Launch of a new initiative on media empowerment and torture

OMCT and GMEDIA[1]:

Geneva, 29 October 2012

Today the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)and GMedia are launching a new initiative of empowering journalists to reporton torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment orpunishment.

‘Journalistsplay a vital role in fostering the global rejection of torture. Reaching out tothem is essential if we want to bring UN anti-torture standards home’, saidGerald Staberock, Secretary Generalof the OMCT. ‘For too long processes suchas those before the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) have been the prominenceof a selected few. We need to make them more accessible, understood and raisethe interest of journalists in them from countries around the world that areexamined by the Committee’, he added.

‘We aresupporting journalists to understand human rights standards and mechanisms,including on torture. This partnership brings media and human rights expertisetogether in order to build successively a community of journalists committedagainst torture and serious human rights violations’, said Francesco Mochetta, Co-founder andPresident of Gmedia.

Over the coming years both organizations will reachout to journalists reporting on the issue of torture. As part of thisinitiative they will invite and train journalists on international human rightsstandards in parallel to the hearings of UN human rights mechanisms, notablythe UN Committee Against Torture (CAT).

The first training of this sort will take place fromOctober 29-November 3, 2012 including journalists from Mexico. The CommitteeAgainst Torture, the UN’s authoritative body against torture, will examineMexico’s anti-torture policies this week. The OMCT and members of the SOStorture network (Human Rights Centre Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez,the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights and theNational Network of Human Rights Civil Society Organisations “All the rightsfor all”) submitted three reports tothe Committee documenting the increasing escalation of violence, including actsof torture, that are committed in a climate of impunity. A public briefing ofthese reports will also take place on Tuesday, 30th October, at6.30, at the Maison des Associations (Café-Resto les Savoise), Geneva.

For further information please contact:

OMCT, + 41 22 809 49 39 or +41 22 809 49 23 or gs@omct.org

Gmedia, +41 22 809 49 33 orcvieiraneto@gmediacenter.net

[1] Gmedia is a Geneva based NGO whose mission is toempower media in furthering civil society goals on human rights and democracyincluding torture. To learn more about Gmedia visit www.gmediacenter.net.