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DE RUEHFR #1052 2151636
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 031636Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6915
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS PARIS 001052 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR DRL/MLGA KRISTEN MCGEENY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM UN FR
SUBJECT: FRANCE - COUNTER TORTURE INITIATIVES 
 
REF: STATE 70129 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: France actively supports efforts to 
prevent torture and protect victims through membership in 
international conventions and participation in regional 
initiatives, according to MFA assistant director for human 
rights and humanitarian affairs Cecile Vigneau and deputy 
assistant director Emmanuel Pineda who spoke to poloffs on 
July 30 in response to reftel demarche.  Pineda underscored 
the importance of American leadership in the effort to combat 
torture and urged the United States to sign and ratify the 
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons 
from Enforced Disappearance.  France also supports the work 
of non-governmental organizations in activities aimed at 
preventing torture and protecting victims.  END SUMMARY 
 
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS 
 
¶2.  (SBU) France signed the United Nations Convention against 
Torture (CAT) in 1985 and ratified the document in 1986.  The 
GOF has also been a signatory member of the Optional Protocol 
to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other 
Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) 
since 2005.  By ratifying the OPCAT in 2008, France accepted 
an additional layer of scrutiny by creating a complementary 
system of national and international visiting mechanisms to 
inspect prisons and 
detention facilities. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Pineda also noted that France signed the not yet 
into force International Convention for the Protection of All 
Persons from Enforced Disappearance in 2007 and ratified the 
convention in 2008.  He encouraged the USG to support the 
convention, which remains seven signatures short of 
implementation.  He stated that the GOF actively supports the 
work of UN Special Mechanisms such as the UN Special 
Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak. 
 
EUROPEAN UNION INITIATIVES 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Vigneau asserted that France is firmly committed to 
the prohibition of torture as expressed through the political 
commitment adopted by all European Union member states in 
2001 through the EU Guidelines on Torture.  She stressed that 
as a member of the Council of Europe, France has ratified the 
European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman 
or Degrading Treatment of Punishment, 
which provides for visits to places of detention (including 
prisons, police stations, army barracks, psychiatric 
hospitals) by the European Committee for the Prevention of 
Torture (CPT).  In addition, Vigneau described separate 
initiatives that the GOF funds annually through the UN 
Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture and the European 
Instrument for European Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR). 
 
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ACTION 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Pineda mentioned that the GOF supports the work of 
the French chapters of international NGOs in Amnesty 
International and Human Rights Watch.  However, he said that 
the most active and highly regarded non-governmental 
organization in France committed to protecting victims and 
fighting torture in country and abroad is Actions by 
Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT).  Founded in 
1974, ACAT works to resettle and seek asylum in France for 
over 200 victims of torture. 
 
 
PEKALA