OMCT alarmed over Hong Kong officials asking China to withdraw from universal torture framework
PRESS RELEASE
Geneva, 10 April 2016 – High-level government officials of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)are said to have publicly urged China to withdraw from the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT)amidst controversial plans of detaining and returning asylum seekers. The OMCT recalls that torture is absolutelyprohibited under any circumstances and so is the return of people to places where there is a real risk of torture.
“That such a step is serious contemplated is a shocking precedent. No state has ever withdrawn from the universalconvention on the eradication of torture. Such step would be in clear contradiction to a whole set of standardsbinding on Hong-Kong. It would make the province an international outcast setting back protections to the darkages”, said Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.
The consideration now is even more astonishing as it comes only fours months after the Committee Against Torture(CAT), the universal UN body overseeing countries compliance with the convention, has issued far reachingConcluding Observations with respect to Hong Kong, China.
“Lets be very clear. The problem are the countries that torture people and not the legal norm that prevents us fromsending them back when we know they would be tortured.,” said OMCT Secretary General Gerald Staberock.
Rather than considering the withdrawal from the Convention the OMCT calls on the HKSAR to assume itsresponsibility to implement the concluding observations adopted by the UN Committee Against Torture inDecember 2015 and to strengthen the rule of law.
For further information please contact:
Lori Brumat, OMCT Head of Communications, lb@omct.org, +41 22 809 49 33 Carin Benninger-Budel , Program Director at Global CAT Civil Society Programme, cbb@omct.org, +41 228094939