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Lack of Resources Hindering U.N. Efforts to Investigate Torture in Detention

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 21 2014 (IPS) - The United Nations is unable to effectively assess the state of violations in detention centres around the world due to a lack of resources, said Malcolm Evans, Chairperson of the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT).

The Committee was only able to conduct three full visits to assess detention centres during 2013 due to lack of logistical and financial support from an underfunded U.N. Human Rights Office, which supports the SPT’s work.

“The Committee is unlike some other committees within the U.N. system. We have a right to go into places of detention in any of the 74 States Parties to the Convention (Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture) to investigate.

At the moment we are only able to go into three or four per year. At this pace, States will receive a full regular visit only once in 25 years.”

We need more staff support within the Office of the High Commission – It’s intensely frustrating that we aren’t able to use the power at our disposal because of a want for money and logistics.”

After presenting the SPT’s annual report to the General Assembly, the Chairperson spoke about a recent visit to Azerbaijan, which had to be suspended halfway through; noting plans to take “appropriate follow-up action.”

“For the first time, we found it necessary to suspend one of our full visits, to Azerbaijan, due to repeated problems in securing immediate and unimpeded access to places of detention,” Evans said.

Chairperson of the U.N. Committee against torture Claudio Grossman spoke out on protection for human rights abuse whistleblowers , saying, “People who send comments to the committee cannot be the object of reprisal. We are calling for zero tolerance for reprisals against human rights defenders.”

With the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention against Torture coming up on November 4th, Grossman emphasised the importance of States complying with the obligations set out in the Convention.

Evans and Grossman were accompanied by U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan E. Mendez, who reiterated his frustration at not being permitted appropriate access to assess the situation of detainees in Guantanamo Bay.

“When I became Special Rapporteur, I renewed the request (to visit Guantanamo) – but the response was that I would not be able to talk to any inmates there with or without supervision, so I unfortunately had to decline the invitation. I asked them to review the conditions. I am insisting on being invited to Guantanamo.”

Mendez also expressed his desire to visit other detention centres both in Cuba and in the United States.

“My visits to facilities in the United States are pending, and have been pending for quite a long time I am sorry to say… I have insisted on being invited to Cuba, but have not received an invitation.”

 
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