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UN torture prevention body to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina

08 December 2022

GENEVA (8 December 2022) – The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) will visit Bosnia and Herzegovina from 11 to 17 December to assess the treatment of people deprived of their liberty and the safeguards available to protect them from torture and ill-treatment.

This will be the first SPT’s visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina after the State party ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) in 2008. The SPT delegation will visit prisons, detention facilities and other places of deprivation of liberty. They will meet with government officials to advise and assist relevant authorities in setting up an independent torture watchdog in the country. The delegation will also hold meetings with the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman, UN agencies and representatives of civil society.

“During our visit, we will explore the steps Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to take to effectively prevent torture and ill-treatment of people deprived of their liberty,” said Zdenka Perović, who will head the SPT delegation. “We will also advise the authorities on the full implementation of their treaty obligations, including the establishment of an independent state body to perform preventive visits to all conventional and other places of detention, where people deprived of their liberty are placed based on decisions by the authorities.”

The SPT is mandated to visit all States parties to the OPCAT. At the end of the visit, the SPT will present its confidential preliminary observations to the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The SPT delegation will be composed of Zdenka Perović, Head of Delegation (Montenegro), Massimiliano Bagaglini (Italy), Marie Brasholt (Denmark), and Abdallah Ounnir (Morocco).

ENDS

For media inquiries or for more information, please contact:

In Bosnia and Herzegovina: Armen Avetisyan at armen.avetisyan@un.org
In Geneva: Vivian Kwok at vivian.kwok@un.org

Background:

The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture monitors States parties’ adherence to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, which to date has been ratified by 91 countries. The Subcommittee is made up of 25 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. The Subcommittee has a mandate to visit States that have ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, during the course of which it may visit any place where persons may be deprived of their liberty and assist those States in preventing torture and ill-treatment. The Subcommittee communicates its observations and recommendations to States through confidential reports, which it encourages countries to make public.

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