Amnesty International Report 2004 - Estonia

Covering events from January - December 2003

Estonia came under the scrutiny of various international human rights bodies, which examined a number of human rights concerns. These included ill-treatment and excessive use of force by the police, poor conditions in places of detention, and violence against women and children.

Police ill-treatment

In March the UN Human Rights Committee identified several areas of concern during its examination of Estonia's second periodic report on its implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee was particularly concerned that acts of ill-treatment by police officers were prosecuted as minor offences. It recommended that police officers be prosecuted effectively and on the basis of charges that reflected the seriousness of the offences.

The Committee was also concerned that Estonia's legislation on the use of firearms allowed the use of lethal force by the police in circumstances in which lives were not at risk. It recommended that Estonia revise the legislation to ensure that the use of firearms is restricted by the principles of necessity and proportionality.

Conditions of detention

The third visit to Estonia of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture took place in September. During its visit the Committee conducted a number of follow-up inspections of places of detention visited in 1997 and 1999, in some of which there had been significant concerns about poor conditions of detention.

The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights visited Estonia in October. He called on the Estonian authorities to step up efforts to improve conditions in prisons and detention centres.

Violence against women

Violence against women in the home continued despite several positive measures to address the issue. In March the UN Human Rights Committee welcomed the inclusion of domestic violence and marital rape as specific criminal offences in the new Penal Code, which came into force in September 2002. The criminalization of these offences followed specific recommendations made in 2002 by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Ill-treatment of children

The ill-treatment and neglect of children were among the concerns raised by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which examined Estonia's initial report on its implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in January. The Committee was concerned about "the insufficient information on and awareness of ill-treatment and abuse of children within the family, in schools and in institutions, as well as of domestic violence and its impact on children". The Committee's recommendations included an explicit prohibition of corporal punishment, the implementation of measures to prevent physical and mental violence, and the establishment of effective mechanisms to receive, monitor and investigate complaints.