The United Nations torture prevention agency has suspended its tour of Australian prisons over what it says is a lack of cooperation from the facilities. the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), to which Australia is a party.
The SPT said he was restricted from accessing several areas where people are detained and was not given all requested documentation.
The body said its visit, which began on October 16 and was due to last until October 27, had been “so compromised that they had no choice but to call it off”. delegation, said it was a “clear breach by Australia of its obligations under the OPCAT”. “States parties have an obligation to host the SPT on their territory and to allow it to exercise its mandate in full, as reflected in Articles 12 and 14,” he said in a statement. Ms Muhammad said the body experienced the greatest resistance in Queensland and NSW. “It is deeply regrettable that the limited understanding of the mandate of the SPT and the lack of cooperation stemming from internal disagreements, particularly with regard to the States of Queensland and New South Wales, has forced us to take this drastic step,” he said. to say. “This is not a decision that the SPT has taken lightly.” States that ratify the OPCAT give the SPT the right to visit their sites. of detention and examination and the treatment of the people detained there. Ms Muhammad said the visits do not constitute an investigation or inspection, but provide an opportunity to provide confidential recommendations “on the establishment of effective safeguards against the risk of torture and ill-treatment in places of deprivation of liberty”.
He said it was “worrying” that four years after ratifying the protocol, Australia appeared “to have done little to ensure consistent implementation of OPCAT obligations”.
More than 70 leading organizations and individuals signed the condemnation of the NSW and Queensland governments for their violations against the SPT.” The OPCAT is designed to protect the fundamental human rights of people detained in places that include, among others, prisons, juvenile detention centers, immigration. detention centers, hospitals, mental health centers, senior care centers and facilities for people with disabilities,” the statement said. essential element of the framework established in the OPCAT.” We therefore condemn in the strongest terms possible decisions that necessarily serve to obstruct or impede the preventive mandate of the SPT, which focuses on a proactive approach to preventing torture and ill-treatment of adults vulnerable and children.” Parties that signed the statement include the University of NSW, the Human Rights Law Center and Save the Children. Human Rights Watch Asia director Elaine Pearson wrote on Twitter that it was “appalling” that the visit had to be called off. NSW Corrections Minister Geoff Lee told Sydney’s 2GB radio last week that he said prison officers at a Queanbeyan facility had done “the right thing” in denying the entrance of the delegation. “The whole role of our prison system is to keep people safe, to protect us from the criminals we lock up every day. It’s not to allow people to go as they please,” he said. “They should go to Iran and look for human rights violations there.”
The SPT says it expects Australia to provide “adequate safeguards” so it can resume travel.