The Maputo Declaration

Against Torture and OtherCruel, Inhuman or Degrading

Treatment or Punishment

The undersigned African Human RightsNon-Governmental Organisations fighting torture and other cruel, inhuman ordegrading treatment or punishment and the World Organisation Against Torture(OMCT), meeting at the African Regional Seminar on Addressing the Economic,Social and Cultural Root Causes of Torture and Other Forms of Violence, held inMaputo, Mozambique, from 7 to 11 May 2008;

Recognise thatviolations of economic, social and cultural rights are very often the rootcauses of the torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment orpunishment that our organisations fight against and that such violations can beeffectively reduced and eliminated by action on those root causes;

Call for concertedaction on the national and international levels in collaboration with othercivil society partners to identify, address and act upon those root causesalong with those violations of civil and political rights that make torture andother cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment possible;

Strongly reaffirm that torture and other cruel,inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are absolutely prohibited in all circumstancesby international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and thattorture and other inhuman acts constitute in certain circumstances crimesagainst humanity under the Statute of the International Criminal Court. Nocircumstances can ever justify torture and other cruel, inhuman or degradingtreatment or punishment and such acts must be made criminal offences innational law. States are responsible before the international community foroutlawing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment orpunishment, for preventing their occurrence, for prosecuting and punishingthose guilty of such acts and for providing reparation to the victims;

Strongly deplore the open practice andjustification by certain States of torture and other cruel, inhuman ordegrading treatment or punishment and the open or silent cooperation andcomplicity of other States in those practices that gravely undermine our dailywork and provide justification to repressive regimes that practice torture andother cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

Further, express our deepest concern at attemptsby certain public figures, jurists, academics and others to undermine theabsolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatmentor punishment and the complicity of some media in justifying such unlawfultreatment;

Emphasising that in our daily work of defendinghuman rights and human dignity, we are witness to the devastating physical andpsychological consequences that torture and other cruel, inhuman or degradingtreatment or punishment inflict on the victims, such as women, men, children,youth, the poor and marginalised, indigenous peoples, minorities and others, ontheir family members and on society as a whole, in addition to the dehumanisingeffects upon those who practice torture and other forms of ill-treatment;

Welcome the conclusions of 29 April 2008 of theCouncil of the European Union in which it recalled "the EU's firm positionto fully comply with obligations in respect of torture and other cruel, inhumanor degrading treatment or punishment, in the fight against terrorism, inparticular the absolute prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degradingtreatment";

Call on all States to make similar statementscategorically rejecting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatmentor punishment;

Call, in particular, on African Governments toend torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment andto make Africa a continent free from such practices, to end impunity byidentifying, prosecuting and punishing those guilty, directly or indirectly, oftorture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and toensure justice, reparation, assistance and rehabilitation to victims of tortureand other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

Recognise the essential role of civil societyorganizations in effectively ending torture and other cruel, inhuman ordegrading treatment or punishment and in efforts to ensure justice, reparation,assistance and rehabilitation for the victims;

Call for strengthening of the civil societyorganizations fighting torture and other forms of ill-treatment and increasedcooperation with them on the part of national authorities in the fight againsttorture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

Encourage the African Union, the European Unionand the United Nations to take practical steps to strengthen their cooperationand activities against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatmentor punishment, in particular within the framework of the Guidelines to EUpolicy towards third countries on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degradingtreatment or punishment and to strengthen their cooperation and support forcivil society organisations engaged in the promotion and protection of humanrights;

Request all interested organisations to joinwith the World Organisation Against Torture in adhering to this Declaration andin circulating it widely, and invite organisations and individuals to transmitthis Declaration to all African Governments, the African Union, the EuropeanUnion, the United Nations and other relevant institutions.

• Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), Burundi
• Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), Central African Republic
• Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), Togo
• Association pour les Droits de l’Homme et l’Univers Carcéral (ADHUC), Republic of the Congo
• Centre for Security and Development Studies (CSDS), Liberia
• CLEEN Foundation, Nigeria
• Comité des Observateurs des Droits de l'Homme (CODHO), Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Comité de Réflexion et d’Orientation Indépendant pour la Sauvegarde des Acquis Démocratiques (CROISADE), Niger
• Defence for Children International (DCI), Ghana
• Enfants Solidaires d’Afrique et du Monde (ESAM), Benin
• Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU), Kenya
• International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Kenya
• Land Centre for Human Rights (LCHR), Egypt
• Mouvement pour la Défense des Droits de l'Homme et des Libertés (MDDHL), Cameroon
• Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (RADDHO), Senegal
• Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF), Zambia
• World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Switzerland
• Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Zimbabwe

Maputo, Mozambique

11 May 2008

In addition, thefollowing organisations and individuals adhere to and express their support forthe message and principles contained in the Maputo Declaration:

• Action pour la protection des personnes vulnérables en Afrique, Democratic Republic of Congo

• African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (ACTV), Uganda
• Les Amis de Martin Luther King, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Amis des Victimes des Violations des Droits Humains (AVVDH), Democratic Republic of Congo
• Antenna International, Switzerland
• Association d’aide et de protection des groupes vulnérables du Centre Nord (APVCN), Burkina Faso

• L’Association de Défense des Droits de l’Homme au Maroc (ASDHOM), France
• Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, Bulgaria
• Centre Action Social Réhabilitation et Réadaptation pour la Victime de la Torture (SOHRAM-CASRA), Turkey
• Centre for Human Rights, Democracy and Transitional Justice Studies, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Centre for Minority Rights Development (CEMIRIDE), Kenya
• Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), South Africa
• Centro de Atencion Psicosocial (CAPS), Peru
• Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative (CSPRI), South Africa
• Conferencia Nacional de Organizaciones Afrocolombiana (CNOAY), Colombia
• Corporación Centro de Pastoral Afrocolombiana (CEPAC)
• European Association for the Defence of Human Rights (AEPADO), Romania
• Groupe Justice et Libération (GJL), Democratic Republic of Congo
• Khulumani Support Group, South Africa
• Jananeethi Institute, India
• Justiça Global, Brazil
• Justice and Peace Commission, Mexico
• La Ligue Camerounaise des Droits Humains, Cameroon
• Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Nigeria
• Nora Wilson, Toronto, Canada
• Organização de Dereitos Humanos – Projeto Legal, Brazil
• ‘Dejo Olowu, Professor of Law, Walter Sisulu University, South Africa
• Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), Philippines
• Programme d'appui pour le développement de la femme et de l'enfant du Congo (PADEFECO), Democratic Republic of Congo
• Rencontre pour la Paix et les Droits de l’Homme (RPDH), Republic of Congo – Brazzaville
• South Africa No Torture Consortium (SANTOC). The Consortium is made up of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, the Institute for Healing of Memories, the Khulumani Support Group, the Southern African Centre for Survivors of Torture and the Trauma Centre for Survivors of Violence and Torture-

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