To confirm the implementation of the Conventions and the progress they have
made, Committees of independent experts have been instituted by the
Conventions themselves and therefore by the mandate of the "State Parties".
These Committees have the task of examining the periodical reports that the
States Party are required to present regarding the implementation of the
Convention. During its sessions in Geneva, the Committee meets with the
delegations of the State Parties to discuss their reports and the state of
implementation of and enforcement of the Convention, along with any questions
that may arise in relation to its interpretation. This is a normal procedure
of open dialogue, in which civil society may also play a role through the
presentation of comments or recommendations on the part of NGOs of various
orientations.
 The Convention against torture (usually abbreviated to CAT) dates from 1984.
The Holy See became a signatory in 2002, "on behalf of Vatican City State" and
presented its "initial" report in December 2012.
 The United Nations Committee on the CAT is composed of ten members and is
holding its 52nd Session in the Palais Wilson, Geneva from 28 April to 23 May,
during which it will examine the reports presented by eight countries:
Uruguay, Thailand, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Montenegro, Cyrus, Lithuania and the
Holy See. The meeting of the Committee with the Delegation of the Holy See
will take place on 5 and 6 May.
 Firstly, on the morning of 5 May, there will be a brief presentation of the
report by the Delegation, followed by comments from the Speakers chosen by the
Committee. In the afternoon of 6 May the Delegation will be able to answer the
questions posed on the previous day, and any other questions from members of
the Committee.
 On 23 May the Committee will conclude the session with a press conference,
and will then publish its "Concluding Observations". The State Parties and
therefore also the Holy See will be able to issue a further formal written
response.
 To clarify the meaning of this event and the nature of the dialogue that will
take place, it is first necessary to specify that, given the nature of this
Convention (which relates principally to matters regarding criminal
legislation, criminal procedure, the prison system, international relations in
the legal domain, etc.), the Holy See has signed the Convention on behalf of
Vatican City State (SVC), and so its legal responsibility for implementation
regards the territory and competences of Vatican City State.
 Naturally the Holy See also proposes important teaching with regard to
matters of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment, which is of great
importance for the diffusion of the principles inspiring the Convention and
for its implementation. Indeed, it is true that the Report offers an extensive
compilation of references and citations from the Church's teaching and a broad
review of the significant activity of Vatican media on this theme, although
this goes beyond the commitments assumed through adherence to the Convention,
inasmuch as this is limited to SCV territory.
 Readers of the Report presented by the Holy See in December 2012 (which is
public) will immediately notice that in various important points reference is
made to the current revision of the criminal legislation of Vatican City
State. In the meantime this review has been completed with the new laws
promulgated on 11 July 2013, which entered into force on 1 September of the
same year (Laws VIII and IX), and which effectively ensure that the Vatican's
criminal and criminal procedure legislation is in accordance with the
Convention.
 As was fully explained at the time (cf. Press Office Communiqué, 11.7.2013;
comment by Archbishop D. Mamberti in the Osservatore Romano, 12.7.2013), the
review was broad-ranging and profound, and adapted Vatican legislation to the
requirements of the various international Conventions to which the Holy See
had adhered throughout the years: not only against torture, but also against
criminality in the fields of economics and finance, against racial
discrimination, and on the rights of the child.
 The progress made in adapting to the requirements of the Convention in the
legislative domain was therefore very significant.
 At the same time, during the dialogue with the State Parties, not
infrequently the Committees pose questions deriving from issues not strictly
linked to the text of the Convention, but rather connected to it indirectly or
based on an extensive interpretation. For instance, this occurred last January
during the dialogue with the Committee for the Convention on the rights of the
child. A contributory factor is often the pressure exercised over the
Committees and public opinion by NGOs with a strong ideological character and
orientation, to bring the issue of the sexual abuse of minors into the
discussion on torture, a matter which relates instead to the Convention on the
rights of the child. The extent to which this is instrumental and forced is
clear to any unbiased observer.
 It should also be noted that the experts who form the Committees are mostly
committed with great determination and merit to the causes of the promotion of
rights, and therefore tend to broaden the spaces for and forms of defence.
However, this must necessarily be balanced with the correct rules for legal
interpretation, so that the debate, in a pluralistic, multicultural and
international world, may take place in a constructive fashion, favouring the
growth of consensus in the international community for the effective
protection of essential values for the dignity of the person.
 It is therefore to be hoped that a serene and objective dialogue may take
place, pertinent to the text of the Conventions and their objectives.
Otherwise, the Conventions may be distorted and the Committees risk losing
authority and being reduced to tools of ideological pressure rather than a
necessary stimulus towards the desired progress in promoting respect for human
rights.
 This is our sincere hope in view of the forthcoming dialogue on 5 and 6 May
in Geneva, and we once again emphasise the Holy See's strong commitment
against any form of torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment
or punishment.

___________________________________________________________

 AUDIENCES
 Vatican City, 2 May 2014 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in audience:
 - Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, apostolic nuncio in Lebanon.
 - A delegation from the Islamic Centre of the Argentine Republic.

___________________________________________________________

 OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
 Vatican City, 2 May 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed Professor
Guzman M. Carriquiry Lecour, as secretary vice-president of the Pontifical
Commission for Latin America. Professor Carriquiry was previously secretary of
the same Pontifical Commission.

___________________________________________________________

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