Torture prevention body sets dates for Brazil and Azerbaijan visits, adopts policy on reprisals

GENEVA (26 February 2015) – The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) has welcomed Brazil’s progress in setting up a federal independent body to monitor conditions of detention in the country. In light of this, the SPT has decided to delay a planned visit to Brazil in March to allow time for the body, known as a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), to be up and running. The visit will now take place from 19 to 30 October 2015.

“This will allow our visit to take full advantage of the establishment of the long-awaited NPM in Brazil,” said SPT Chair Malcolm Evans.

The SPT has also announced it will return to Azerbaijan from 16 to 24 April for the resumption of a visit that was suspended last September. In total, members will visit nine countries in 2015, including Azerbaijan, Brazil, Guatemala, Italy, Nauru, the Netherlands, Philippines and Turkey.

During their latest session, held in Geneva from 16 to 20 February, SPT members also adopted a policy on reprisals. “We are concerned that, when we undertake visits, people we come into contact with do not suffer reprisals as a result. If not, the SPT’s preventative mandate, which includes the basic imperative to ‘do no harm’, is put at risk. That is why we have adopted a clear public policy on this,” said Mr. Evans.

The policy is available on the OHCHR website at http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/OPCAT/PolicyOnReprisals.doc

During their February session, members re-elected Malcolm Evans (UK) as Chairperson, and elected four Vice Chairs, Enrique Andrés Font (Argentina), Suzanne Jabbour (Lebanon), Paul Lam Shang Leen (Mauritius) and Aisha Shujune Muhammad (Maldives). Six new members of the SPT were sworn in and Victor Madrigal-Borloz (Costa Rica) was designated as its Focal Point for reprisals. The SPT has 25 members and is the largest UN Treaty Body.

For additional information, please contact Joao Nataf, SPT Secretary, Human Rights Treaty Division (+41 (0) 22 917 9102/ jnataf@ohchr.org)

BACKGROUND

The SPT’s role is to prevent and eliminate torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment of detainees. It has a mandate to visit all States that are parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) and to make recommendations to the authorities to provide for effective safeguards against torture and ill-treatment of persons deprived of their liberty.

At the end of a country mission, the SPT communicates its recommendations and observations to the State by means of a confidential report, and if necessary to NPMs. States parties are encouraged to request that the SPT makes these reports public. A State party must create a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), a body to monitor places of detention by organising regular visits, a year after ratifying the Optional Protocol.

The Optional Protocol: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/OPCAT.aspx

More on the Subcommittee: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/OPCAT/Pages/OPCATIndex.aspx