WRITTEN QUESTION E-0879/02 by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Council. Ill-treatment of minors in Albanian Prisons.
Date: 2002-04-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Albania, children's rights, cruel and degrading treatment, law relating to prisons, penal institution, the EU's international role, young person

26.9.2002

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 229 E/153

As transposition to comply with this ban will involve considerable investment by local authorities as well
as private investment, it would seem appropriate to review the European law on which it is based. The
decree explaining the ban does not include any assessment of possible health risks from the slurry of large
animal units.

Can the Commission confirm that the decree banning the discharge of domestic sewage from agricultural
holdings into slurry and liquid manure tanks for agricultural use from 31 December 2005, is correct in
referring to Article 7 of Council Directive 91/271/EEC? If so, does this action by the Federal Land of North-
Rhine Westphalia, as part of its required transposition of the Directive, reflect the intention of Article 7?
Can the Commission also confirm that the tolerance limit of 10 % domestic sewage in the slurry and
manure mixture, which has since been abolished, already adequately transposed the requirements of
Article 7 of Directive 91/271/EEC?

Does the Commission have information on the state of progress in transposing this directive in the other
Member States? Can it confirm that the directive, with the high costs involved in its transposition, will
continue to apply in future?

(1) OJ L 135, 30.5.1991, p. 40.

Answer by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(23 May 2002)

Article 7 of Directive 91/271/EEC (1) refers exclusively to the treatment of waste water from areas of less
than 2 000 p.e. and 10 000 p.e. respectively (p.e. = population equivalent) that is discharged into a
collecting system and subsequently into a water body (fresh waters, estuaries and/or coastal waters). It thus
cannot be inferred from Article 7 of Directive 91/271/EEC that the collection from farms of domestic
waste in liquid manure and slurry tanks for subsequent agricultural use is prohibited in principle.

Furthermore, Article 7 of the Directive does not lay down any requirements regarding the addition of
domestic waste to mixtures of slurry or liquid manure, but simply requires ‘appropriate treatment’ of waste
water that is subject to the abovementioned conditions. Consequently, national requirements/tolerance
limits governing the addition of domestic waste to liquid manure or slurry should not be regarded as
constituting transposition of Article 7 of the Directive.

Information on the transposition of Directive 91/271/EEC in the Member States was published in the 1998
Commission report: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/water/water-urbanwaste/index_en.html.

The next Commission report on the transposition of the Directive is due to be published in Spring 2002.

Lastly, it can be confirmed that Directive 91/271/EC will continue to apply in the future. While the Water
Policy Framework Directive (2) does indeed incorporate urban waste water treatment in the overall context
of river basin management, it in no way encroaches on the Urban Waste Water Directive (91/271/EEC)
itself, or its emission-oriented targets and time-limits.

(1) Council Directive 91/271/EEC concerning urban waste water treatment, as amended by Commission Directive 98/

15/EC of 27. February 1998 (OJ L 67, 3.7.1998).

(2) Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework

for Community action in the field of water policy (OJ L 327, 22.12.2000).

(2002/C 229 E/177)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0879/02

by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Council

(3 April 2002)

Subject: Ill-treatment of minors in Albanian Prisons

According to Amnesty International, the ill-treatment of children in detention in Albania is a widespread
and very common practice. The case of eleven-year-old Ergest Sele who was tortured while in detention to

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26.9.2002

make him confess to the theft of a handbag, is one of many cases involving children who have been
tortured and abused during their detention by the Albanian police. The non-governmental organisation
‘The Children’s Human Rights Centre of Albania’ states in its report that the police made extensive use of
torture to force minors to confess crimes. Furthermore, the children are afraid that if they bring charges
they will be subjected to further abuse.
It should be remembered that Albania has ratified all the
international conventions banning torture, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Will the Council say whether it intends to bring pressure to bear on the Albanian government to take
urgent measures to safeguard and protect the rights of children in detention and to prosecute those
responsible and also whether it intends to call on the Albanian Minister of Justice to promote legislation
establishing a system for dispensing justice to minors?

Reply

(27 June 2002)

The Council has not been informed about specific cases of ill-treatment of children in detention in Albania.
However, the fight against torture is a strongly held conviction of all EU member states and a priority for
the EU’s human rights policy. The EU is resolved to strengthen its international activities towards
prevention and eradication of all forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment in all parts of the world.

To this end, the Council agreed in April 2001 the Guidelines to EU policy towards third countries on
torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The guidelines also mention the
need for special protection for children. They provide the EU with an operational tool for use in its
contacts with third countries and in multilateral human rights fora, in order to support and strengthen the
on-going efforts for global prevention and eradication of torture.

The Council is aware of the weaknesses in the Albanian judicial and penitentiary system. The subject was
already touched upon i.e. during the work of the High Level EU-Albania Steering Group, as documented in
the Commission’s report on the work of this body (1). The Albanian government has committed itself, in its
Action Plan for the negotiation period of
the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, adopted in
December 2001, to continue reforming the prison system, by fulfilling the legal requirements on the rights
and treatments of inmates, as well as to continue improving the Police ethics, through approving a new
code of Police ethics, establishment of a monitoring system on the behaviour of the Police at every Police
Directorate and constant training in the field of human rights. The Council expects that those reforms will
also improve the situation of minors.

The regular dialogues the EU has with Albania within the Stabilisation and Association Process provide
opportunities to verify the resolute pursuit of reforms to which the Albanian authorities have committed
themselves, as the country moves closer towards the common goal of European integration and closer
relationship with the EU.

(1) COM(2001) 300 final.

(2002/C 229 E/178)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0882/02

by Patricia McKenna (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(3 April 2002)

Subject: Algeria’s refusal to issue visas to an EU technical committee

Algeria has signed Articles of Association with the European Union, Article 2 of which states that: ‘the
respect of democratic principles and respect for basic human rights constitute an essential part of this