UNITED

NATIONS

  

CAT

 

 

Convention against Torture

and Other Cruel, Inhuman

or Degrading Treatment

or Punishment

 

 

 

Distr.

GENERAL

 

CAT/SP/24

1 October 2001

 

ENGLISH

Original:  ENGLISH/FRENCH/SPANISH

 

MEETING OF THE STATES PARTIES

Eighth Meeting

Geneva

28 November 2001

ELECTION OF FIVE MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE

       TO REPLACE THOSE WHOSE TERMS ARE DUE TO EXPIRE ON

       31 DECEMBER 2001, IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE 17 OF THE

       CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR

DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT

Note by the Secretary-General

1.         In accordance with article 17, paragraphs 3 and 4, of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment, the Eighth Meeting of the States parties to the Convention will be convened by the Secretary‑General at the United Nations Office at Geneva, on Wednesday, 28 November 2001, to elect five members of the Committee against Torture to replace those whose terms of office are due to expire on 31 December 2001 (see annex I).  The names of the other five members who will continue to serve on the Committee until 31 December 2003 appear in annex II.

2.         In accordance with article 17, paragraph 4, of the Convention, the Secretary‑General, in a note verbale dated 8 June 2001, invited the States parties to the Convention to submit their nominations for the election by 15 September 2001.

3.         In compliance with the provisions of article 17, paragraph 4, of the Convention, the Secretary‑General has the honour to list below, in alphabetical order, the names of persons nominated by 15 September 2001 and the States parties which have nominated them.

GE.01-44944  (E)    151001    171001

Names of candidate

Nominated by

   

Ms. Farida AÏOUAZE

Algeria

Mr. Sayed Kassem EL MASRY

Egypt

Mr. Fernando MARIÑO MENENDEZ

Spain

Mr. Ole Vedel RASMUSSEN

Denmark

Mr. Alexander Maximovich YAKOVLEV

Russian Federation

Mr. YU Mengjia

China

4.         Biographical data on the persons nominated, as provided by the States parties concerned, are contained in Annex III.

Annex I

List of THE five members of the committee whose

terms of office expire on 31 december 2001

Name

 

Country of nationality

 

Mr. Sayed Kassem EL MASRY

 

Egypt

Mr. António SILVA HENRIQUES GASPAR

 

Portugal

Mr. Ole Vedel RASMUSSENa

 

Denmark

 

Mr. Alexander M. YAKOVLEV

Russian Federation

 

Mr. YU Mengjia

China

 

Annex II

list of the five members of the committee whose

terms of office expire on 31 december 2003

Name

 

Country of nationality

 

Mr. Peter Thomas BURNS

 

Canada

Mr. Guibril CAMARA

 

Senegal

Ms. Felice GAER

 

United States of America

 

Mr. Alejandro GONZALEZ POBLETE

Chile

 

Mr. Andreas MAVROMMATIS

Cyprus

 

Annex III

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA ON CANDIDATES FOR ELECTION

TO THE COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE

Ms. Farida AÏOUAZE

Date of birth:                            9 August 1952

Languages:                               Arabic, French, English, Spanish

Present position or office:          Ambassador of Algeria to Sweden, Norway, Finland (accredited) and Iceland (accredited)

Main professional activities:

1985-1989:                  Representative of Algeria on the Third Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

1992-1994:                  Deputy Director for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs.

1993:                           Member of the Algerian delegation to the World Conference on Human Rights.

1989-1993 and 1998: Participated in the Commission on Human Rights

Studies:                        Higher law studies:  Master of Laws (University of Algiers);

University of Paris II (Panthéon/Sorbonne);

Passed United Nations language proficiency examinations (English and Spanish).

Other activities in the field relevant to the mandate of the treaty body for which the candidate has been nominated:  1985-1994:  Participation in all multilateral deliberations on problems relating to torture.  1992-1994:  Dealing with these problems within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (inter alia, dialogue with competent bodies and rapporteurs of the Commission on Human Rights).

List of most recent publications in this field:

Internal publications within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other departments concerned with this question.


Sayed Kassem EL MASRY

Date of Birth:                            7 January 1936

Qualifications:                           Bachelor of Political Science, Cairo University, 1958

Positions occupied:      

1960:                           Joined the Egyptian Diplomatic Service as attaché

1961-64:                      Vice-Consul General of the United Arab Republic in Nigeria (Kaduna).

1966-1970:                  Member of the Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations, New York, and member of its delegation to the ordinary sessions of the United Nations General Assembly from 1966 to 1970, the special session on Namibia and the emergency session on the Middle East in 1967.

1974-1977:                  Counsellor, Egyptian Embassy in Rome, Italy.

1980-1984:                  Minister Plenipotentiary of the Egyptian embassy in Warsaw, Poland.

1984-1987:                  Deputy Director of the Department of International Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo.

1988-1991:                  Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and permanent representative of Egypt to the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

1991-1992:                  Permanent Representative of Egypt to the League of Arab States, Cairo.

1992-1995:                  Ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia.

1995-Jan. 2000:           Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs for International Cooperation and Multilateral Affairs.

Jan. 2000-June 2000:   Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

July 2000:                     Assistant Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference for information, cultural and social affairs.

Regional and international meetings and conferences

Participated in various important meetings and conferences, among them:

Membership in International Committees

            Member of the Committee against Torture.

            Egypt's Chief Representative to the Group of D-8.


Fernando Mariño MENÉNDEZ

Place and date of birth:  Noia, Spain, 1 October 1945

Present position or office:

Professor of International Public Law, Carlos III University, Madrid.  Jean Monnet Professor of European Law Studies.  Director of the Francisco de Vitoria University Institute for International and European Studies, Carlos III University, Madrid.

Main professional activities:

Teaching and research in international law and European law.  Director of the Master of Laws course on international solidarity in action in Europe (Fifth edition, 2000).  Supervision of doctoral theses (10 read).  Active in internal courts in defence of human rights.  Member of the PUCE human rights programme committee in Quito (Ecuador).  Member of the Advisory Committee on Development within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Spain, 2000-2001).

Academic honours

Bachelor of Laws (Barcelona, 1968), Doctor of Laws (Bologna, 1970).  Diploma in Public Law from the Academy of International Law in The Hague (1976).  Diploma from the Research Centre, The Hague (l980).  Professor of International Public Law (1982).

Other relevant activities

In 1993, attended the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights.  Attended sessions of the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva in 1997, 1998 and 1999.  Oral statements as member of an NGO.  Vice-President of the Federation of Associations for the Defence and Protection of Human Rights, an NGO (1996-2000).  President of the Spanish Pro-Human Rights Association (since 2000).  Legal advice to immigrants.

Most recent publications in this field

La Protección International de los Derechos de la Mujer

(The international protection of the rights of women), Coordinator, Madrid, 1997.

Derecho internacional público

(International public law), 3rd edition, Madrid, 1999.

"Situaciones jurídicas subjetivas constitucionales en el derecho internacional"

(Constitutional subjective legal situations in international law), CEDI, vol. III, pp.315-362, 1999.

"Protección de las minorías

(Protection of Minorities), in Derechos de los Inmigrantes, Rodríguez Tornos, (eds)

pp. 53-83, Madrid 2000.


Ole Vedel RASMUSSEN

Education

Medical degree 1973, University of Copenhagen.

Specialist in surgery 1983.

DMSc., 1990 Medical Faculty Copenhagen University.  Thesis:  Medical aspects of torture. Danish Medical Bulletin 1990; 37 (suppl. 1); 1-88.

Specialist in Urology 1993.

Employment

1973-1980 and 1981-1994 in the Danish hospital system.  Last employment Hvidovre University Hospital, Urological Department, as a permanent senior consultant.

1994-1997:  Interamerican Institute of Human Rights (IIDH), San José, Costa Rica.

Medical Consultant for the programme:  "Prevention of Torture".

The post was financed by DANIDA, Danish Foreign Ministry and focused on:

            1.         Technical assistant to IIDH in education on torture prevention

            2.         Technical assistant to IIDH in rehabilitation of victims and torture and

                        organized violence.

            3.         Maintaining close contact and giving advice to the Danish Human Rights                                     Programme in Central America on matters related to torture prevention and              rehabilitation of victims of torture and organized violence.

IIDH approved the programme to be permanent and appointed a successor.

1997-1998:  Medical Consultant at the International Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims, Copenhagen (RCT).

1999-present employment:  Senior Medical Consultant at the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, Copenhagen (IRCT).

Activities in relation to medical work against torture:

Co-founder of the first medical group against torture in Amnesty International (AI) in 1974.  Member of the group from 1974-1997.

Medical Adviser, AI, London, 1980-1981.

Participated for AI in nine fact-finding missions related to torture in six countries.

Published 42 scientific articles about torture, including the thesis already mentioned.

Given 41 lectures about torture in scientific meetings in 20 different countries.

Given 86 general lectures on medical work against torture in 38 countries.

Lectured about medical aspects of torture at 43 international seminars in 12 countries.

Organizer for 22 teaching seminars in relation to the prevention of torture in 8 countries.

Expert delegate to Turkey for the European Human Rights Commission, 1990.

Expert delegate for the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) to Portugal in 1992 and to Spain in 1994.

The Danish member of CPT since 1997.  Participated in CPT visits to:  the Netherlands Antilles, Croatia, Spain, Germany, Latvia, Russia (2 times), Cyprus and Ukraine.

Member of the Committee against Torture (CAT) since May 2000.  I am the only medical member and the only one who is member of both CPT and CAT.

Honorary office

Member of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) since 1985.

Medical editor of the IRCT journal Torture since 1988.


Alexander YAKOVLEV

Position:                       Senior Research Fellow, Institute of State and Law of the

Russian Academy of Sciences

Education:                   

1952                            Graduate in Law, Moscow Juridical Institute

1957                            Master ("Kandidat") of Law, Moscow University

1964                            Doctor of Legal Science (Sociology of Crime), Institute of Law of

                                    the Procuracy of the USSR

1991                            Honorary Doctor of Law, Alberta University, Canada

Professional History:

1957-1975                   Senior Research Fellow at the Institutes of Law, successively, of the

USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, Procuracy and the Ministry of Justice

1975-1994                   Head of the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology of the Institute of State and Law of the USSR (since 1991 - Russian) Academy of Sciences.  Professor of Law

1989-1991                   Elected Deputy of the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR.

                                    Member of the Standing Committee on Legislation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

1994-1996                   Representative of the President of the Russian Federation to the Federal Assembly

1996                            Senior Researcher at the Institute of State and Law, Russian Academy

                                    of Sciences

1997                            Rector of the Moscow New Juridical Institute (School of Law)

Membership in International Bodies

                                    International Society of Social Defense, Paris, France (Member of the Board of Directors)

                                    United Nations Committee Against Torture (since 1994)

Visiting Professorships:

1990                            University of Manitoba, Alberta, Canada

1991                            Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America

1992                            Alberta University and York and Toronto Universities, Canada

1993                            Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

1997                            Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

Publications in Russian:

                                    Nine books and over 100 articles in periodicals on various aspects of criminal law, criminology and the sociology of crime

Publications in English:

"The Bear That Wouldn't Dance:  Failed Attempts to Reform the Constitution of the Former Soviet Union" (with Dale Gibson), Legal Research Institute, University of Manitoba, 1992

"Striving For Law in a Lawless Land:  Memoirs of a Russian Reformer", M. E. Sharpe, 1995

Twelve articles in 1979-1998 in scholarly journals in English, French and German


YU Mengjia

Date of birth:                          9 August 1929

Working languages:               Chinese, English, French and Russian

Current position/function:     

Member of the Committee against Torture

Executive Council Member of the United Nations Association, China

Main professional activities:

1975-1982:      First Secretary, Counsellor in the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations Office in Geneva

1982-1986:      Deputy Director of the Department of International Organizations and Conferences of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China.

1986-1991:      Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, responsible for General Assembly, Security Council, Third, Fifth and Sixth Committees affairs

1993-1995:      Member of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions.

1998-2001:      Member of the Committee against Torture

Educational background:

Graduated in 1951 from Beijing University, majoring in international law and politics.

Other main activities in the field relevant to the mandate of the treaty body concerned:

Participated in a wide range of international conferences, inter alia, 16 sessions of the United Nations General Assembly; five sessions of the Economic and Social Council and four sessions of the Commission on Human Rights.

List of most recent publications in the field:

Co-author of China in the United Nations - to Build a Better World Together (published in Chinese in 1999

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a  Appointed in 2000, in accordance with article 17, paragraph 6 of the Convention, following the resignation of Mr. Bent Sorensen.