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Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee 
visits Switzerland

30.10.2003 - A delegation of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) carried out a visit to Switzerland from 20 to 24 October 2003. It was the Committee's fourth visit to that country.

The main purpose of the visit was to assess the implementation in practice of the measures adopted by the Swiss authorities after the CPT's visit in 2001, in particular as regards the procedures and means of restraint applied in the context of forcible removals by air. The delegation also reviewed the treatment of foreign nationals refused entry into Switzerland (whether asylum seekers or not), whilst held in the transit zone at Zürich International Airport, and of foreign nationals detained at Kloten Airport Prison No. 2 pending their removal from the country.

The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT:

        -     Aleš BUTALA (Head of Delegation) (Slovenian) 
        -     Ioanna BABASSIKA (Greek)     
        -     Veronica PIMENOFF (Finnish).

They were supported by Fabrice KELLENS, Head of Unit, and Michael NEURAUTER of the CPT's Secretariat and assisted by Odile DIAMANT-BERGER, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Medicine and Former Head of the Forensic Medical Emergency Service at the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital in Paris.

In the course of the visit, the delegation held meetings with Ms Ruth METZLER-ARNOLD, Federal Counsellor, Head of the Department of Justice and Police, Ms Rita FUHRER, Cantonal Counsellor of Social Affairs and Security of the Canton of Zürich, and Mr Markus NOTTER, Cantonal Counsellor of Justice and the Interior of the Canton of Zürich. In addition, it met a number of senior officials at both federal and cantonal level.

The delegation visited the following places:

        -    Airport Prison N° 2, Kloten 
        -   Transit zone at Zürich International Airport (including the holding facilities for asylum seekers and the Centre for inadmissible 
             passengers - INADS) 
        -    Various facilities of the cantonal police at Zürich International Airport.