OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine supports creation of mechanisms to prevent torture and ill-treatment in detention

LVIV, Ukraine, 26 October, 2009 - An East European Conference that looks at challenges and practical aspects of implementing national mechanisms to prevent torture and ill-treatment in detention, co-hosted by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU), started today in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

The event focuses on the implementation of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT) in Eastern Europe and elsewhere in the OSCE region, with a special emphasis on the role of civil society. The protocol calls for the creation of national mechanisms to prevent torture in places of detention.

"The OSCE strongly supports Ukraine's efforts to create and use an efficient national preventive mechanism, thereby strengthening democracy and the rule of law," said Ambassador Lubomir Kopaj, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator. "These values constitute the core of the OSCE commitments."

The OSCE PCU is organizing the conference jointly with the International Custody Visiting Association, the Kharkiv Institute for Social Research and the Open Society Institute.

Representatives from institutions dealing with human rights protection and torture prevention matters in Armenia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Tajikistan and the United Kingdom are taking part in the event.

Participants from Ukraine include officials from the Parliamentary Ombudsman's Office, the National Security and Defence Council, several government ministries, the National Academy of the Prosecutor's Office, as well as regional co-ordinators from mobile monitoring groups - which, with the support of the OSCE PCU, make regular inspection visits to detention facilities.

During the meeting, the OSCE PCU will share lessons from its three-year experience of supporting Ukraine's Interior Ministry in establishing a system of civil monitoring in detention facilities across the country. Such monitoring is part of the creation of the national mechanisms to prevent torture and ill-treatment.