[prisoner-rights] Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee publishes report on Switzerland

13.12.2004 – The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of
Torture (CPT)  has published today the report on its fourth visit to
Switzerland in October 2003, together with the response of the Swiss
Federal Council. These documents have been made public at the request of
the Federal Council.

The main purpose of this fourth visit was to assess the implementation in
practice of the measures adopted by the Swiss authorities after the CPT's
visit in 2001, in particular as regards the procedures and means of
restraint applied in the context of forcible removals by air. The
delegation also reviewed the treatment of foreign nationals refused entry
into Switzerland (whether asylum seekers or not), whilst held in the
transit zone at Zürich International Airport, and of foreign nationals
detained at Kloten Airport Prison No. 2, pending their removal from the
country.

As regards the removal by air of foreign nationals, the CPT noted the
considerable work carried out by the Swiss authorities, at all levels, to
implement both the letter and the spirit of the recommendations made by
the Committee. That said, the CPT formulated some specific recommendations
and comments, in particular as regards the systematic offer of a medical
examination to every foreign national who had been the subject of a failed
removal attempt, as well as the integration into the general police
training programme of information concerning the risk of positional
asphyxia during the physical restraint of recalcitrant persons.

In its response, the Federal Council indicated numerous measures taken to
implement the CPT’s recommendations concerning forcible removal
operations, as well as the situation at Kloten Airport Prison No. 2 and
the transit zone at Zürich International Airport. The Federal Council also
referred to the new draft Law on the Use of Means of Restraint, which is
currently subject to an external consultation process.

The CPT's visit report and the Federal Council's response are available on
the Committee's website: http://www.cpt.coe.int