Anti-torture coalition fights threats to human rights with new global initiative

Geneva, Mexico, Manila, Lomé, 6 February 2018 (OMCT) – To halt populism’s overturning ofhuman rights protections, the world’s largest anti-torture network today ralliedpartners on three continents to launch joint efforts to boost compliance withinternational standards, bring more cases to justice, and find ways to betterprotect those most vulnerable to abuse.

The World Organisation AgainstTorture (OMCT), in coordination with three key partners in Asia, Africa andLatin America, is spearheading the 1.8-million-CHF project dubbed “CivilSociety United Against Torture” to run activities in 40 countries over threeyears until 2020. The Ministryof Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and the European Union are supporting the project.

Long-standing partners the Philippines Alliance for Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), the Collectifdes Associations Contre l’Impunité au Togo (CACIT), and the Centrode Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas A.C. (Frayba) will co-organize activities in theirrespective regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America, focusing on 15 countries thatrequire particularly imminent attention, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh,Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Mexico, Honduras, Togo, and Ivory Coast.

“As autocratic leaders increasingly threatenhuman rights by surfing the wave of intolerance, terrorism and migrant inflows,civil society must coalesce to stop them from breaking what has cost so much tobuild,” said OMCT Secretary General Gerald Staberock. “This project willprovide the superglue that will help the pieces hold together.”

A three-legged approach

“We will be drawing on our in-housepool of legal experts and long-standing know-how as civil-society coordinatorbefore the CAT as well as the years of our partners’ experience in fightingtorture in hostile environments to make sure that the advocacy, litigation andresearch turn into reality for the people who need it the most,” said CarinBenninger-Budel, who will head the programme at OMCT headquarters in Geneva.

The programme will rely oninformation- and experience-sharing among OMCT’s SOS-Torture network members and their local partners to ensure the lessons learned in thelong fight against torture will stick beyond the three-year period.

To tackle all issues and gapseffectively, the initiative will focus on three major aims, measured againstspecific deliverables:

1. Througha series of advocacy missions, NGO meetings, session screenings, reports and expertsupport, encourage civil society organizations to submit information to theUnited Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) and to make better use of theinternational human rights mechanism to obtain redress against torture in theirhome countries;

2. Throughcase studies, webinars and trainingssustainably up-skill human rights lawyers on the specificities of torturedocumentation and litigation so they can better fight cases, with the concreteobjective of bringing at least 10 new cases of torture to trial per regionwithin national, regional or universal jurisdictions; the project will also support victims and their families,who will receive 150 grants for medical, social and legal rehabilitation

3. Throughproduction of four research reports on theparticular risks facing women, children, migrants and indigenous people inthe three regions, provide evidence of violation trends and solutions toaddress them.

Mexican partner

Frayba is aninternationally known and well-connected organization in Mexico, with more than25 years of experience protecting the rights of indigenous peoples and workingtowards a peaceful resolution of conflicts in Chiapas and throughout thecountry. It has extensive litigation experience with domestic courts and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Mexico, as well as the region morebroadly, need policy and institutional reforms to combat discrimination andinvestigate torture and other human rights violations against indigenouspeoples. The inclusion of this perspective in CAT advocacy ahead of theupcoming review of the country’s application of the Convention Against Torture isconsidered a paramount priority.

“This project will reinforce thework carried out to raise awareness about the torture the indigenous peoples ofLatin America suffer as they fight to defend their territories amid violenceand impunity,” said Jorge Hernández Castro, in charge of coordinating theprogramme on behalf of Frayba.

Togolese partner

CACIT is a domestichuman rights network that has taken on a lead role in fighting torture andimpunity in Togo since 2007. CACIT provides assistance to victims of tortureincluding before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as well as legalassistance and medical and psychological care. It also undertakes monitoring ofprisons in the country and has conducted research to understand what prevents totorture victims from filing complaints. Finally, CACIT conducts and undertakesjoint lobbying and advocacy – including with OMCT – both internationallyand at home to trigger policy reform, in particular on detention conditions.

On top of urging Togoto submit its overdue state report to the CAT, CACIT advocates the effectiveimplementation of the new anti-torture law criminalizing torture subsequent tothe CAT’s review of the country’s in 2012. Other of its activities includeadvocacy and lobbying with State officials on anti-torture policies, notably toend impunity and approve a national preventive mechanism, and a set of radioand television programmes designed to explain torture and the need to fight itto the general public in Togo.

“This project will give victims hopeagain as they need justice and reparation to fruitfully contribute to theirsocieties,” said Ghislain Koffi Nyaku, Executive Director of CACIT. “Impunity is society’s worst scourges and we must eradicate it.”

Pilipino partner

PAHRA is oneof the most experienced organizations in Asia with regard to use of the CAT andtorture documentation. It has submitted alternative reports, including jointlywith OMCT, to the 2009 and 2016 CAT reviews of the Philippines. PAHRA, withother local partners, has moreover successfully used the CAT review to recommendthe adoption of an anti-torture law that came into force in 2009 only a fewmonths after the country’s CAT review. PAHRA has solid experience in litigationand extensive connections with other civil-society organizations and humanrights defenders in the region. It is a member of Forum Asia, a network of 58 NGOs in 19 countries of Asia, andits representatives regularly take part in regional and internationalconferences and consultations on human rights.

“With the new Administration, wewent back to where we were decades ago in terms of human rights. This projectwill give hope and strength to sustain our work fighting against the shrinkingspace for civil society in the Philippines and Asia at large,” said EdelizaHernandez, Executive Director of Medical Action Group, a member of PAHRA, and focal point for this project.

AboutOMCT

The WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT) is the catalyst of the SOS-Torture network,a coalition of more than 200 international and national non-governmentalorganizations fighting torture, summary execution, enforced disappearances andall other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment and punishment.

Withoffices in Geneva, Brussels and Tunis, OMCT runs programmes to favour Statecompliance with international law and national anti-torture legislation, provideurgent assistance to victims of torture and seek justice for them, advocategreater protection for children in detention, women, and human rights defendersworldwide.

For more information, please visit: www.omct.org

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For more information on the programme, contact Carin Benninger-Budel at cbb@omct.org.

For all media inquiries: Lori Brumat, OMCT Head ofCommunications +41 22 809 4933 or lb@omct.org.