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Ha Noi, Viet Nam, 6 June 2014

Ha Noi, Viet Nam, 6 June 2014. I nternational Workshop on the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and its Optional Protocol (OPCAT). Introduction to CAT and OPCAT. Manfred Nowak

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Ha Noi, Viet Nam, 6 June 2014

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  1. Ha Noi, Viet Nam, 6 June 2014 International Workshop on the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and its Optional Protocol (OPCAT) • Introduction to CAT and OPCAT • Manfred Nowak • Professor of International Law and Human Rights, University of Vienna, Austria • Austrian Chair Visiting Professor at Stanford University, California • UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (2004-2010)

  2. Table of Contents Development of International Legal Instruments against Torture Definition of Torture Definition of Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CIDT) Inhuman conditions of detention Prohibition of Torture as an absolute and non-derogable right in International Law Main obligations under CAT and OPCAT

  3. 1. Development of International Legal Instruments against Torture • After World War II • Article 5 UDHR 1948 • Article 3 ECHR 1950 • Article 7 CCPR 1966 • Article 5 ACHR 1969 • 1970s • Systematic practice of torture in many • parts of the world, in particular during • the military dictatorships in Latin America.Campaign against Torture by Amnesty International and other NGOs • 1980s • UN Convention against Torture 1984/87 • UN Special Rapporteur on Torture 1985 • Eleanor Roosevelt holding • the UDHR, 1948

  4. 2. Definition of Torture • Causing of severe physical and/or mental pain or suffering • State responsibility • Intention; applied to achieve a certain purpose (confession, information, intimidation, discrimination…) • Powerlessness, defenselessness of the victim, which is completely in the torturer’s power (especially during detention) • → direct attack on the victim’s dignity • and personal integrity→ specific form of violence • Examples: • „Palestinian Hanging” Abu-Ghraib (prisoner at dog leash)

  5. 3. Definition of Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CIDT) • Cruel or Inhuman Treatment or Punishment: Infliction of severe pain or suffering not amounting to torture (lacking any of the additional criteria for torture, such as intention, purpose or powerlessness of the victim) • Examples: Excessive use of force by law enforcement officials outside detention in the course of effecting an arrest, quelling a riot or insurrection, dispersing a public gathering, defending a person against violence, self-defence etc.; inhuman conditions of detention; negligent infliction of severe pain or suffering (e.g. forgetting a prisoner in solitary confinement); corporal punishment; inhuman methods of execution. • Degrading treatment or punishment: Infliction of pain or suffering in a particularly humiliating way • Examples: Degrading conditions of detention; light forms of corporal punishment; humiliating behavior of law enforcement personnel.

  6. 4. Inhuman conditions of detention • Sri Lanka • Nigeria

  7. 5. Prohibition of Torture as an absolute and non-derogable right in International Law • Only very few absolute rights: most notably prohibition of torture and slavery • Most human rights are relative (may be restricted for legitimate State reasons): freedom of expression, religion, assembly and association, personal liberty, freedom of movement, even the right to life • Most rights can be derogated in times of public emergency (war, natural disasters, terrorism): e.g. freedom of expression and assembly, personal liberty, freedom of movement • Non-derogable rights (Article 4(2) CCPR): right to life, prohibition of torture, slavery and servitude, non-retroactivity of criminal laws, right to recognition as a person before the law, internal freedom of thought • Article 2(2) CAT: “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.”

  8. Main obligations under CAT and OPCAT • CAT • Prevention of torture and CIDT • Investigations of allegations and suspicions of torture • Fighting impunity by criminalizing torture and bringing perpetrators to justice • Providing victims of torture with the right to effective remedy and adequate reparation • OPCAT • Permitting preventive visits to places of detention by the UN-Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture • Establishing an independent National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) in accordance with the “Paris Principles” and authorizing it to carry out regular and ad-hoc preventive visits to all places of detention

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