Looking towards 2025: OMCT Secretary General on the future of human rights
As the world faces growing threats to human rights, the need for unity, resilience, and action has never been more urgent.
In this interview, we asked OMCT Secretary General Gerald Staberock to share his vision for 2025 and our key priorities in the fight against torture. From the launch of the Global Torture Index to the SOS Defenders platform, he highlights the initiatives that will shape the movement and strengthen global human rights efforts, including the Global Week on Torture—an event not to be missed.
His message for 2025 is clear: "resilience and unity, not despair."
What is your vision for 2025, and what priorities should we focus on to maximize our impact on human rights?
In my vision, 2025 is the year in which we rise to the challenge and stand up in the anti-torture movement and uphold the absolute prohibition of torture. Today, in an increasingly dangerous world where states are turning away from human rights, fostering division and weakening protections, and some questioning universal norms altogether, the message must be resilience and unity, not despair. It is essential to protect all victims of torture and to defend the universality of human rights, which is under threat.
I am convinced that our SOS Torture Network must serve as an anchor for human rights and universality. As a movement, we stand united—to protect those at risk, to support our fellow human rights defenders under threat, and to ensure that the absolute prohibition of torture remains intact.
What impact do you hope the launch of the Global Torture Index will have?
The Global Index on Torture is the new flagship program of OMCT, with its launch anticipated in June 2025. I think it is the tool we have been lacking for years, and a tool all actors working against torture can benefit from. It combines reliable data with often-overlooked narratives to make the hidden reality of torture visible. This index will allow us to measure its scope, its impact on society, and advocate for political and legal reforms. It will help identify risks and develop effective anti-torture strategies. This index is not only an OMCT tool but a collective resource to support the efforts of network members towards concrete reforms and the prevention of torture.
Why is the Global Week on Torture important and what can people expect?
Four years ago, we held the first ever Global Week Against Torture, and we saw the power and energy that such a week can create. Many of us, especially those of our members working in very complicated dire situation, often feel alone. It offers a unique opportunity to share experiences, best practices and to learn from each other and to stand in solidarity across countries and regions. The Global Week all makes us feel and understand that we are united in a struggle and reflect that the real force of the OMCT is in its SOS Torture Network.
How will the SOS Defenders platform and the SOS Database help serve human rights defenders?
One of the most important achievements in 2024 has been the launch of the SOS Defenders platform. The platform gives a face to more than 400 human rights defenders that are currently imprisoned because they stood up for human rights. We don't forget them. We want to demonstrate to governments that the detention of these defenders is an attack on democracy and freedom, and we need to make states who support human rights understand that this is the moment to step up in their actions. OMCT, along with its SOS Torture Network must raise the alarm bells and act to protect from torture and ill-treatment in detention.
What challenges do you foresee in the global human rights landscape of 2025, and how will OMCT try to respond to those challenges?
The universality of human rights is threatened by several major challenges in 2025. Firstly, there is the rise of populism, which divides societies and rejects the whole system of protection built up over the last 70 years. We are also seeing direct attacks on the institutions that are supposed to defend these rights, such as the UN and international courts. And we say an attack on human rights funding that is not just a coincidence, it is an attack on universal rights and a universal movement. Then the issue of migration, that creates serious risks of torture, pushes backs and deportations when those returned face a real risk of torture. To me the response is stepping up our work, our global torture consortium ‘United Against Torture’ is key here, to work together bringing the best of the fight against torture together globally, and to be an anchor to our network.
As we look towards 2025, what message would you like to share with human rights defenders and supporters about the role of OMCT?
To our fellow human rights defenders: “keep going, don’t despair”.
I want all of us to see that we are making progress. The world is not only dark, we also generate reforms, generate better laws, we use the legal system for landmark victories. Who of us would have thought a year ago that we would now be discussing anti-torture reforms in Bangladesh? Importantly, I want to address also our supporters. I want to thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their support, and we are doing everything to ensure that you are investing into a better, more just and safer world.
I feel strongly that at this moment we need to foster alliances so friendships can be stronger, and to better protect democracy.
For OMCT, this is summarized in one phrase: “Stay United Against Torture”.