UN torture prevention body to visit Lebanon

GENEVA (3 May 2022) - The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) is set to visit Lebanon from 4 to 10 May 2022 to assess the country’s implementation of the recommendations it made during its previous visit.

“This upcoming mission follows the SPT’s first visit to Lebanon in 2010. We aim to assess how the authorities have implemented our recommendations in the past 12 years,” said Nika Kvaratskhelia, Head of the SPT Delegation.

“We will also further our advice on measures that could be strengthened or adopted to protect people deprived of their liberty from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” he added.

Lebanon ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) in 2008.

Under its mandate, the SPT can undertake visits to all States parties to the Optional Protocol and carry out unannounced visits to all places where people are deprived of their liberty. During each visit, the SPT delegate will meet with government officials and members of the national torture watchdog, officially known as the national preventive mechanism, civil society representatives and other UN agencies.

“We look forward to establishing close contact with the members of Lebanon’s recently created national preventive mechanism during this visit. We will formulate our new advice from the observations of the mission and reiterate our continued commitment to dialogue with Lebanon,” Kvaratskhelia said.

At the end of the visit, the SPT will present its confidential preliminary observations to the Government of Lebanon and the national preventive mechanism.

The SPT delegation comprises Nika Kvaratskhelia, Head of Delegation (Georgia), Vasiliki Artinopoulou (Greece), Marija Definis (Croatia), Satyabhooshun Gupt Domah (Mauritius), and Hamida Dridi (Tunisia).

ENDS

Background
To date, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture has been ratified by 91 states. States are under the obligation to allow the SPT unannounced and unhindered visits to all places where persons are deprived of their liberty. States Parties should also establish a national preventive mechanism, which should conduct regular visits to places throughout the country where people are deprived of liberty.

The mandate of the SPT is to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of persons deprived of their liberty, through visits and recommendations to States parties to the Optional Protocol. The SPT communicates its recommendations and observations to States by means of a confidential report and, where necessary, to national preventive mechanisms. However, States parties are encouraged to request that the SPT publish the reports.

The SPT is composed of 25 independent and impartial members who are independent human rights experts drawn from around the world, who serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States Parties.