Ministers’ Deputies

Notes on the Agenda

CM/Notes/1234/3.1d                 25 August 2015[1]

 

1234 Meeting, 10 September 2015

3 Parliamentary Assembly

3.1 Written Questions by members of the Parliamentary Assembly to the Committee of Ministers

d. Written Question No. 691 by Ms Liliane Maury Pasquier: “Surgical castration of detained sex offenders in the Czech Republic”

Reference document -

 

Action: To hold a first exchange of views on Written Question No. 691 by Ms Liliane Maury Pasquier to the Committee of Ministers, reproduced below, with a view to instructing the Secretariat to prepare a draft reply.

Written Question No. 691 by Ms Liliane Maury Pasquier: “Surgical castration of detained sex offenders in the Czech Republic”

[Doc. 13859 – 24 August 2015]

In 2013 the Parliamentary Assembly adopted Resolution 1945 (2013) “Putting an end to coerced sterilisations and castrations”, in which it urged Council of Europe member States to revise their laws and policies as necessary to ensure that no one can be coerced into sterilisation or castration in any way or for any reason.

Although surgical castration for reasons that are not physical remains lawful in some countries, it is now either no longer practised or extremely rare. The Czech Republic uses surgical castration in “treating” sex-offenders.

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) considers the surgical castration of sex-offenders to be degrading treatment. In its report concerning the Czech Republic published in March 2015, and in several other reports on this country it has asked the Czech authorities to put a definite end to the use of surgical castration in treating sex-offenders.

However, the information available shows that a recent report commissioned by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic recommends retaining the possibility of surgical castration in treating sex-offenders. Such a recommendation is clearly contrary to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly and the CPT.

Ms Maury Pasquier,

To ask the Committee of Ministers,

What steps the Committee of Ministers might take to ensure that the Czech Republic implements the

recommendations of the CPT and the Parliamentary Assembly concerning the use of surgical castration?

Financing assured: YES

DRAFT DECISIONS

1234th meeting – 10 September 2015

 

Item 3.1.d

Written Questions by members of the Parliamentary Assembly to the Committee of Ministers

d.         Written Question No. 691 by Ms Liliane Maury Pasquier: “Surgical castration of detained sex offenders in the Czech Republic”

Decisions

The Deputies

1.         instructed the Secretariat to prepare a draft reply to Written Question No. 691 in light of the views expressed at the present meeting;

2.         agreed to resume consideration of this question at one of their forthcoming meetings.