A/HRC/42/20 II. Violence, death and serious injury in situations of deprivation of liberty A. Violence, death and serious injury resulting from actions of State agents 5. One of the main causes of serious injury as well as death in situations of deprivation of liberty are acts of violence and the use of force by corrections officers, police officers and other officials that come into contact with persons deprived of their liberty. 1. Torture, ill-treatment and sexual violence 6. Early stages of detention, such as the moment of arrest, its immediate aftermath, police custody and pretrial detention, carry a particularly high risk of physical violence. 3 In such circumstances, persons deprived of their liberty are at an increased risk of torture or ill-treatment for the purpose of compelling confessions during interrogations. 4 The problem arises in a variety of different contexts and affects diverse categories of persons deprived of their liberty. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed its concern about the routine use in some States of torture and ill-treatment against children during investigations.5 Another group facing an increased risk of torture and ill-treatment are persons who use drugs, as law enforcement officials in some cases deliberately take advantage of the pain and suffering associated with the withdrawal syndrome displayed by drug users deprived of their liberty to elicit forced confessions. 6 Human rights mechanisms concluded that the use of withdrawal symptoms to obtain information or confessions, to punish or to intimidate or coerce may amount to torture. 7 In situations affected by armed conflict, the torture of conflict-related detainees immediately following capture and during interrogations often results in their death, either immediately or as a result of the injuries sustained due to torture.8 7. Resorting to physical and psychological violence to punish persons deprived of their liberty is another objective of police, corrections officers and other personnel working in places of detention.9 The intentional withholding of drug treatment from a person who uses drugs may also be used as a form of punishment. 10 Children deprived of their liberty are especially vulnerable to the use of beatings and other forms of physical violence as a form of punishment.11 The Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed its concern about such violence in various institutions in which juveniles are deprived of their liberty, such as juvenile detention centres, socio-pedagogical boarding schools and correctional schools. 12 The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 See CAT/OP/MNG/1. See CAT/C/AZE/CO/4; CAT/OP/BOL/3. See CRC/C/UZB/CO/3-4; CRC/C/ISR/CO/2-4; CRC/C/GIN/CO/2. See A/HRC/30/65; CAT/C/RUS/CO/6. See A/HRC/10/44 and A/HRC/10/44/Corr.1; CCPR/C/RUS/CO/7. See the conference room paper (A/HRC/31/CRP.1) “Out of sight, out of mind: deaths in detention in the Syrian Arab Republic”. Available from www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/IICISyria/ Pages/Documentation.aspx. United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees (Kabul, 2015 and 2017). In the present report, the term “places of detention” is employed in a generic fashion and covers all places in which persons are deprived of their liberty, including but not limited to prisons, pretrial detention facilities, police stations, mental health facilities and institutions for juvenile offenders. See A/HRC/16/52/Add.5; submission of the Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Districto Federal (Mexico). Submission of Harm Reduction International. See CAT/OP/BEN/3; CRC/C/ERI/CO/4; Council of Europe, “Report on violence in institutions for juvenile offenders” (Strasbourg, 2014). See CRC/C/BGR/CO/3-5. 3