On Thursday 4 April, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published a report on a return flight from Germany to Pakistan.
The CPT’s visit took place from 4 to 7 September 2023, the flight took place on the 5th and was organised by Germany with the participation of three other EU Member States (Austria, Cyprus and Italy) with the support of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex).
The CPT has not received any allegations of ill-treatment and states that “the removal operation was well prepared and carried out professionally. Returnees were treated respectfully”.
However, the CPT is calling for procedural safeguards to be strengthened so that foreign nationals are not returned to a country where they are at risk of ill-treatment.
The Council of Europe experts are calling for the people concerned to be given at least a week’s notice of their removal, to have access to a telephone to inform a third party of their situation, and to be able to exercise their right to contact a lawyer.
In addition, simpler and more effective access to the Frontex complaints mechanism is recommended, in particular by making brochures and complaints forms available to foreign nationals.
More generally, the CPT calls on the German police authorities and all EU Member States involved in “joint return operations” to adopt a “harmonised approach” to the use of means of restraint.
Germany is being urged to replace mechanical handcuffs with restraint systems featuring textile or Velcro quick-release fasteners.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/bm3
Link to the German government’s response: https://aeur.eu/f/bm4 (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)