Worldwide Experts Discuss "Best Practices" for Litigation Before the UN Committee Against Torture as a Tool Against Torture

CONTACT: Megan Smith

Public Relations Coordinator

American University Washington College of Law

megans@wcl.american.edu 202-274-4276

American UniversityWashington College of Law’s Human Rights Brief to Publish ConferenceProceedings

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington,D.C., April 15, 2013 -American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL) and the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT) is sponsoring a full-day conference April 15 on the bestpractices for litigation before the United Nations Committee against Torture(UN CAT) to better protect and assist victims of torture. Panelists includeexperts from the UN, regional systems, government, civil society, and academia,and from countries including Russia, Senegal, Mexico, Kenya, Nepal, Paraguay, France,Colombia and the UK.

Article 22 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman orDegrading Treatment sets forth the Committee against Torture’s individualcomplaints procedure. Under Article 22, the Committee considers petitions(“communications”) from or on behalf of alleged victims of a violation of aConvention provision(s) by a State Party that has recognized the Committee’scompetence to receive and consider communications (currently, 65 of the 153State Parties to the Convention have done so). Since the establishment of thisprocedure, the Committee has decided numerous cases, giving a clear response toacts of torture committed around the world.

“This conference will help States and petitioners better understand theprocedural and substantive issues involved in complaints brought before theCommittee against Torture, including the scope of the State Partys’ obligationsunder article 14 of the Convention to provide redress and rehabilitation to victims,”said Claudio Grossman, deanof American University Washington College of Law and chairperson of the UNCommittee against Torture. “AmericanUniversity Washington College of Law is honored to cohost this important eventwith the World Organisation Against Torture, a renowned actor in protecting andpromoting human rights worldwide.”

“We need to reinforce the role of the complaint procedure to theCommittee Against Torture in the global fight against torture,” said GeraldStaberock, secretary general of the OMCT. “It is time for states that have notyet done so to accede to its jurisdiction, and we need to mobilize lawyers,activists and human rights defenders to access this remedy effectively.Strengthening victim and witness protection and building effective implementationof decisions of the Committee will be central to making it the principal toolfor protecting individual victims.”

Conference panelists:

· Claudio Grossman, dean, AUWCL;chairperson, UN Committee against Torture

· Gerald Staberock, secretary-general,World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)

· Gisella Gori, senior politicaladvisor, Delegation of the European Union to the United States

· Helene Legeay, Middle East and NorthAfrica programme manager, Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture(ACAT)

· Carla Ferstman, director of Redress

· Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, professoriallecturer-in-residence; co-director, Academy on Human Rights and HumanitarianLaw, AUWCL

· Ibrahima Kane, advocacy director,Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA)

· Octavio Amezcua, Mexican Commissionfor the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights

· Karina Moskalenko, Russian humanrights lawyer

· Christian De Vos (’07), advocacyofficer, Open Society Justice Initiative

· Elsy Chemurgor Sainna, InternationalCommission of Jurists, Kenya

· Gabriela Echeverria, visitingscholar, Human Rights Institute, Columbia Law School

· Mario Lopez Garelli, senior humanrights specialist, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

· Hari Phuyal, Advocacy Forum Nepal

· Juan E. Méndez, visiting professor,AUWCL; UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or DegradingTreatment or Punishment

The Human Rights Brief at AUWCL willpublish the conference proceedings in its upcoming volume 20.4. Founded in 1994 as a publication of theschool’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, the Brief is distributed to approximately 4,000 subscribers in over 130countries.

Created in 1985, OMCT is the main coalition of international NGOs fightingagainst torture, summary executions, enforced disappearances and all othercruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. With 311 affiliated organisations in itsSOS-Torture Network and many tens of thousands correspondents in every country,OMCT is the most important network of NGOs working for the protection and thepromotion of human rights in the world. Visit omct.org.

Media inquiries can be directed to Megan Smith at AUWCL, megans@wcl.american.edu, 202-274-4276, and to Fernanda Santana at OMCT, fas@omct.org, + 41 (793775446).

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In 1896, AmericanUniversity Washington College of Law became the first lawschool in the country founded by women. More than 100 years since its founding,this law school community is grounded in the values of equality, diversity, andintellectual rigor. The law school's nationally and internationally recognizedprograms (in clinical legal education, trial advocacy, international law, andintellectual property to name a few) and dedicated faculty provide its 1700 JD,LL.M., and SJD students with the critical skills and values to have animmediate impact as students and as graduates, in Washington, DC and around theworld. For more information, visit wcl.american.edu.

Thisconference is being held with the financial assistance of the European Unionand the Oak Foundation. Its content is of the sole responsibility of OMCT andcannot be considered as reflecting the position of its supporting institutions.