Eight countries in violation of civil rights, protection against torture, UN bodies find

Two United Nations human rights bodies have found violations of international treaties dealing with civil and political rights and the prohibition against torture in eight countries.

The Geneva-based Human Rights Committee concluded that in seven of the 14 complaints from individuals, the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights had been violated.

The cases heard by the Committee, which met from 14 October to 1 November, dealt with such claims as a Ukrainian prisoner's right to have access to his medical records, as well as Australia's failure to properly attend to a petitioner's deteriorating mental health.

Meanwhile, the Committee against Torture, which sat from 11 to 22 November, found that Yugoslavia violated the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

That case dealt with the burning and destruction of a Roma settlement in 1995 as a reprisal for the rape of a non-Roma girl allegedly committed by a member of the community. The Committee considered that the State party should compensate the victims of such acts, even though the treaty does not expressly provide for the right to compensation.