RIGHTS: U.N. Seeks Prison Inspections to Prevent Torture

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 24 2002 (IPS) - The United Nations is seeking to amend a global convention against torture in order to establish an international system of inspections to places where prisoners are detained.

Formally called the Optional Protocol to the U.N. Convention Against Torture, the amendment will obligate countries that have ratified the treaty to permit prison visits by international human rights officials.

The objective of the amendment, according to article 1 of the Optional Protocol, is to establish “a system of regular visits undertaken by independent international and national bodies to places where people are deprived of their liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.

Finalised in January this year after 10 years of protracted negotiations, the Optional Protocol is expected to be discussed this week at a meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the U.N.’s governing body for human rights.

The protocol is backed by a coalition of 13 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Association for the Prevention of Torture, the International Commission of Jurists, World Organisation Against Torture and the International League for Human Rights.

Although the convention came into force in 1987, “regrettably, however, torture and other ill-treatment are still widespread”, the coalition says.

According to the 2002 annual report of Human Rights Watch (HRW), prisoners were tortured or ill treated by security forces, police or other state authorities in more than 110 countries.

The Optional Protocol “marks a significant step forward in the prevention of torture and demonstrates the real commitment of the majority of states to establish an effective international mechanism to prevent torture by visiting places of detention”, according to the NGO coalition.

Several of its members on Tuesday expressed concern over attempts by the United States to undermine the amendment. At closed-door meetings, its representatives have already expressed opposition to the protocol on the ground that prison visits by any international body would be too intrusive.

No U.S. officials were available for comment Tuesday.

“A vote against this Optional Protocol would be a disastrous setback in the fight against torture,” says Martin MacPherson, head of Amnesty International’s legal programme.

U.S. opposition to a development in international law that would prevent torture is appalling, he adds.

“Any attempts to derail this process must be resisted by all members of ECOSOC. The victims of torture deserve no less,” MacPherson says.

The text of the protocol enjoys wide support in ECOSOC, including from members of the 15-nation European Union (EU) and many Latin American, Caribbean and African states.

“But the United States has signalled its opposition and wants negotiations on the text re-opened,” said HRW.

Rory Mungoven, the group’s global advocacy director, said the U.S. administration is once again on a collision course with its allies over an important new mechanism to protect human rights.

“First it was the International Criminal Court, and now, it’s the prevention of torture,” he added.

In 1998, Radhika Coomaraswamy, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, was barred from visiting three Michigan prisons accused of widespread sexual misconduct against women prisoners.

Although she had made extensive preparations to interview inmates at three prisons in Michigan, Michigan Governor John Engler barred Coomaraswamy on the eve of her visit.

“By sending this treaty for more negotiations, the United States would be playing into the hands of countries such as Cuba and Iran, which want to block international scrutiny of human rights,” Mungoven said.

In January this year, several human rights groups called for inspection visits of Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners who were being held in the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The United States denied those requests.

In a position paper released this week, the NGO coalition said “the concept of visits without prior consent is not unique in this Optional Protocol. It follows modern approaches to prevent serious violations of fundamental norms of international law.”

Under the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture, all states are under an obligation to accept missions and visits to places of detention by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture.

Under Article 143 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, states grant delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) or the “protecting power” access to all places where prisoners are kept or detained.

And under Article 126 of the Third Geneva Convention, the same obligation applies with regard to visits to prisoners of war.