Mr President,
Allow me to extend the gratitude of Sweden to His Excellency Vice-Prime Minister Owono and his delegation for taking an active part in our dialogue today. We would like to raise two issues:
First; Sweden welcomes the cooperation of the government of Equatorial Guinea during the visits of the Special Rapporteur on torture last year and of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2007. As mentioned by others, it was reported that torture was systematically used by the police and that evidence obtained under torture was regularly used as a basis for conviction. They -and also the HR Committee - have recommended to put an end to the culture of impunity for perpetrators of torture and ill-treatment.
For that reason, Sweden would like to recommend (1) to undertake a comprehensive reform of the institutions and judicial systems, including a revision of the national criminal law and a reform of the judiciary, with a view to comply with the international instruments to which Equatorial Guinea is a state party, including the ICCPR.
Secondly; In resolutions 62/149 and 63/168, the General Assembly called on states to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolish the death penalty. Also the African Commission voted for a similar resolution last year.As a first step, Sweden would recommend the government (2) to formally establish a moratorium on the death penalty, with a view to abolish it completely. We also recommend (3) to sign and ratify the second Optional Protocol of ICCPR on prohibiting the death penalty.
Lastly, we are also concerned about the situation in Equatorial Guinea when it comes to freedom of expression and association, the lack of monitoring of elections and access to services, such as education and healthcare.
Thank you, Mr President