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UN torture prevention body to revisit Mongolia
02 May 2024
GENEVA (2 May 2024) - The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) is set to visit Mongolia for the second time from 5 to 16 May 2024 to assess the country’s implementation of its recommendations made after the previous visit in 2017.
“Since our last visit seven years ago, the Mongolian Government has eventually designated its national preventive mechanism, which is a significant step in torture prevention,” said Elīna Šteinerte, head of the SPT delegation, “Our upcoming visit aims to evaluate how the authorities have responded to our other guidance over the years,” she added.
“We especially look forward to learning first-hand about how Mongolia’s recently established national preventive mechanism carries out its mandate to prevent torture and ill-treatment in the country. Building on our previous recommendations, we will formulate new advice from this mission’s observations and reiterate our continued commitment to dialogue with Mongolia,” she stated.
Mongolia ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) in 2015.
Under its mandate, the SPT can visit all States parties to the Optional Protocol and conduct unannounced examinations of all places where people are or may be deprived of their liberty. During each visit, the SPT delegates 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.
At the end of the visit, the SPT will present its confidential preliminary observations to the Government of Mongolia and the national preventive mechanism, in accordance with Article 16 of OPCAT. The delegation will then produce a report for the State party, which will remain confidential unless and until the Mongolian authorities request it to be made public, as was the case with the first report made by the SPT following its 2017 visit to Mongolia.
The SPT delegation comprises Elīna Šteinerte, Head of Delegation (Latvia), Nika Kvaratskhelia (Georgia), Anica Tomsic (Croatia), and Martin Zinkler (Germany).
The delegation will be accompanied by two human rights officers from the SPT Secretariat.
For media inquiries or for more information, please contact:
Mongolia: Armen Avetisyan, +41 (0) 79 4444917/ armen.avetisyan@un.org
Geneva: Vivian Kwok at +41 (0) 22 917 9362 / vivian.kwok@un.org
UN Human Rights Office Media Section at +41 (0) 22 928 9855 / ohchr-media@un.org
Background
To date, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture has been ratified by 94 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.
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