UN torture prevention body to make first visit to Spain

Spanish

GENEVA (13 October 2017) – The United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) is due to make its first visit to Spain from 15 to 26 October to assess the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty, as well as the measures taken for their protection against torture and ill-treatment.

“During the visit we will get first-hand knowledge of the situation of all those deprived of their liberty in the country,” said Felipe Villavicencio who will head the SPT delegation. “We will also discuss with the authorities and the national detention monitoring body, officially known as the National Prevention Mechanism, how to reinforce detainees rights and improve their conditions of detention".

Among the places the SPT delegation is due to visit are: prisons, police stations, immigration detention centres, detention facilities for women and juveniles and psychiatric hospitals. The experts will also meet representatives of civil society to seek ways of strengthening the authorities’ efforts to prevent and eliminate torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees.

The SPT has a mandate to visit all States that are parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT). States parties are obliged to set up a national preventive mechanism within a year of ratifying OPCAT. Spain, which has ratified the OPCAT in 2006, has established its NPM in 2009, which is attributed to the National Ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo).

At the end of the visit, the SPT will present its confidential preliminary observations to the Spanish Government. For the SPT, the key to preventing torture and ill-treatment lies in building constructive relations with the State concerned, and its guiding principles are cooperation and confidentiality.

The SPT delegation will comprise: Felipe Villavicencio Terreros (Head of Delegation, Peru), Roberto Michel Fehér Pérez (Uruguay), Lorena González Pinto (Guatemala), Abdallah Ounnir (Morocco) and Nora Sveaass (Norway).

ENDS

For more information and media inquiries, please contact:
 In Spain: Vivian Lozano, +41 (0) 79 444 3993 / vlozano@ohchr.org
 In Geneva: Nicoleta Panta, +41(0) 22 9179310 / npanta@ohchr.org

Background:

The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment has, to date, been ratified by 84 countries. The SPT communicates its recommendations and observations to States by means of a confidential report and, if necessary, to national preventive mechanisms. The SPT work is guided by the principles of confidentiality and cooperation.

The SPT is composed of 25 independent and impartial experts from different regions of the world. For more information, please go here.