Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture concludes mission to Sweden

8 March 2008

The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture issued the following statement today:
The United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) concluded on 14 March a five day visit to Sweden where it visited places where people are deprived of their liberty in order to prevent all forms of ill-treatment.
During the visit from 10 to 14 March, the SPT delegation held meetings at central level with many officials, including from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, the National Police Board, the Local Public Prosecution Office in Stockholm, the Prison and Probation Administration and the Children’s Ombudsman.
The delegation also held discussions with the Parliamentary Ombudsmen and the Chancellor of Justice on the issues of National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs). The SPT has a mandate to visit all States Parties and make recommendations to the authorities to establish effective safeguards against ill-treatment. It is complemented at the national level by NPMs, which States Parties have undertaken to create one year after the entry in force of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT).
During the visit, the SPT also reviewed the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in Sweden, and the safeguards for their protection. It conducted private interviews with detainees in five police establishments and three remand prisons.
At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its confidential preliminary observations to the authorities of Sweden.
The mission to Sweden was the third visit by the SPT, established in the programme of regular visits to places where people are deprived of their liberty in order to prevent all forms of ill-treatment
The following SPT Members were on the delegation that visited Sweden: Zdenek HAJEK, Marija DEFINIS-GOJANOVIC, Wilder TAYLER SOUTO. They were assisted by one external expert: Mr. Avetik ISHKHANYAN. The delegation was supported by two staff members of OHCHR acting as the SPT’s Secretariat.
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Places of deprivation of liberty visited by the delegation:
NATIONAL POLICE SERVICE
Police Detention Centres
· Kronoberg (Stockholm)

Police Stations
· Norrmalm (Stockholm)
· Södermalm (Stockholm)
· Solna (Stockholm region)
· Uppsala

PENITENTIARY SERVICE
Prison establishments
· Kronoberg remand prison (Kronoberg häktet, Stockholm)
· Uppsala remand prison (Uppsala häktet Blankahuset)
· Uppsala remand prison (Uppsala häktet Salagatan)

The SPT was established according to the OPCAT, which entered in force on 22 June 2006. The treaty is the first universal instrument which seeks to prevent torture and other forms of ill-treatment and improve conditions of detention through a system of regular visits to places of detention carried out by independent national and international bodies.
The SPT has two guiding principles - cooperation and confidentiality - which lie at the heart of the OPCAT. The preventive approach aims at protecting people deprived of their liberty rather than condemning States. The SPT therefore communicates its recommendations and observations confidentially to the State Party.