Sweden Tells Committee Against Torture Of Practices For Returning Aliens, Controls On Police Use Of Force

Carl-Henrik Ehrenkrona, Director-General for Legal Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of Sweden, and head of the delegation, responding to questions put by Committee members on Tuesday citing reports of "dumping" of rejected asylum-seekers of uncertain nationality in Ghana, said the main problem in cases of this character was that aliens seeking asylum had provided erroneous information to Swedish authorities or were not able to prove their nationalities; sometimes immigration authorities were unable to determine nationality and had to make judgements. Authorities in Ghana were generally willing to receive such returnees given that it seemed apparent that they were from Ghana or from other countries which allowed freedom of movement between them in West Africa. Mr. Ehrenkrona said the Swedish honorary consul in Ghana handled about 8 cases per year of this sort.

Mr. Ehrenkrona also described regulations on police use of force in restraining suspects, on dealing with violent public demonstrations, and in employing firearms. And he said all acts of torture as defined by the Convention against Torture were prohibited by Swedish law, even in the absence of a precise law or definition of torture in domestic legislation.

The Committee's formal conclusions and recommendations on the report of Sweden will be issued at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 7 May.

Sweden, as one of the 129 States parties to the Convention against Torture, is required to submit periodic reports on efforts to put the Convention's provisions into effect.

The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 2 May, to begin review of a fourth periodic report of Denmark.

Discussion

CARL-HENRIK EHRENKRONA, Director-General for Legal Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of Sweden, head of the Swedish delegation, giving replies to questions asked by the Committee upon presentation of Sweden's report on Tuesday morning, 30 April, said among other things that enforcement of expulsion orders to Ghana and other countries had been criticized in the Swedish media and had been the subject of public debate; as far as the Government knew, there were no cases where persons expelled to Ghana had been exposed to torture or ill-treatment or capital punishment. The main problem in cases of this character was that aliens seeking asylum had provided erroneous information to Swedish authorities or were not able to prove their nationalities; sometimes immigration authorities were able to determine nationality and sometimes they had to make judgements. Authorities in Ghana were generally willing to receive such returnees given that it seemed apparent that they were from Ghana or from other countries which allowed freedom of movement between them in West Africa; the Swedish honorary consul in Ghana handled about 8 cases per year of this sort; occasionally such returnees refused to cooperate with the honorary consul, who was a respected lawyer, or with Ghanian authorities, and had to be detained for short periods. It appeared that in almost all cases those sent to Ghana who were not Ghanian were subsequently returned to their true countries of origin; a number of these returnees were Nigerian.

The use of force in response to demonstrations during a European Union summit held in Gothenburg was now subject to an investigation, Mr. Ehrenkrona said; a survey and analysis was being undertaken by an independent committee. The conclusions of the committee were expected by 31 December of this year. Some members of the Committee had questioned why there had been few charges filed against police officers involved, but charges might still be filed, as the matter was still being investigated. The delegation did not consider that it could comment further as the investigative committee had not concluded its work.

Concerning police action in violent situations, a handbook used by the police explained that four rules pertained: police should be prepared, they should make an overall analysis of what were the best methods to use, the situation should be continuously evaluated, and the police should try to establish a normal relation with the person in question -- in other words explain why they were doing what they were doing, Mr. Ehrenkrona said.

In regard to the death of Jonas Hulten, a prisoner who expired while being captured by four prison guards while trying to escape from prison, one of the four guards was charged with holding his hands and arm or arms around Mr. Hulten's neck and thereby causing his death; it was clear that the guard could not have had reason to believe that this would prove fatal, and the guard had passed the necessary training programme for his occupation; the court found that he could not be convicted for the alleged misconduct as he had had no intention of causing the death and was unable to realize the possible effects of his actions.

In regard to the Osmo Vallo case, concerning a death in custody, Mr. Ehrenkrona said the investigation into the case that was carried out had not considered the question of whether the police should be investigated by a totally independent and impartial authority outside the police organization when a death in custody occurred. Another committee was now dealing with this question. Extensive training was given to police in the use of force -- how to use force safely, and to use the minimum amount necessary when it was required at all.

As for firearms, according to police regulations, a policeman had a right to use his firearm to prevent serious violence against himself of someone else, or to react to the threat of such serious violence, if he found himself in a situation in which he had the right of self-defense; a firearm could also be used if a prisoner escaped and an immediate recovery was deemed necessary, or if there was probable cause linking an escapee with a serious crime such as rape or murder. Further training was now being required in the use of firearms, and in fact the occasions in which police used firearms were greatly restricted. Any time a policeman used a firearm, an investigation was carried out into whether the use in that particular situation was justified.

All acts of torture as defined by article 1 of the Convention were offenses under Swedish criminal law, Mr. Ehrenkrona said; Sweden thus considered that there was no need or requirement to incorporate the definition of torture contained in the Convention into Swedish law. Still, a commission studying international human rights obligations of Sweden would publish a report in the fall, and it remained to be seen if the Commission would recommend that a definition of torture be established. Although there was no precise law criminalizing torture, statistics on the occurrence of torture in principle could be established; but since it was safe to say that torture as a method of interrogation did not exist in Sweden there was no need for specific statistics in that regard.

If there was sufficient evidence to support an allegation of an act amounting to torture committed by a public official, there was no doubt that prosecution would follow, Mr. Ehrenkrona said; there was no real prosecutorial discretion in such cases.

When there was substantial reason to believe that an alien would be subject to torture or ill-treatment or capital punishment, there would be impediments to returning the alien to his home country, Mr. Ehrenkrona said. Generally such persons received residence permits. There were no special provisions in Swedish law for re-opening cases related to returning rejected asylum-seekers due to the intervention of a United Nations treaty body, Mr. Ehrenkrona said, and there was no obligation for the Government bodies involved to take into account the Committee's views in individual cases; but in practice these bodies, which operated independently, did take into account the Committee's recommendations. The current proposal for an entire new Aliens Act included a provision allowing asylum authorities to base a decision in a particular case on a ruling by an international human rights organ.

Seven centres in Sweden treated victims of torture, five run by the Red Cross, Mr. Ehrenkrona said.

Conditions in the Aliens Act for detention were strict, Mr. Ehrenkrona said; only in cases where less severe measures were not sufficient was a person whose asylum application had been rejected subjected to detention; and a mechanism allowed for appeal of such a detention.

Language tests for determining a person's identity and country of origin were in fact used when necessary to determine which country to return a person to, Mr. Ehrenkrona said; it was true that mistakes could occur, especially in the case of African languages. But the language tests were never the sole basis of determining a nationality when a rejected asylum seeker could not prove or would not give his nationality; the language tests were only one of several factors used in making a determination.

As for alleged ill-treatment of military conscripts, he said, following reports of a few cases last year, the Swedish armed forces had requested reports from all Swedish regiments on such cases and attempts were made to prevent such ill-treatment. It was determined that the regiments had discussed such illegal punishments, and several had devised plans of action to prevent them. Further steps and greater attempts at education to prevent such abuses were being taken.

Carl-Henrik Ehrenkrona, Director-General for Legal Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of Sweden, and head of the delegation, responding to questions put by Committee members on Tuesday citing reports of "dumping" of rejected asylum-seekers of uncertain nationality in Ghana, said the main problem in cases of this character was that aliens seeking asylum had provided erroneous information to Swedish authorities or were not able to prove their nationalities; sometimes immigration authorities were unable to determine nationality and had to make judgements. Authorities in Ghana were generally willing to receive such returnees given that it seemed apparent that they were from Ghana or from other countries which allowed freedom of movement between them in West Africa. Mr. Ehrenkrona said the Swedish honorary consul in Ghana handled about 8 cases per year of this sort.

Mr. Ehrenkrona also described regulations on police use of force in restraining suspects, on dealing with violent public demonstrations, and in employing firearms. And he said all acts of torture as defined by the Convention against Torture were prohibited by Swedish law, even in the absence of a precise law or definition of torture in domestic legislation.

The Committee's formal conclusions and recommendations on the report of Sweden will be issued at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 7 May.

Sweden, as one of the 129 States parties to the Convention against Torture, is required to submit periodic reports on efforts to put the Convention's provisions into effect.

The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 2 May, to begin review of a fourth periodic report of Denmark.

Discussion

CARL-HENRIK EHRENKRONA, Director-General for Legal Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of Sweden, head of the Swedish delegation, giving replies to questions asked by the Committee upon presentation of Sweden's report on Tuesday morning, 30 April, said among other things that enforcement of expulsion orders to Ghana and other countries had been criticized in the Swedish media and had been the subject of public debate; as far as the Government knew, there were no cases where persons expelled to Ghana had been exposed to torture or ill-treatment or capital punishment. The main problem in cases of this character was that aliens seeking asylum had provided erroneous information to Swedish authorities or were not able to prove their nationalities; sometimes immigration authorities were able to determine nationality and sometimes they had to make judgements. Authorities in Ghana were generally willing to receive such returnees given that it seemed apparent that they were from Ghana or from other countries which allowed freedom of movement between them in West Africa; the Swedish honorary consul in Ghana handled about 8 cases per year of this sort; occasionally such returnees refused to cooperate with the honorary consul, who was a respected lawyer, or with Ghanian authorities, and had to be detained for short periods. It appeared that in almost all cases those sent to Ghana who were not Ghanian were subsequently returned to their true countries of origin; a number of these returnees were Nigerian.

The use of force in response to demonstrations during a European Union summit held in Gothenburg was now subject to an investigation, Mr. Ehrenkrona said; a survey and analysis was being undertaken by an independent committee. The conclusions of the committee were expected by 31 December of this year. Some members of the Committee had questioned why there had been few charges filed against police officers involved, but charges might still be filed, as the matter was still being investigated. The delegation did not consider that it could comment further as the investigative committee had not concluded its work.

Concerning police action in violent situations, a handbook used by the police explained that four rules pertained: police should be prepared, they should make an overall analysis of what were the best methods to use, the situation should be continuously evaluated, and the police should try to establish a normal relation with the person in question -- in other words explain why they were doing what they were doing, Mr. Ehrenkrona said.

In regard to the death of Jonas Hulten, a prisoner who expired while being captured by four prison guards while trying to escape from prison, one of the four guards was charged with holding his hands and arm or arms around Mr. Hulten's neck and thereby causing his death; it was clear that the guard could not have had reason to believe that this would prove fatal, and the guard had passed the necessary training programme for his occupation; the court found that he could not be convicted for the alleged misconduct as he had had no intention of causing the death and was unable to realize the possible effects of his actions.

In regard to the Osmo Vallo case, concerning a death in custody, Mr. Ehrenkrona said the investigation into the case that was carried out had not considered the question of whether the police should be investigated by a totally independent and impartial authority outside the police organization when a death in custody occurred. Another committee was now dealing with this question. Extensive training was given to police in the use of force -- how to use force safely, and to use the minimum amount necessary when it was required at all.

As for firearms, according to police regulations, a policeman had a right to use his firearm to prevent serious violence against himself of someone else, or to react to the threat of such serious violence, if he found himself in a situation in which he had the right of self-defense; a firearm could also be used if a prisoner escaped and an immediate recovery was deemed necessary, or if there was probable cause linking an escapee with a serious crime such as rape or murder. Further training was now being required in the use of firearms, and in fact the occasions in which police used firearms were greatly restricted. Any time a policeman used a firearm, an investigation was carried out into whether the use in that particular situation was justified.

All acts of torture as defined by article 1 of the Convention were offenses under Swedish criminal law, Mr. Ehrenkrona said; Sweden thus considered that there was no need or requirement to incorporate the definition of torture contained in the Convention into Swedish law. Still, a commission studying international human rights obligations of Sweden would publish a report in the fall, and it remained to be seen if the Commission would recommend that a definition of torture be established. Although there was no precise law criminalizing torture, statistics on the occurrence of torture in principle could be established; but since it was safe to say that torture as a method of interrogation did not exist in Sweden there was no need for specific statistics in that regard.

If there was sufficient evidence to support an allegation of an act amounting to torture committed by a public official, there was no doubt that prosecution would follow, Mr. Ehrenkrona said; there was no real prosecutorial discretion in such cases.

When there was substantial reason to believe that an alien would be subject to torture or ill-treatment or capital punishment, there would be impediments to returning the alien to his home country, Mr. Ehrenkrona said. Generally such persons received residence permits. There were no special provisions in Swedish law for re-opening cases related to returning rejected asylum-seekers due to the intervention of a United Nations treaty body, Mr. Ehrenkrona said, and there was no obligation for the Government bodies involved to take into account the Committee's views in individual cases; but in practice these bodies, which operated independently, did take into account the Committee's recommendations. The current proposal for an entire new Aliens Act included a provision allowing asylum authorities to base a decision in a particular case on a ruling by an international human rights organ.

Seven centres in Sweden treated victims of torture, five run by the Red Cross, Mr. Ehrenkrona said.

Conditions in the Aliens Act for detention were strict, Mr. Ehrenkrona said; only in cases where less severe measures were not sufficient was a person whose asylum application had been rejected subjected to detention; and a mechanism allowed for appeal of such a detention.

Language tests for determining a person's identity and country of origin were in fact used when necessary to determine which country to return a person to, Mr. Ehrenkrona said; it was true that mistakes could occur, especially in the case of African languages. But the language tests were never the sole basis of determining a nationality when a rejected asylum seeker could not prove or would not give his nationality; the language tests were only one of several factors used in making a determination.

As for alleged ill-treatment of military conscripts, he said, following reports of a few cases last year, the Swedish armed forces had requested reports from all Swedish regiments on such cases and attempts were made to prevent such ill-treatment. It was determined that the regiments had discussed such illegal punishments, and several had devised plans of action to prevent them. Further steps and greater attempts at education to prevent such abuses were being taken.