Latest news with #UNSubcommitteeonPreventionofTorture
Scoop
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
UN Torture Prevention Body To Visit Serbia
Geneva,10 June 2025 - The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) will conduct its first visit to Serbia from 15 to 21 June to assess the measures taken by the country to protect people deprived of liberty from torture and ill-treatment. During the mission, the SPT delegation will visit prisons, police stations and other places where people are or may be deprived of their liberty. The delegation will meet with government officials, the Protector of Citizens (Ombudsman), representatives of civil society, and UN agencies. The delegation will also hold meetings and conduct joint visits with the national monitoring body, officially known as the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM). 'We will be there to see, to listen, and to examine the conditions in which prisoners, detainees, and all others deprived of their liberty are held. Our visit will focus on how safeguards against torture and ill-treatment are being implemented in practice, and how these protections can be further strengthened,' said Massimiliano Bagaglini, who is heading the SPT delegation. 'A comprehensive national torture prevention system requires regular visits by an independent and well-resourced national detention monitoring body, and we will therefore also be looking at the functioning of the NPM in Serbia,' he added. The SPT is mandated to visit all States Parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), which Serbia ratified in 2006. At the end of the visit, the SPT will present its confidential preliminary observations to the Government of Serbia. The SPT delegation will be composed of the following members of the Subcommittee: Massimiliano Bagaglini, Head of Delegation (Italy), Vasiliki Artinopoulou (Greece), Kalliopi Kambanella (Cyprus), Nika Kvaratskhelia (Georgia) as well as two Human Rights Officers from the SPT Secretariat.
Zawya
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Zawya
United Nations (UN) torture prevention body welcomes establishment of national preventive mechanisms in Benin, Madagascar, Nigeria, and South Africa
The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) hails the setting up of the national preventive mechanisms (NPMs) in Benin, Madagascar, Nigeria, and South Africa as a significant step in advancing and fulfilling their obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT). 'The OPCAT's torture prevention architecture is built on the partnership between the SPT, the international body designated by the treaty, and the NPMs, our national counterparts. These national partners play a crucial role in making the system work effectively. Today, we are delighted to welcome the NPMs of Benin, Madagascar, Nigeria, and South Africa to the global family of nearly 80 NPMs,' said María Luisa Romero, the SPT Chair. 'They now have the demanding tasks of ensuring their independence and effectiveness, as outlined in the OPCAT. At the same time, the authorities also have a duty to respect the NPMs' independence, provide financial resources to support their mandate, and implement their recommendations in good faith. The SPT stands ready to assist, advise and support these four new NPMs,' she added. Under the OPCAT, the SPT monitors treatment and conditions for people deprived of liberty by conducting unannounced visits to police stations, prisons, psychiatric hospitals, immigration detention centres, drug rehabilitation centres and other places of deprivation of liberty. In this task, the SPT works closely with government authorities, the NPMs, other domestic monitoring bodies, as well as human rights institutions, and civil society to strengthen torture preventive measures. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
