights Commission had highlighted the lack of both a register of
allegations of torture and an integrated database, without which it was difficult to collate
statistics on torture in the country and develop appropriate legal measures to prevent and
punish it. Although the State party had implemented a comprehensive protection

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programme for witnesses, experts, victims and collaborators involved in criminal

investigations and proceedings, the programme did not provide for any specific measures
applicable in cases of torture or other serious human rights violations. He invited the
delegation to comment on the matter and on reports that victims of torture and their
relatives were deterred from submitting complaints to the competent authorities.
34. On 12 January 2014, the Congress of the Republic had adopted Act No. 30151,
which had amended article 20 (11) of the Criminal Code to grant immunity from criminal
liability to police and military officials who caused injuries or deaths in the performance of
their duties or in the use of their weapons or other means of defence. He wished to know
how the Act, which had been criticized as opening the door to impunity in cases involving
an excessive use of force, could be reconciled with Legislative Decree No. 1186 and its
implementing regulations, which made it impossible for a police officer who arbitrarily
used force to be exonerated from criminal liability, either in full or in part.
35. In paragraph 158 of the State party’s report, it was mentioned that, under the
Peruvian National Police Act, adopted through Legislative Decree No. 1267, police officers
who used force must do so in strict compliance with the Code of Conduct for Law
Enforcement Officials and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law
Enforcement Officials. There was no reference, however, to the use of force by members of
the armed forces. His understanding was that Legislative Decrees Nos. 1094, on the
Military and Police Criminal Code, and 1095, on rules for the use of force in the national
territory, had been the subject of a judgment by the Constitutional Court in response to a
challenge to their constitutionality. He asked whether that was correct, and noted that article
27 of Legislative Decree No. 1095, which extended military jurisdiction to include any
illegal acts committed by the military in the application of the Decree or in the exercise of
their duties, had been criticized for potentially preventing ordinary courts from handling
cases of human rights violations committed by military officials against civilians. In that
connection, he would be grateful for an explanation of the exemptions for and restrictions
on the use of force by the armed forces in states of emergency, armed conflict and social
protests.
36. According to Human Rights Watch, in 2016, the Ministry of Interior had announced
an investigation into a group of 28 police officers, including a general, who had allegedly
carried out at least 20 extrajudicial killings between 2009 and 2015, and had falsely
reported the victims as criminals killed in combat. At the time, at least 11 of those officers
had been awaiting trial.
37. He would appreciate updated information on the status of the legal proceedings into
the massacre at El Frontón prison in 1986 and confirmation of whether, in August 2017,
several military officials had been convicted of the torture, enforced disappearance and
extrajudicial execution of 53 persons in 1983 in the Los Cabitos military barracks in
Ayacucho.
38. The delegation should indicate whether there had been any complaints from lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons of violent attacks, including
torture and ill-treatment, by members of the National Police or the armed forces, municipal
security patrol officers or prison officials. While he welcomed the acknowledgement, in the
National Human Rights Plan, that such persons should qualify for protection as a
vulnerable group, it was important for the State party to draft specific legislation in that
regard in consultation with civil society organizations.
39. In reference to paragraph 173 of the State party’s report, he asked why so many
states of emergency had been declared during the period 2012–2016, and noted that two
human rights treaty bodies had expressed concern at reports of grave human rights
violations committed during states of emergency, including arbitrary detention,
extrajudicial executions and torture, and of complaints of excessive use of force, including
recourse to lethal weapons.
40. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission estimated that more than 70,000 people
had died or been forcibly disappeared during the period 1980–2000. Many had been victims
of atrocities committed by Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and other insurgent groups,
while others had been victims of human rights violations perpetrated by State officials. The

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Commission had received 6,443 complaints of torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment related to that period, of which 75 per cent concerned
acts that the Commission had attributed to State officials or persons acting with their
authorization or acquiescence. According to the Central Register of Victims, however, the
number of registered victims of torture had stood at 35,383 in October 2018. He would be
interested to know the reasons for the discrepancy between the figures reported by the
Commission, on the one hand, and the Register, on the other.
41. Great progress had been made through the adoption of the Act on the Search for
Persons Who Disappeared during the 1980–2000 period of violence, the establishment of a
working group to provide advisory services during the Act’s implementation and the
adoption of the National Plan to Search for Persons Who Disappeared between 1980 and
2000. An update on the status of the truth and reconciliation process as a whole would be
appreciated.
42. On 24 December 2017, the President of Peru had pardoned one of his predecessors
in office, Alberto Fujimori, who had been convicted of crimes against humanity. However,
on 3 October 2018, Mr. Fujimori’s pardon had been revoked by the Supreme Court and he
had been ordered to return to prison, on the grounds that the pardon was incompatible with
the country’s international obligations. His understanding was that the matter remained
pending, and that the possibility of house arrest was being explored. He would welcome
updated information and comments from the delegation in that regard.
43. In the past, both the Committee and the Human Rights Committee had expressed
concern that a large number of sexual assaults against women and children during the
period of armed conflict had gone unreported, that few such acts had been investigated, that
the perpetrators had not been convicted and that the victims had not been provided with an
effective remedy. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission had recorded 85 cases of rape
of persons under 18 years of age during the armed conflict. In 70.59 per cent of those cases,
the perpetrators had been State officials. To date, no one had been put on trial for the
recruitment or use of children during the conflict.
44. Referring to paragraph 190 of the State party’s report, which stated that, on 6
December 2016, proceedings had been dismissed in cases involving 77 victims of forced
sterilization because of a lack of evidence, he noted that it had been the seventh time in 16
years that such action had been taken. He understood, however, that the cases in question
had since been reopened. He wished to know whether that was true and, if so, on what
basis. The delegation should comment on what plans there were for investigations in that
respect.
45. Turning to paragraph 236 of the report, he asked whether the process of drafting a
protocol on protecting human rights defenders in Peru had been completed.
46. With regard to the issue of terrorism, he drew attention to a concern expressed by
the Human Rights Committee about the broad definition of “hostile group” provided for in
Legislative Decrees Nos. 1094 and 1095, which could potentially be interpreted as
including individuals taking part in demonstrations or social movements.
47. To conclude, he agreed with the assertions in the report that many actions were still
to be implemented and that there was a need to improve information management and the
collection of data on torture, to strengthen the budget and institutional capacity of the
national preventive mechanism and to guarantee the right to redress for victims of the
1980–2000 period of violence.
48. Mr. Rodríguez-Pinzón (Country Rapporteur) said that the assertion by the State
party in its periodic report (CAT/C/PER/7) that the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights
had provided legal aid to defendants and victims in numerous criminal proceedings for
torture in a total of 113 cases between 2014 and 2016, of which 12 had concerned victims
of torture and the rest had concerned defendants, seemed to suggest a marked imbalance
between the services provided by the State to victims of torture and those provided to
defendants. He asked whether the State party had analysed those figures to ascertain the
cause of the discrepancy, and requested statistics from 2012 to the present year in order to
provide a more complete picture.

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49. Noting that it was unclear from the report how many persons deprived of their
liberty had been provided with State legal aid because the figures given, for 2012 to 2016,
were combined with family legal aid and the defence of victims, he asked the State party to
provide specific figures for each year, updated to the present year and disaggregated by sex,
age, ethnic origin and nationality, among other aspects. The State party had noted that if a
defendant believed that his or her rights were not being duly respected, he or she could
request the examining judge to rectify the omission or order the appropriate corrective or
protective measures: while the guarantees provided were of paramount importance in the
formal legal framework, proper evaluation of their implementation in practice required
statistics. The State party should therefore indicate in how many cases, during the period
under review and year by year, the defendant had requested the examining judge to provide
legal protection, and in how many of those cases the appropriate corrective or protective
measures had been taken, again disaggregating those data by sex, age, ethnic origin and
nationality, among other aspects. He repeated the Committee’s request in the list of issues
prior to the submission of the report (CAT/C/PER/QPR/7) for information regarding the
current status of the draft implementing regulations for the National Police Act; if a text
had been adopted, a copy should be provided to the Committee.
50. He welcomed the information provided by the State party in its report on cases of
gender-based violence, including domestic violence and femicide, and on the adoption of
relevant legislation. It was important to conduct detailed statistical monitoring on the
administrative and legal response in individual cases in order to accurately evaluate the
extent to which the State party was fulfilling its obligation to take measures against gender-
based violence. The State party could thereby analyse why the increase in the number of
cases of femicide was due, at least in part, to inadequate legal response. The Committee
therefore reiterated its request for the State party to provide information on the number of
investigations, prosecutions, convictions and sentences imposed in cases of gender-based
violence during the period under consideration up to the present year, including information
disaggregated by ethnic origin or nationality of the victims.
51. Turning to article 10 of the Convention on the obligation of States parties to provide
adequate training to public officials, he welcomed the statistical information in the report
on the training provided by the Judicial Training School and the marked increase in
coverage between 2012 and 2014. However, since 2014, the number of individuals
benefiting from such training had decreased considerably, from 2,164 persons in 2014 to
366 in 2016. The State party had failed to provide information on the content and scope of
training given to the military forces, and had made only very general references to the
training programmes for various public officials, without indicating whether they covered
the provisions of the Convention, including the obligation to investigate breaches and to
prosecute offenders. Similarly, the State party had not specified the location of training
programmes and had merely indicated that public defenders attached to the Ministry of
Justice had delivered training in “various” prisons and that “different” police units across
the country had received training in human rights, without identifying the regions in which
those efforts had been concentrated.
52. While the entry into force of the human rights handbook for police staff was to be
welcomed, the Committee had received information on the ill-treatment of young students
at military and National Police training academies, which would influence the way in which
those new officers conducted their work in the future. He therefore requested the State party
to provide detailed information on the content of training activities in the various regions of
the country, indicating the specific measures that had been taken to prevent the ill-treatment
of young academy students and to educate them on the limits of military discipline.
53. Given the acknowledged lack of a methodology to assess the effectiveness and
impact of the various training programmes on human rights and torture, it was impossible
to know what impact those training programmes were having on the prevention of torture in
the everyday work of public officials, in particular members of the armed forces and
National Police officers. The prevention of torture and ill-treatment was the ultimate goal of
the training programmes, and the absence of a mechanism to determine their impact was a
structural flaw that rendered the State party’s efforts of little use. Such a methodology
would enable the State party to improve information about training, refine its content,

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adjust the profile of students and design statistical models to provide better information
about future programmes and determine in a scientific manner whether any reduction in
human rights violations could be attributed to those efforts. He asked whether the recently
adopted human rights handbook for police staff dealt with any of those shortcomings
related to the assessment of training.
54. He noted the State party’s assertion that special courses had been organized in Lima
for legal advisers, judges and prosecutors between 2012 and 2016 on a range of topics
related to human rights, international humanitarian law and international criminal law.
However, the State party had failed to indicate whether those courses had covered the topic
of how to detect and document the sequelae of torture or how to apply the Manual on the
Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol) or whether forensic doctors and
medical personnel took such courses. He therefore repeated the Committee’s request for
information in that regard and for statistics on such training. In addition, the State party
should indicate whether those public officials’ training curriculum covered gender-based
discrimination or discrimination based on ethnic origin as a potential motivation for the
offence of torture.
55. With regard to article 11 of the Convention, he thanked the State party for providing,
in particular in annexes 10 to 12 to its report, disaggregated statistics on the number of
pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners and on the occupancy rate of all places of
detention, including juvenile detention centres, in response to the Committee’s request.
While the State party had not responded directly to the Committee’s specific request for
detailed information on the conditions of detention in the Lurigancho, Trujillo, Chiclayo,
Challapalca, Puno (Yanamayo) and Callao prisons, table 7 of annex 10 to the report
revealed that all except those in Challapalca and Puno were overcrowded. The Committee
was particularly concerned at the situation of overcrowding that was evident from those
data. Accordingly, he requested the State party to indicate what measures it was taking to
remedy that situation, bearing in mind that the Committee had received information
indicating that, to July 2018, the prison population in Peru had seen an increase of 4 per
cent compared to the previous year, which would require the construction of two prisons
each year for 3,500 prisoners if that rate of increase continued.
56. While the Committee noted the measures described by the State party to alleviate
prison overcrowding, and improve the infrastructure, management and security of prisons
and the treatment of detainees, including juveniles, the State party did not specifically
mention whether it had taken measures to address prolonged pretrial detention and the
shortage of specialized prison staff. Furthermore, the Committee had received information
indicating that there was no registry of persons deprived of their liberty who belonged to
vulnerable groups, such as persons with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and
intersex persons and members of indigenous communities.
57. He therefore requested the State party to provide information on specific measures
taken to improve the conditions of prolonged pretrial detention, to explain the lack of
specialized staff in prisons and to submit disaggregated information on vulnerable detainees
in order to guarantee and monitor the special treatment that they required.
58. Noting the measures described in the report on electronic tagging, house arrest and
productive prisons as alternatives to the deprivation of liberty, on gender mainstreaming in
prison policy, on guidelines for supporting women deprived of liberty, and on the provision
of appropriate care to minor children of incarcerated mothers to ensure their healthy, all-
round development, he asked the State party to indicate what mechanisms were in place to
monitor the practical implementation of those policies and measures and what results had
been achieved since their introduction.
59. The Committee had raised serious concerns over the conditions of detention in
certain prisons, and the State party had not answered the question as to whether it had
considered closing the Challapalca and Yanamayo prisons; indeed, the Committee had
received information that those prisons had recently been expanded. He therefore asked the
State party to respond specifically to that concern of the Committee. With reference to the
new megaprisons mentioned by the head of delegation in his opening statement, he asked in

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what locations and at what altitude they would be constructed. He further reiterated the
Committee’s request for the State party, given its regrettable lack of response in that regard,
to comment on reports of unhealthy living conditions in punishment cells in prisons and of
the arbitrary imposition of disciplinary sanctions on prisoners, and on reports that
prisoners’ family members were often subjected to invasive body searches, which failed to
comply with minimum standards of hygiene.
60. On the increase in the incidence of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis among the
prison population, he asked the State party to indicate how it was monitoring and
evaluating whether the measures taken were effectively controlling the number of cases of
tuberculosis in prisons, and to provide the figures that it currently had in that regard and
information on trends since those measures had been taken. In particular, he would like to
know whether there was a system in place to monitor the number of detainees with
tuberculosis or other diseases. If so, the State party should provide statistics, disaggregated
by age, sex, ethnicity and nationality, on the incidence rate of tuberculosis among detainees.
61. The Committee would also be interested to know how detainees’ health was
assessed upon arrest, whether they were educated to recognize the symptoms of
tuberculosis and seek medical attention if necessary, whether all detainees diagnosed with
tuberculosis were relocated to avoid infection of healthy prisoners (in accordance with Act
No. 30287 on the Prevention and Control of Tuberculosis in Peru), whether all detainees
infected with other diseases were kept in isolation, how often medical professionals were
able to assess the health of detainees and whether prison officials were present during
medical examinations of detainees.
62. He wondered why the State party, in response to the Committee’s request for
disaggregated statistics on the number of deaths in custody during the period under
consideration, had provided data up to 2014 only. The State party should provide updated
figures to the present year in order to give the Committee a more precise picture of trends.
Similarly, the State party had not provided information disaggregated by ethnic origin or
nationality of the deceased, and he requested it to do so. He also reiterated the Committee’s
request for the State party to provide information on the results of the investigations into
deaths in custody and on the measures taken to prevent similar cases from occurring, and to
indicate whether relatives had received compensation in any of those cases.
63. Turning to article 14 of the Convention, he said that it was unfortunate that, as
indicated by the State party in its report, no information was available regarding redress and
compensation measures ordered by the courts for victims of torture. That lack of
information was especially worrying given that the Committee had placed particular
emphasis on the crucial importance, under the Convention, of ensuring the compensation of
victims of torture and ill-treatment and their relatives. Without monitoring of the practical
implementation of State policies, it would be impossible to take effective measures or to
improve them in the future. He insisted that the State must design mechanisms for the
statistical monitoring of redress and compensation measures ordered by the courts and
actually provided to victims of torture or their families, and provide the information
obtained to the Committee.
64. The Committee was concerned about reports that there were no legal provisions
guaranteeing reparation for victims of torture or ill-treatment inflicted since the internal
armed conflict, and that such reparation was dependent on the establishment of the criminal
responsibility of the perpetrator. Therefore, it would be interesting to know what statutory
amendments would be required to bring current reparation mechanisms into line with the
Convention. While he welcomed the information provided on the various initiatives for
victims of torture, he would appreciate the delegation’s comments on: the exclusion of
beneficiaries from the Educational Reparations Programme; whether victims of torture who
were thought to belong to subversive organizations or had been tried for terrorism-related
offences were indeed excluded from the Comprehensive Reparations Plan; alleged
irregularities in the Collective Reparations Programme; comprehensive rehabilitation
services tailored to victims of torture; and whether the mental health services described in
the report were part of a programme or were ad hoc community-level measures.

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65. It would be useful to know whether the provision in the new Code of Criminal
Procedure that invalidated the legal effect of evidence obtained in violation of a person’s
fundamental rights included confessions extracted under torture or ill-treatment and
whether the failure to mention cases in which that safeguard had been applied was due to
the lack of a statistical follow-up mechanism or to the fact that no such cases had been
brought to trial. With regard to the amendment to the Criminal Code criminalizing cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, he asked about its current status and
whether its adoption was a legislative priority. He took note of the information about the
measures taken to protect human rights defenders, but would appreciate a response to the
Committee’s questions regarding the assessment of their effectiveness and the specific
measures adopted to protect journalists.
66. While welcoming the information provided on the State party’s efforts to act on the
Committee’s and other treaty bodies’ recommendations regarding reproductive health and
rights, he nevertheless expressed concern at reports that the policy to provide emergency
oral contraceptives free of charge was not being optimally implemented. The Committee
was also concerned by the fact that, because of the lack of exceptions to the abortion ban in
cases of rape, incest and serious fetal abnormalities, clandestine abortions were one of the
leading causes of maternal mortality in the State party.
67. Ms. Gaer said that, errors notwithstanding, she commended the State party on the
extensive statistical data provided in the annexes to its report. She wished to know what
systems had been put in place to ensure that Act No. 30364 on the prevention, punishment
and eradication of violence against women and members of the family unit was
implemented. She also wished to know what steps were being taken to change the focus of
the police and the judges on maintaining family unity through mediation in cases of
domestic violence, whether it was true that the budget was insufficient to properly enforce
the Act and that the Act only contemplated domestic violence and not other forms of
gender-based violence and, if so, what might be done to correct the situation. It would be
interesting to know the reasons behind the significant discrepancy between the number of
complaints of sex crimes reported by the police and those reported by the Public
Prosecution Service. She would appreciate the delegation’s comments on efforts to prevent
gender-based violence, in particular the budget for such activities, on the instructions given
to the police regarding rights and treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
(LGBT) persons and on whether there was in fact systematic abuse of transgender persons
in particular.
68. Ms. Belmir asked whether, in cases of torture and ill-treatment committed during
the armed conflict, the courts still accepted direct evidence only and did not hear witnesses
and whether it was truly necessary to impose states of emergency so frequently given their
impact on human rights.
69. Ms. Racu, noting that first-time offenders were not separated from repeat offenders
in prisons and that a climate of insecurity was created by the transfer of prisoners between
facilities to curb extortion by prison-based gangs, asked what specific steps were being
taken to reduce overcrowding, lower the incarceration rate and adopt non-custodial
measures, including for juvenile offenders.
70. Mr. Hani said that he welcomed the State party’s decision to make public the report
of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture on its 2013 visit and, referring to paragraph
75 of that report, wished to know what steps had been taken to implement the
Subcommittee’s recommendations regarding due process and disciplinary sanctions. He
would appreciate information on whether applications for refugee status and asylum were
assessed individually and whether applicants were screened for signs of torture. Lastly, did
the Government intend to increase its contribution to the Voluntary Fund?
71. Ms. Zhang said that, while various measures had been adopted to improve prison
conditions, several issues remained of concern, such as inadequate sleeping and sanitation
facilities, overcrowding, poor food quality, inmate violence, limited access to medical
services, weapons smuggling and corruption among prison staff. Accordingly, she wished
to know how the State party planned to address those issues, especially at Challapalca
prison. Referring to annex 9 of the report, she would appreciate further details on the

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aspects of the Convention covered in training courses. It was regrettable that training
programmes were not assessed.
72. Mr. Landa Burgos (Peru) said that the proceedings relating to the forced
sterilization of indigent persons, which had been initiated in 2002, had been closed and
reopened a number of times. Charges had very recently been laid again and the case now
involved not only the doctors who had performed the procedures but also the health-care
authorities.
The meeting rose at 12.50 p.m.

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