Indian expert body joins States and civil society in asking torture Convention ratification
Ratifying the ConventionAgainst Torture will allow India to “secure an individual’s right to life andliberty,” said in a report published on Monday the Law Commission of India, anadvisory body of India’s Ministry of Law and Justice. What is more, to enshrinein national legislation the country’s obligations under the Convention, theIndian Government should enact the Prevention of Torture Bill, 2017”.
Yesterday’s recommendationfollows the litigation a former Law Minister of the Government of India filedbefore the Supreme Court asking the State to fulfill the Constitution’s promiseof safeguarding human dignity and preventing torture[1]. During Supreme Courthearings in April 2017, the Chief Justice reportedly said that the adoption ofdomestic legislation in line with the Convention Against Torture would be inIndia’s national interest and a matter of protecting its reputation worldwide.At the moment, India faces difficulties in extraditing criminals from foreigncountries because it does not have a law criminalizing torture.
“We could not agree more thatit is about time India formally commits to fighting torture,” said GeraldStaberock, OMCT Secretary General. “It will help turn theory into practice.”
India has been repeatedlycriticized, most notably by the UN Human Rights Council in the context of theUniversal Periodic Review and by civil-society organizations, including OMCT,for having signed the Convention Against Torture in 1997 without ratifying it.Unlike in its neighboring Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, andBangladesh, the 1,2 billion inhabitants of India do so far not benefit from theConvention’s protection against torture and other forms of ill-treatment. Thisis has proven to be a recurring problem for Indians where each year more than 1,500people die in prison, more than 34,600cases of rape are reported and an estimated135,000 children are trafficked for sex and domestic slavery, asrecurrently documented by OMCT’s member organizations in the country.
About OMCT
OMCT is short for the WorldOrganisation Against Torture – in French, as the organization created in 1985is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
On top of protecting humanrights defenders and promoting NGO participation before the CAT, OMCT worksfor, with and through an international coalition of over 200 non-governmentalorganizations – the SOS-Torture network – fighting torture, summary executions,enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, and all other cruel, inhuman anddegrading treatment or punishment in the world.
For more information, pleasevisit: www.omct.org
For our latest campaign#HumansAgainstTorture: www.joinhat.org. https://vimeo.com/omct, Instagram.
As coordinator of civil-society presence at the CAT, OMCT:
-communicates ahead of time with national NGOs warning them that their countrieswill be reviewed in an upcoming session,
-builds the reporting capacity of NGOs on the Convention Against Torture throughlegal trainings in their home countries;
-provides administrative, logistical and financial support to NGOs to enabletheir programmed attendance of CAT sessions and private briefings;
-provides technical, information-gathering and editorial support to effectivecountry reporting;
-moderates the NGO private briefing sessions reserved for NGOs to jointly bringtheir concerns to the Committee;
-recommends visibility opportunities for advocacy messaging during CAT sessions;
Contacts
Please contact lb@omct.org formedia inquiries or OMCT communications, nb@omct.org and cbb@omct.org about ourprogramme favoring civil-society participation before the CAT, and sa@omct.orgfor joining our SOS-Torture network.
[1] India’s Constitution Article 21 says« No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty exceptaccording to a procedure established by law ».