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Torture, ill-treatment and coercion during interviews/ Universal protocol for non-coercive, ethically sound, evidence-based and empirically founded interviewing practices 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The practice of detaining persons incommunicado and questioning them in unofficial or secret facilities is of grave concern because it exposes individuals to heightened risks of torture. Secret detention amounts to torture or ill-treatment in itself and should be abolished and criminalized under national law. States must ensure that questioning is conducted only at official and accessible facilities, regardless of the form of detention. In the criminal justice system, any evidence obtained from detainees in unofficial places of detention and not confirmed by them during subsequent interviews at official locations ought to be inadmissible in court (see A/56/156).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Of particular concern are a lack of specialist care, including access to gynaecologists and obstetric health-care professionals; discriminatory access to services like harm-reduction programmes; lack of private spaces for medical examinations and confidentiality; poor treatment by prison health staff; failures in diagnosis, medical neglect and denial of medicines, including for chronic and degenerative illnesses; and reportedly higher rates of transmission of diseases such as HIV among female detainees. The absence of gender-specific health care in detention can amount to ill-treatment or, when imposed intentionally and for a prohibited purpose, to torture. States' failure to ensure adequate hygiene and sanitation and to provide appropriate facilities and materials can also amount to ill-treatment or even torture. It is essential to engage in capacity-building and adequate training for detention centre staff and health-care personnel with a view to identifying and addressing women's specific health-care and hygiene needs.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Child and other forms of forced marriage increase during conflict and among displaced populations living in refugee or internally displaced persons camps. In 2015 the practice has been documented as being enforced by both State actors and non-State or rebel factions in Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, the Syrian Arab Republic and elsewhere, with victims being repeatedly raped, compelled to carry multiple pregnancies and subjected to other forms of physical and psychological violence over prolonged periods. While rape commonly occurs in the context of forced marriage, girls and women can also be forced into marriage as a consequence of rape or fear of sexual violence, as a form of "restitution" or "reparation". Like rape, forced marriage is used as a tactic of war and to fulfil strategic objectives such as domination, intimidation and degradation. It has been recognized as a crime against humanity by the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 70q
- Paragraph text
- [With regard to women, girls, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in detention, the Special Rapporteur calls on all States to:] Ensure that migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are individually assessed, including with respect to their need for protection, and that adequate screening and assessment procedures are in place to identify victims of torture and ill-treatment; provide opportunities for safe, voluntary and dignified disclosure of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex status; and ensure that measures taken by migration authorities do not retraumatize victims;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- LGBTQI+
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees worldwide face grave human rights violations during the migration process. Physical violence, threats and abductions by smugglers, traffickers and organized criminal groups are common. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence, exploitation and slavery along migration routes. Such abuses can amount to torture and ill-treatment and States' failure to properly screen migrants and refugees, identify victims of torture and provide appropriate care and support can retraumatize victims and inflict additional mistreatment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Torture, ill-treatment and coercion during interviews/ Universal protocol for non-coercive, ethically sound, evidence-based and empirically founded interviewing practices 2016, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- The right to a lawyer entails the right to meet in private and consult and communicate in full confidentiality before any interview, which is essential to preserve defence rights and enable detainees to raise issues about treatment in custody.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impunity as a root cause of the prevalence of torture 2010, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Despite the fact that, in many cases, detainees have visible signs of ill-treatment, the authorities generally fail to initiate investigations. Medical examinations are often not conducted, nor are detainees provided with medical treatment. In Paraguay, the Special Rapporteur was concerned to see that officials completely disregarded their duty to initiate ex officio investigations. In Georgia, judges or procurators have an obligation to make inquiries or investigate allegations ex officio; however, no action is taken in the vast majority of cases. The same applies in the Republic of Moldova, where the legal provision calling for ex officio investigations is not applied in practice.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impunity as a root cause of the prevalence of torture 2010, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- The lack of funding for rehabilitation centres is by no means limited to poor States or States where torture may be rife, but also holds true for States which are generally considered to be relatively safe and affluent, for example EU member States. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur notes with concern the upcoming phasing-out of EU support for centres located within its area and the simultaneous failure of European Governments to step up their support for their own domestic institutions. Rehabilitation centres within the EU assume a crucial role in providing services to thousands of individuals who have had to flee their home countries and seek refuge after experiencing war, persecution and torture. While these survivors may have succeeded in escaping from imminent persecution and from their torturers, their experiences are still very much present and continue to haunt them. Often alone in a foreign country, confronted with xenophobic resentment, general suspicion that there is abuse of the asylum system, and concerns about the outcome of protracted and increasingly restrictive asylum procedures, survivors of torture find themselves in an environment which is far from conducive to a process of healing. The availability in those States of well-functioning rehabilitation centres where many refugees can open up and receive medical treatment for the first time is essential and their value cannot be overestimated. The Special Rapporteur calls for a change of the perception prevalent in many Western countries that torture is a distant issue. Many Europeans would be surprised to learn that their immigrant neighbour is in fact one of many survivors of torture who have found refuge in their country.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impunity as a root cause of the prevalence of torture 2010, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- In view of the great importance of systematic, independent external monitoring for the prevention of torture, and in response to the shortcomings of the existing mechanisms, the General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture in 2002. The rationale behind the Optional Protocol is based on the experience that torture mainly happens in places of detention, owing to their opaqueness to the outside world and lack of external scrutiny. The Optional Protocol is intended to introduce a shift from a paradigm of opacity, in which detainees are locked away from the outside world and the outside world is kept away from the detainees, to one of transparency. Through the opening up of places of detention, the entire system of detention can be exposed to public scrutiny, made more transparent, and its officials deterred from abusive treatment by being held accountable for their actions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impunity as a root cause of the prevalence of torture 2010, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- The Optional Protocol does not prescribe a specific form for national preventive mechanisms but leaves it to States parties how to "maintain, designate or establish … one or several independent national preventive mechanisms". However, the Optional Protocol and the related Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions (The Paris Principles) prescribe clear minimum criteria for national preventive mechanisms. Any national preventive mechanism is to be provided with a broad mandate to regularly visit all places of detention with a view to examining the treatment of detainees, to make recommendations to the relevant authorities and to submit draft legislative proposals and observations. It must have unrestricted access, without prior notification, to all places of detention and enjoy the right to hold private interviews with detainees. It must be granted full institutional, functional, personal and financial independence from the State authorities, be pluralistically composed to have the "required capabilities and professional knowledge" and provide for a balanced gender and adequate minority representation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impunity as a root cause of the prevalence of torture 2010, para. 88
- Paragraph text
- While the appalling conditions of detention in most countries of the world could be effectively addressed by adopting a special United Nations convention on the rights of detainees, no further standard setting is required to combat torture. Its prohibition is one of the few absolute and non-derogable human rights and part of ius cogens, and the Convention against Torture and its Optional Protocol contain a broad range of very specific positive State obligations aimed at preventing and combating torture. If States parties to the Convention and the Optional Protocol would abide by their legally binding obligations, torture could easily be eradicated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impunity as a root cause of the prevalence of torture 2010, para. 92
- Paragraph text
- Finally, all States have an international legal obligation to take effective legislative, administrative, judicial and other measures to prevent torture. In this respect, the Special Rapporteur calls upon all States to promptly ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and to establish, through legislative action on the basis of an inclusive and transparent process, independent and professional national preventive mechanisms tasked with conducting regular and unannounced visits to all places of detention. Such national preventive mechanisms should be granted unrestricted access to all places of detention and the opportunity to have private interviews with detainees. The Special Rapporteur urges all States parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture to provide national preventive mechanisms with the necessary financial and human resources to enable them to regularly inspect all places of detention, to examine the treatment of detainees and to prevent acts of torture or ill-treatment in detention.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Overview of main observations of five years fact-finding and research 2010, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur has ample grounds to believe that the vast majority of violations are never reported by detainees, including because they are often not aware of their right to complain. In a context of detention frequently characterized by violence and other abuse, it seems beyond imagination for many detainees that someone could listen to their allegations. If detainees know about their right to complain and the actual existence of a complaints mechanism, the fear of reprisals and lack of confidence in the overall functioning of the system may silence them. Normally, there is no complaints body sufficiently independent from the authority which is in charge of holding the detainees.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Overview of main observations of five years fact-finding and research 2010, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Detainees are at a high risk of being ill-treated during the first hours of deprivation of liberty. Suspects mostly find themselves in the hands of the officers in charge of investigating the crime of which they are accused. The officers therefore have an interest in obtaining a confession or other relevant information. In order to keep this critical phase as short as possible, international human rights law requires the minimization of the period before a person is brought before a judge or another officer authorized by law to exercise judicial powers. However, suspects are frequently held in police custody for much longer than international human rights law allows, sometimes for weeks or months, and find themselves in a situation which is generally dominated by a feeling of vulnerability and fear. In many of the police stations the Special Rapporteur has visited, there was a palpable level of fear which manifested itself inter alia in the strong reluctance of detainees to speak with him.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Overview of main observations of five years fact-finding and research 2010, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Given that most cases of abuse take place during the very early stages of detention, immediate access to an independent lawyer is crucial. In many countries, however, detainees are arrested, interrogated and indicted without having been able to access counsel. Even access to a lawyer at a later stage remains a hypothetical option for most detainees since they lack the financial resources to pay for it. Since persons from poorer social strata make up the majority of detainees, the inability to effectively access legal aid affects the majority of persons deprived of their liberty. The lack of legal counsel is in sharp contrast to the basic principles of equality before the law and fairness. Detainees are often not aware of their rights, even when it comes to which treatment is actually permissible during interrogations. However, even in States with legal aid schemes, many detainees voiced doubts regarding the independence of their State-appointed lawyers or reported that they requested additional payment, since State-provided remuneration did not meet the lawyers' fees.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Overview of main observations of five years fact-finding and research 2010, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- In its pervasiveness, impact on the victim and justifications put forward by its proponents, corporal punishment of children in the home and in educational settings differs from corporal punishment that is administered as part of a judicial sentence in a number of States. A separate problem is the corporal chastisement of detainees as a disciplinary sanction that the Special Rapporteur has witnessed in many countries. What is common to all these forms of corporal punishment, however, is that physical force is used intentionally against a person in order to cause severe pain. Furthermore, without exception, corporal punishment has a degrading and humiliating component. Corporal punishment must therefore without exception be considered to amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or torture in violation of international treaty and customary law.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Overview of main observations of five years fact-finding and research 2010, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- Although there are similarities between the two, the refoulement procedure is not to be equated with the asylum procedure. While there are limitations to asylum in terms of the Refugee Convention, article 3 of the Convention against Torture and article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights apply to every person and are not subject to any limitation or exclusion clauses. Consequently, the non-refoulement principle is absolute. While doubts about the credibility of the facts provided by the applicant can result in the refusal of asylum, the State has to ensure that the security of the applicant is not endangered, as continuously upheld by the Committee against Torture.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Overview of main observations of five years fact-finding and research 2010, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- The principle of non-refoulement has come under fire during the Special Rapporteur's tenure both from the ever increasing tightening of immigration laws and domestic procedures that often only provide for superficial examinations by the authorities and the several attempts at undermining the principle in the context of the fight against terrorism (including through the so-called "test of reasonableness", which balances the risk of torture against the threat to national security and the increased use of diplomatic assurances), where there were fears that States may use torture on persons suspected of terrorist acts. As the Special Rapporteur has stated repeatedly, diplomatic assurances related to torture are nothing but an attempt to circumvent the absolute nature of the principle of non-refoulement.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Overview of main observations of five years fact-finding and research 2010, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- Although 146 States are party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, most Governments have failed to effectively implement its provisions. Despite the obligation to criminalize torture and prosecute perpetrators of torture under different types of jurisdiction, only very few torturers have been brought to justice worldwide. Impunity continues to be one of the main factors in widespread torture. Despite the obligation to provide victims of torture with an effective remedy and adequate reparation for the harm suffered, only a very small number of victims of torture are able to enjoy this right in the country responsible for inflicting the torture. If victims manage to access medical, psychological and other forms of rehabilitation, this important form of reparation is usually provided by private organizations in countries in which torture victims are granted asylum. Despite the obligation to effectively investigate every allegation or suspicion of torture and ill-treatment, almost no country has established bodies with effective powers of criminal investigation which are also fully independent from the law enforcement officers subject to their investigations. Despite the obligation to take all legislative, administrative, political and other measures necessary to prevent torture, including prompt access of detainees to lawyers, judges, doctors and families, audio- or videotaping of interrogations, the prohibition of using confessions extracted by torture before courts and regular inspections of all places of detention and interrogation by independent bodies, most of the some 10 million detainees around the world can only dream of enjoying such measures.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Overview of main observations of five years fact-finding and research 2010, para. 77a
- Paragraph text
- [In building upon the general recommendations elaborated by his distinguished predecessor, Theo van Boven, in 2003, the Special Rapporteur wishes to particularly stress the following recommendations:] All States should ratify the United Nations Convention against Torture and fully implement its provisions. In particular, they must criminalize torture, as defined in article 1, with appropriate sanctions taking into account the gravity of the crime of torture; investigate all allegations and suspicions of torture by independent and effective "police-police" bodies; bring perpetrators of torture to justice under the various forms of criminal jurisdiction mentioned in article 5 of the Convention; provide victims of torture with an effective remedy and adequate reparation for the harm suffered - in particular medical, psychological and other forms of rehabilitation; and take all measures necessary to prevent torture, including prompt access of all detainees to lawyers, judges, doctors and their families;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Overview of main observations of five years fact-finding and research 2010, para. 77b
- Paragraph text
- [In building upon the general recommendations elaborated by his distinguished predecessor, Theo van Boven, in 2003, the Special Rapporteur wishes to particularly stress the following recommendations:] All States should ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and establish effective national preventive mechanisms to carry out preventive visits to all places of detention. Those mechanisms should be fully independent bodies with a pluralistic composition and equipped with the financial and human resources necessary to conduct regular and ad hoc visits to all places of detention (police lock-ups, prisons, pretrial detention facilities, psychiatric hospitals and special detention facilities for women, children, migrants, drug addicts, etc.);
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Overview of main observations of five years fact-finding and research 2010, para. 77e
- Paragraph text
- [In building upon the general recommendations elaborated by his distinguished predecessor, Theo van Boven, in 2003, the Special Rapporteur wishes to particularly stress the following recommendations:] The Human Rights Council should consider drafting a United Nations convention on the rights of detainees to codify all human rights of persons deprived of liberty, as laid down in the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and similar soft law instruments, in a legally binding human rights treaty with effective monitoring and implementation mechanisms;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Solitary confinement 2011, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The Istanbul Statement on the Use and Effects of Solitary Confinement was annexed to the former Special Rapporteur's 2008 interim report to the General Assembly (A/63/175, annex). The report concluded that "prolonged isolation of detainees may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and, in certain instances, may amount to torture. ... [T]he use of solitary confinement should be kept to a minimum, used in very exceptional cases, for as short a time as possible, and only as a last resort. Regardless of the specific circumstances of its use, effort is required to raise the level of social contacts for prisoners: prisoner-prison staff contact, allowing access to social activities with other prisoners, allowing more visits and providing access to mental health services" (A/63/175, paras. 77 and 83).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Solitary confinement 2011, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The history of the use of solitary confinement on detainees has been well documented. The practice can be traced to the 1820s in the United States of America, where it was believed that isolation of prisoners would aid in their rehabilitation. Under this model prisoners spent their entire day alone, mostly within the confines of their cells, including for work, in order to reflect on their transgressions away from negative external influences. Beginning in the 1830s, European and South American countries adopted this practice (A/63/175, para. 81). It must be recognized that 200 years ago this model was a socially and morally progressive way to deal with punishment, as it emphasized rehabilitation and attempted to substitute for the death penalty, limb amputations and other penalties then prevalent.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Solitary confinement 2011, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- International and regional human rights bodies have taken different approaches to address the underlying conditions of social and physical isolation of detainees, and whether such practices constitute torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. For example, while the European Court of Human Rights has confronted solitary confinement regimes with regularity, the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have most extensively addressed the related phenomenon of incommunicado detention. For the purposes of this report, the Special Rapporteur will highlight the work of universal and regional human rights bodies on solitary confinement only.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Solitary confinement 2011, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- In its analysis of solitary confinement, the Court has noted that even when used in exceptional circumstances, procedural safeguards must be in place. For example, "the State is obliged to ensure that the detainee enjoys the minimum and non-derogable guarantees established in the [American] Convention and, specifically, the right to question the lawfulness of the detention and the guarantee of access to effective defense during his incarceration". Similarly, the Inter American Commission on Human Rights has consistently held that all forms of disciplinary action taken against detained persons must comport with the norms of due process and provide opportunity for judicial review.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Solitary confinement 2011, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- The presence of windows and light is also of critical importance to the adequate treatment of detainees in solitary confinement. Under rule 11 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, there should be sufficient light to enable the detainee to work or read, and windows so constructed as to allow airflow whether or not artificial ventilation is provided. However, State practice reveals that this standard is often not met. For example, in Georgia, window-openings in solitary confinement cells were found to have steel sheets welded to the outside bars, which restricted light and ventilation (E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.3, para. 47). In Israel, solitary confinement cells are often lit with fluorescent bulbs as their only source of light, and they have no source of fresh air.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Solitary confinement 2011, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Rules 12 and 13 of the Standard Minimum Rules stipulate that detention facilities should provide sufficient sanitary fixtures to allow for the personal hygiene of the detainee. Therefore, cells used for solitary confinement should contain a lavatory and wash-basin within the cell. In its 2006 report on Greece, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment observed that isolation cells in the Komotini Prison failed to meet the necessary minimum standard for sanitary fixtures because detainees were forced to use the toilet for a wash-basin as well. Other environmental factors, such as temperature, noise level, privacy, and soft materials for cell furnishings may also be implicated in the solitary confinement setting.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Solitary confinement 2011, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Most studies fail to specify the length of time after which solitary confinement becomes prolonged. While the term may be undefined, detainees can be held in solitary confinement from a few weeks to many years. For example, in Kazakhstan, individuals can be held in solitary confinement for more than two months (A/HRC/13/39/Add.3, para. 117). Some detainees have been held in solitary confinement facilities for years, without any charge and without trial, and in secret detention centres where isolation is used as an integral part of interrogation practices. In a joint report on the situation of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, experts found that although 30 days of isolation was the maximum period permissible, some detainees were returned to isolation after very short breaks over a period of up to 18 months (E/CN.4/2006/120, para. 53).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Solitary confinement 2011, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- While physical and social segregation may be necessary in some circumstances during criminal investigations, the practice of solitary confinement during pretrial detention creates a de facto situation of psychological pressure which can influence detainees to make confessions or statements against others and undermines the integrity of the investigation. When solitary confinement is used intentionally during pretrial detention as a technique for the purpose of obtaining information or a confession, it amounts to torture as defined in article 1 or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under article 16 of the Convention against Torture, and to a breach of article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph