{"id":252762,"date":"2023-03-13T21:43:44","date_gmt":"2023-03-13T19:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/press\/united-nations-un-experts-call-on-south-africa-to-create-torture-prevention-body?lang=en"},"modified":"2023-03-13T21:43:44","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T19:43:44","slug":"united-nations-un-experts-call-on-south-africa-to-create-torture-prevention-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/united-nations-un-experts-call-on-south-africa-to-create-torture-prevention-body\/","title":{"rendered":"United Nations (UN) experts call on South Africa to create torture prevention body"},"content":{"rendered":"

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South Africa must swiftly set up a watchdog mechanism to examine prisons, detention centres, and other facilities, UN independent experts on torture prevention said on Monday, citing “entrenched” ill treatment.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The experts offered several recommendations after observing a range of concerns, from poor detention conditions to allegations of corruption<\/strong>, on the heels of the first visit<\/strong> of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT) to South Africa, from 26 February to 9 March.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

“This must change<\/strong>,” said Abdallah Ounnir, head of the subcommittee’s delegation. “There is an urgent need<\/strong> for South Africa to fully establish a national preventive mechanism.”<\/p>\n

This would ensure the country’s compliance with its commitment made in 2019 to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture<\/a>, he explained.<\/p>\n

Such a national preventive mechanism should be a fully independent monitoring body<\/strong> empowered to visit all places of detention, which “is key to prevent torture and ill-treatment<\/strong> in the country”, he said.<\/p>\n

‘Inhuman’ practices<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the visit, he said the delegation had noted the overuse of liberty deprivation<\/strong> across sectors, such as prisons, police stations, immigration facilities, mental health facilities, and drug treatment centres.<\/p>\n

“This reflects a de facto punitive<\/strong> rather than a rehabilitative approach to crime <\/strong>and other social issues,” he said. “The high number of remand detainees and overcrowding <\/strong>in detention places reflect deficiencies in the criminal justice system and the judiciary.”<\/p>\n

In addition, the delegation received allegations of corruption<\/strong> within facilities and “observed entrenched inhuman practices, ill-treatment, and poor detention conditions<\/strong>,” he said.<\/p>\n

Taking a proactive approach<\/strong><\/p>\n

The subcommittee visited public and private penitentiaries, police stations, military detention barracks, youth care centres, psychiatric hospitals, drug rehabilitation institutions, and a migrant detention camp.<\/p>\n

They conducted confidential interviews<\/strong> with staff members and people held in these institutions and met with Government officials, civil society, the South African Human Rights Commission, and related bodies.<\/p>\n

Following the visit, the subcommittee will submit a confidential report<\/strong> to the Government of South Africa, with observations and recommendations<\/strong> to prevent torture and ill-treatment of people deprived of their liberty.<\/p>\n

The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture began its work in the UN human rights system in 2007, with a preventive mandate focused on taking a proactive approach to preventing torture and ill treatment.<\/p>\n

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN News.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: Africa Newsroom – APO<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Download logo South Africa must swiftly set up a watchdog mechanism to examine prisons, detention centres, and other facilities, UN independent experts on torture prevention said on Monday, citing “entrenched” ill treatment. The experts offered several recommendations after observing a range of concerns, from poor detention conditions to allegations of corruption, on the heels of the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":252763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[4585],"class_list":{"0":"post-252762","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa-news-2","8":"tag-apo","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/united-nations-un-experts-call-on-south-africa-to-create-torture-prevention-body.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}