scholarly journals Call for Australia's ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture

2015 ◽  
Vol 202 (11) ◽  
pp. 561-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
John‐Paul Sanggaran ◽  
Deborah Zion
Keyword(s):  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Convention Against Torture

THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND THE DETENTION OF REFUGEES

2008 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 789-825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Common Occurrence ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Border Zones ◽  
The World ◽  
Convention Against Torture ◽  
Degrading Treatment ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Administrative Detention

AbstractThe Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture entered into force on 22 June 2006. It establishes a Sub-Committee for the Prevention of Torture that has authority to visit places of detention and to assess the conditions of that detention as a way to reduce the incidence of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Additionally, States parties are required to set up complementary national preventive mechanisms. This article explores both how these mechanisms established under the Optional Protocol could operate in the context of the detention of refugees and/or asylum-seekers, which is an increasingly common occurrence in many parts of the world, as well as whether they add value to existing international mechanisms that are already available in this field. It examines the purported applicability of the Optional Protocol to four refugee/asylum situations, namely detention at airports and other border zones; immigration (or administrative) detention, including semi-open (or semi-closed) asylum centres; closed refugee camps; and extraterritorial processing or holding centres. Reviewing definitional, jurisdictional, and practical issues that may impact on the success or otherwise of these new preventive mechanisms, this article concludes by making a number of recommendations to aid their work in the refugee/asylum context.

Evaluating National Preventive Mechanisms: A Conceptual Model

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-408
Author(s):  
Richard Carver ◽  
Lisa Handley
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Systematic Approach ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Work Meaning ◽  
Convention Against Torture ◽  
Police Detention

Abstract This article outlines a rigorous and systematic approach to evaluating both the performance and impact of national preventive mechanisms (NPMs) formed under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. Many human rights practitioners remain sceptical about both the desirability and feasibility of evaluating human rights work. One obstacle has been that ‘indicators’ of human rights progress are formulated without evidence that they actually have a causal relationship to the intended outcome. By contrast, the tools used in this assessment model are derived from scientific research into what forms of torture prevention actually work, meaning that greater weight can be assigned to more effective activities (and vice versa). The model is piloted in an assessment of the performance and impact of the Georgian NPM, which in ten years of work is shown to have had a significant impact in reducing the incidence of torture and other ill-treatment, particularly in police detention and prisons.

Part III Organs Monitoring Treaty Compliance, 13 The Committee against Torture and the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Byrnes Andrew
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Treaty Compliance ◽  
Convention Against Torture ◽  
Degrading Treatment

This chapter focuses on the Committee against Torture and the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture. The role of the Committee is to monitor the implementation by States parties of their obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the Torture Convention). The goal of the Torture Convention is to eradicate torture, often seen as one of the gravest human rights violations, through a mix of prevention and repression. The Convention was supplemented in 2002 by the adoption of an Optional Protocol to the Convention, which established an additional supervisory body—the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, which commenced its work in 2007. The chapter then considers the work of the Committee over the last thirty years and provides an overview of the evolution and functions of the Subcommittee.

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