CAT concluding observations 2019, paragraph 31
Plain English recommendation
Government should: Take steps to prevent torture in any territory under the effective control of the State, not only in its sovereign territory. This includes all areas where the UK has direct or indirect control, in whole or in part, in accordance with international law. It also applies to situations where the UK has direct or indirect control over people in detention.
Original UN recommendation
Recalling the Committee’s previous recommendation (CAT/C/GBR/CO/5, para. 9), the State party should take effective measures to prevent acts of torture, not only in its sovereign territory, but also “in any territory under its jurisdiction”, as required by article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention. In that respect, the Committee draws the State party’s attention to paragraph 16 of its general comment No. 2 (2007), on the implementation of article 2, in which it recognizes that “any territory” includes “all areas where the State party exercises, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, de jure or de facto effective control, in accordance with international law. The Committee considers that the scope of ‘territory’ under article 2 must also include situations where a State party exercises, directly or indirectly, the facto or de jure control over persons in detention”.
Date of UN examination
08/05/2019
UN article number
2 (prevention of torture)
Original UN document
Download the CAT concluding observations 2019 on the UN website