UN TORTURE PREVENTION BODY IN FIRST VISIT TO ITALY

GENEVA (Issued as received) – The United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) will conduct its first visit to Italy from 16 to 22 September 2015 to assess the treatment and conditions of detention of migrants, as well as the safeguards for their protection against torture and ill-treatment.

The SPT delegation is due to visit a variety of facilities used to detain migrants across the country. The human rights experts will conduct private and confidential interviews with persons deprived of their liberty. They will also meet government officials, the Human Rights Commission of the Senate, international organizations and representatives of the civil society to seek ways of strengthening the authorities’ efforts to prevent torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in the context of immigration detention.

“Given the current migration crisis, this visit is extremely timely. We look forward to engaging collaboratively with the Italian authorities and supporting their efforts to strengthen the protection of migrants,” said Hans-Jörg Bannwart, who will head the delegation.

“We will also assist the authorities to fully implement their treaty obligations, including through the establishment of a national independent body to monitor places of detention,” Mr. Bannwart added.

The Subcommittee has a mandate to visit all States that are parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT). States parties are obliged to set up a monitoring body, known as a National Preventive Mechanism, within a year of ratifying OPCAT.

At the end of the visit, the Subcommittee will present its confidential preliminary observations to the Italian Government. For the SPT, the key to preventing torture and ill-treatment lies in building constructive relations with the State concerned, and its guiding principles are cooperation and confidentiality.

The SPT delegation will comprise: Hans-Jörg Bannwart (Head of Delegation), Malcolm Evans (Chairperson of the Subcommittee), Paul Lam Shang Leen (Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee) and Margarete Osterfeld.


For media inquiries, please contact:
In Italy: Ms. Yulia Babuzhina (+41 79 201 0122 / ybabuzhina@ohchr.org)
In Geneva: Cécile Pouilly (+41 22 917 93 10 / cpouilly@ohchr.org)

Background: The Optional Protocol on the Prevention of Torture has to date been ratified by 78 countries. The SPT communicates its recommendations and observations to the State by means of a confidential report, and if necessary to National Preventive Mechanisms. However, State parties are encouraged to request that the SPT makes these reports public. More about the SPT: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/OPCAT/Pages/OPCATIndex.aspx
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For use of the information media; not an official record

CAT15/024E