ODIHR Director marks International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, calls on states to make clear no form of ill-treatment is permitted
“Torture cannot be justified under any circumstances,” Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), said on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, while calling on all OSCE participating States to make it clear that no form of ill-treatment is permitted.
“Despite the recognition in OSCE commitments of torture as a most serious crime, the eradication of torture and other ill-treatment remains a challenge in the region,” the ODIHR Director said. “It must be clear that there can be neither impunity nor justification for torture. I call on all OSCE participating States to redouble their efforts to effectively investigate, prosecute and punish all acts of torture or ill-treatment.”
She noted that 70 years after the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first international text prohibiting torture in absolute terms, there are still attempts to authorize or acquiesce to torture on grounds of national security and counter-terrorism efforts. Instead, Gísladóttir said, states have to further work to provide for a solid legal anti-torture framework and show political will to implement torture-prevention measures, such as providing for unhindered access by independent monitors to all places of detention in their countries.
“In the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ODIHR will continue to assist the OSCE participating States in the implementation of their commitments to prohibit torture and to work closely with other international and regional bodies and civil society actors towards the eradication of torture and other ill-treatment in the region,” Gísladóttir said.
Since 2016, ODIHR has reinforced its efforts to prevent torture and other ill-treatment, and in the area of the treatment of persons deprived of liberty in particular, including by promoting the independent preventive monitoring of all places of detention, safeguards in the early stages of police custody and the effective implementation of the right to rehabilitation of victims of torture in the OSCE region.
Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
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