OSCE promotes international exchange of best practices for preventing torture in detention facilities

LVIV, 13 November 2014 - The Fifth East European Conference on National Preventive Mechanisms, co-hosted by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, the
country’s Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights and the Kharkiv Institute for Social Researches, started in Lviv today.

The two-day will discuss the challenges and practical aspects of the implementation of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT) in Eastern Europe and the OSCE region as a whole. Conference participants, including the Ombudsman of Ukraine, governmental officials and NGO experts, will focus specifically on the functioning of national preventive mechanism in Ukraine and the role of civil society in establishing and supporting a system of civil monitoring in custodial settings across the country.

“Civil society is an important player able to enhance and complement the efforts of the Parliament Ombudsman in performing systematic oversight over the protection of human rights in places such as prisons, soul asylums, orphanages,” said Ambassador Vaidotas Verba, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator. “Looking at the wider perspective, participation of NGO activists is a crucial element for enhancing the public trust in law enforcement system, which is essential for maintaining the stability of Ukraine.”

Since 2008 the OSCE Project Co-ordinator has been actively supporting the establishment of a national torture prevention mechanism with participation of civil society. This support included development of the methodological instruments and regulations, training of civil monitors, providing organizational and financial support to the practical field work of monitoring groups, and visiting detention facilities. 

The conference will also provide insights into the foreign experience of creation and functioning of the national preventive mechanisms, including those of Kazakhstan, Germany, United Kingdom, Poland and Georgia. The representatives of Association for the Prevention of Torture and the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture are to provide a wider perspective on developments in the OSCE region.

The Conference is a part of an OSCE project, aiming to support the prevention and investigation of torture and ill-treatment of detainees in Ukraine.