Projet de loi de mise en conformité du droit belge avec la Convention contre la torture et autres peines ou traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants, adoptée à New York le 10 décembre 1984.
General information ¶
- Submitted by
- Groen Open Vld Vooruit PS | SP Ecolo MR Verhofstadt Ⅰ
- Submission date
- Aug. 14, 2001
- Official page
- Visit
- Status
- Adopted
- Requirement
- Simple
- Subjects
- torture human rights sexual violence criminal law
Voting ¶
- Voted to adopt
- Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld N-VA MR FN VB
Contact form ¶
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Discussion ¶
Jan. 24, 2002 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)
Full source
Rapporteur Fauzaya Talhaoui ⚙
Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure that I come here to tell my colleagues that Belgium has also this time fulfilled its international obligations, as this is about the implementation of the New York Convention on combating torture and inhuman and degrading treatment.
Belgium ratified this convention on 25 June 1999, thus fulfilling its international obligations in this regard. It is, on the one hand, to adapt to the content of the new articles the implementation of three new articles in the Criminal Code which criminalize torture, inhuman treatment and degrading treatment, and, on the other hand, the articles which criminalize torture as an aggravating circumstance in the case of hostage and assault on honour or rape as an aggravating circumstance.
It is also important that the order of a multiple or of the authority to engage in torture or inhuman or degrading treatment cannot be invoked by the perpetrator for justification. The proposed article 417bis of the Criminal Code did not include a definition of the term and this for various reasons. First, the concept of torture is already in the Criminal Code, without being defined. Second, in the Criminal Code, a number of behaviors are criminalized without being described. I mean public morals or good morals. Thirdly, the definition in the Convention on Torture is too limited because it only covers torture by an official or any other person acting in an official capacity. However, the New York Convention provides that national legislation can go further. Fourth, Article 3 of the ECHR does not define the concepts of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, but the European Court of Justice of Strasbourg has managed to give its own interpretation of those concepts over the years. It is also applied by our Belgian courts and courts.
The concepts of inhuman and degrading treatment have not yet been included in the Criminal Code. During the discussion, therefore, the debate around whether or not to define the concepts of torture and inhumane and degrading treatment unfolds. A meritorious amendment by Commission President Erdman was discussed as the basis for the definition. The President’s amendment was aimed at the definition and interpretation given to these concepts by the European Court of Justice of Strasbourg and our own Arbitration Court. The question was also asked whether the definition given by Strasbourg to these concepts in the past is sufficiently evolutionary and whether the interpretation given to these concepts by other international bodies should not be taken into account.
From now on, the concepts of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment are thus defined in our Criminal Code. Torture: Any deliberate inhuman treatment that causes very severe pain or serious and terrible physical or mental suffering. Inhuman treatment: any treatment by which a person is intentionally inflicted serious mental or physical harm, for example, in order to obtain intelligence from him or her or to enforce confessions, or to punish him or her or to exert pressure on him or on third parties, or to intimidate him or third parties. Disgraceful treatment: any act that constitutes, in the eyes of the victim or of third parties, a serious infringement or infringement of human dignity.
The second point of discussion was whether rape as a crime constitutes at the same time torture, or an inhuman or degrading treatment. The result of the discussion was that in addition to rape as the main crime, other acts such as torture, inhuman and degrading treatment may have been listed as aggravating circumstances. Depending on the case, rape may also result in torture, inhuman or degrading treatment and the appropriate punishment will be imposed.
A third point of discussion was the problem of aggravating circumstances and whether torture applied to legally incompetent people should not be extended to actually incompetent people.
The entire draft was unanimously approved.