Uniting Against Torture

Guest blog by Bob Last, Senior Human Rights Adviser, UK Mission to the UN, Geneva

There have been lots of admiring words spoken about Costa Rica of late, and their World Cup performances have left me and many of my compatriots more than a little envious. When I arrived in Geneva in spring 2002, Costa Rica was also in the spotlight. One of the most fiercely contested resolutions at that year’s session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights was on the ‘Draft Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture’.

The draft had been stuck in UN negotiations for 10 years and it was clear that there would never been agreement on it, so Costa Rica, who led on the draft, took their chances with a vote. What a wise gamble it was. The successful vote proved to be a turning point in the global fight against torture and the Protocol, or OPCAT as it is commonly known, has become the centre piece for states and NGOs working on torture prevention.

More than 70 states are now party to OPCAT and a further 20 have signed, indicating their intention to join up. The central idea is that one of the most effective ways to prevent torture and other ill treatment is by having international and national bodies being able to visit all places of detention, and then share their findings privately with the states so that they can improve the situation.

All states need to improve conditions in detention, but Governments are often unwilling to discuss the fact that torture or ill treatment may be occurring, because of the public criticism which follows. The big advantage with OPCAT is that it is aimed at helping States to improve conditions in detention in their own countries without fear of public criticism, either nationally or internationally. As a result, States are showing that they are increasingly willing to engage with international and national mechanisms to prevent torture.

The UK has been heavily involved with OPCAT since 2002, when we strongly supported Costa Rica’s leadership. We were the 3rd country to ratify the Protocol and have been encouraging other countries to sign up, and helping them to develop the necessary national capacity to do so for more than 10 years. Torture Prevention remains a top human right priority for the UK, and OPCAT ratification is at the heart of the UK’s torture prevention strategy.

Of course there’s still a long way to go. Only a third of the world has ratified the OPCAT and this doesn’t include the likes of India, China or the United States. In many states which are party, the national mechanisms set up to monitor places of detention are insufficiently resourced or lack the independence they need to have an impact.

And while the international committee set up under OPCAT – the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture – has made excellent use of scant resources , it really needs much greater support to do the job it was set up to do.

All the same, there are plenty of reasons to be upbeat. Had Costa Rica not made the brave decision to push ahead in 2002 there’s every chance the OPCAT would still be a draft, mired in UN negotiations, or even have dropped away entirely. Instead the last 10 years have seen huge strides forward in the fight against torture. I’m confident that in the long term, the majority of UN members will become party to OPCAT. In the meantime I wish Costa Rica all the best with their World Cup run.