The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) announced its plans to visit Croatia, Madagascar, Nicaragua, and the State of Palestine in the first half of 2023 and confirmed its upcoming trips to Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ecuador, and Turkey in the second half of this year.
“Visiting States parties is fundamental to exercising our mandate to protect people deprived of liberty in a variety of settings, for example, not only prisons but police stations, psychiatric institutions, closed refugee camps and immigration detention centres,” said Suzanne Jabbour, Chairperson of the SPT.
During each visit, the SPT will also meet with and assist the country’s independent torture prevention watchdog, formally named the National Prevention Mechanism (NPM). “Another key part of our mandate is to strengthen the already designated NPM and support the establishment of the mechanism in countries where it does not yet exist,” Jabbour added.
In the first half of 2022, the Subcommittee traveled to Brazil, Tunisia, Argentina, and Lebanon. For the remainder of the year, it will carry out its scheduled of visits, checking out facilities for deprivation of liberty and anti-torture measures in Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ecuador, and Turkey.
In the first half of 2023, the Subcommittee also stated that it intended to travel to Croatia, Madagascar, Nicaragua, and the State of Palestine. These choices were made during its most recent private meeting, which took place in Geneva in June. The SPT will reveal additional visits for 2023 after its subsequent meeting in November.
The SPT met with representatives of signatory States, a delegation from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, as well as the UN Special Rapporteurs on Afghanistan and Migrants, during the June session.
The SPT also suggested various projects for the OPCAT Fund to support in pertinent parts of the world. The Fund sponsors various educational initiatives carried out by the NPMs and aids in financing the implementation of recommendations made by the Subcommittee following its country visits.
The Central African Republic, which ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture in 2016, was also added by the SPT to the list of States Parties that are in violation of Article 17 after it was decided that it was time for them to do so.
Burkina Faso and Mongolia were taken off of that list because they had established National Preventive Mechanisms, which is a step in the right direction in terms of preventing torture.
State parties that are notably behind schedule in establishing their national preventative mechanisms are listed under Article 17 of the treaty. Belize, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nauru, Nigeria, Philippines, and South Sudan are the countries that are currently on the list. States are required by the Optional Protocol to set up their NPM within a year of ratification.