The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) was founded in Geneva in 1986 to respond to the needs expressed by many non-governmental organisations (NGO), especially those in the South. The fight against torture was profoundly changed by the multiplication of NGOs who were active on the ground where violations were most frequent. In the 1960s, campaigns were mostly intended for public opinion in industrialised countries in order to pressure dictators and repressive regimes. However, in the 1980s, the fight moved to the countries directly affected by torture, where civil society representatives were able to organise themselves to fight for their rights.  

OMCT was created in order to link these NGOs into a network, and offer them logistic and legal support. Based in Geneva, OMCT’s International Secretariat serves as the “alert system”. It ensures the widespread and immediate transmission of cases of torture[1] that are reported from the field. Local NGOs are naturally better placed to judge for themselves the truthfulness of reported cases of torture and to evaluate the best means to fight it. However, their capacity to act is limited by a lack of means and a partial knowledge of various international treaties.

Their integration into a global network, the SOS-Torture Network ensures that information will be quickly disseminated to the recipients who are most likely to react effectively according to the type of human rights violation. The Network was composed of 48 members at its creation in 1986. Since then, it has kept on growing, up to 297 member organisations on all continents. As coordinator of the Network, OMCT works to pursue a “bottom-up” approach in order to respect the strategy, the culture and the skills of each NGO.

Since the very beginning, OMCT has developed two lines of priority action: urgent campaigns and urgent assistance for victims of torture.

The “Urgent Campaigns” programme uses the information transmitted by Network members. It has three main objectives: 

1. To prevent acts of torture and other grave violations of human rights;
2. To ensure effective protection and obtain appropriate reparation for victims; and,
3. To avoid future violations, especially by fighting against the impunity that many of the authors of these acts enjoy.

The “Urgent Assistance for Victims of Torture” programme offers medical, legal and/or social assistance for people who are threatened by or victims of torture.

OMCT also provides legal assistance to individuals and organisations that want to launch a procedure within the United Nations. Thanks to the “United Nations Treaty Bodies” programme, NGOs can actively collaborate with surveillance bodies of UN treaties, particularly the Committee against Torture and the Human Rights Committee.

Since its creation, OMCT has believed that effective prevention must include an understanding of the socio-economic situations that lead to grave violations of human rights. This is the objective of the “Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” programme, created in 1988. This programme aims to contribute to the eradication of torture by identifying the socio-economics obstacles that prevent the protection against this plague, and by proposing solutions to address it.

Through the years, OMCT has understood the necessity to propose tailored responses to the violence specific groups, such as women, children and human rights defenders, are subject.

The increase in the number of violations against children has led OMCT to put in place a programme that is specifically addressed to them. In 1991, OMCT’s General Assembly adopted a resolution that paved the way for the creation of the “Children’s Rights” programme, which reinforces their protection against torture and other forms of violence.

The creation of the “Violence Against Women” programme in 1996 was born out of the growing recognition of the grave situation many women face in the world. The type of torture often differs according to the gender of the victim. The consequences of torture against women, as well as the existence and accessibility of reparation mechanisms, require special attention. The objective of this programme is: first, to raise the awareness of the members of the SOS-Torture Network, the so-called “general” United Nations mechanisms and the public regarding the problem of violence against women; and second, to provide assistance to victims of this specific violence.

Through the years, human rights defenders have increasingly become targets of repression, Since its creation, OMCT has denounced acts committed against defenders. In 1997, it partenered with the Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) to create the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

[1] The notion of “torture” also includes summary executions, disappearances, arbitrary detentions, psychiatric internment for political reasons, and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment as per Article 1 of the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

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OMCT's international secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland. The Secretariat coordinates the SOS-Torture Network made up of 297 national, regional and international organisations spanning five continents.
Contact : omct@omct.org