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Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 14914 | 22 June 2019
Protecting human rights during transfers of prisoners
1. The Committee of
Ministers has carefully examined Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 2147 (2019) on “Protecting human rights during transfers of prisoners”,
which it forwarded to the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC)
for information and possible comments.
2. The situation of detainees is given special attention by
several Council of Europe bodies and institutions which ensure the
protection of their rights and respect for their dignity, and work
towards the definition of standards in this field. The European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment (CPT) has defined during its visits precise criteria
concerning the material conditions of detention and the CDPC has
drawn up and regularly updates the European Prison Rules (EPR),
the first version of which was adopted by the Committee of Ministers
in 1973.
3. Applications relating to conditions of detention constitute
an important part of cases brought before the European Court of
Human Rights and have given rise to abundant case law. In its judgments,
the Court has on many occasions held that certain conditions of
detention, including during the transfer of detainees, constitute
an inhuman or degrading treatment within the meaning of Article
3 of the Convention.
4. The Committee of Ministers concurs with the Parliamentary
Assembly that the specific issue of the transfer of detainees deserves
sustained attention because of the serious human rights violations
that may occur on these occasions. Consequently, in the framework
of the work currently carried out to revise and update the Committee
of Ministers’ Recommendation Rec(2006)2 on the European Prison Rules, it is proposed to add
a text to the commentary to Rule 32 (Transfer of prisoners), making
specific reference to the Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 2266 (2019) on “Protecting human rights during transfers of prisoners”
and to the CPT
factsheet “Transport of detainees”. References to these texts were also added to the commentary to
Rules 52 (Safety), 68 (Instruments of restraint) and 93 (Independent
monitoring). This new text provides greater practical details as
to the conditions of transportation of prisoners nationally and
internationally, drawing specifically attention to the minimum space,
sitting/bedding, aeration, sanitary facilities, respect for dignity,
safety, security and privacy of prisoners, as well as the need to
extend monitoring of prisons also to situations involving transportation
and transfer of prisoners. These proposals will help to clarify
the scope of Rule 32.
5. The revised and updated Recommendation Rec(2006)2 on the European Prison Rules and its commentary are
expected to be approved by the CDPC during its plenary meeting of
December 2019 and will then be transmitted to the Committee of Ministers
at the beginning of 2020.