UN torture prevention body to visit Argentina

GENEVA (14 April 2022) - The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) is set to visit Argentina from 20 to 30 April 2022 to assess the country’s implementation of the recommendations it made during its previous visit.

"We are pleased to resume our visit to Argentina that we unfortunately had to suspend in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Carmen Comas-Mata Mira, head of the five-member delegation. “We are looking forward to liaising with various counterparts and monitoring places of deprivation of liberty, which will provide an insight into the changes in the system since our first visit ten years ago.”

The SPT visited Argentina for the first time in 2012 and presented a report to the State party with recommendations after its visit, which Argentina agreed to make public. Among its recommendations, the Subcommittee called for civilian governance of the prison sector, and urged Argentina to implement a national plan for prisons to combat violence.

To follow up on its previous recommendations, the SPT delegation will hold meetings with government authorities, civil society, and national preventative mechanisms, and visit places of deprivation of liberty. After the visit, the SPT will share a new report with the authorities. The report will remain confidential unless Argentina decides to make it public.

Argentina ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) in 2004. The country passed legislation in 2012 to set up its National Preventive Mechanism committee, composed of national and provincial mechanisms, to serve as the country’s torture prevention bodies to monitor places where people are deprived of their liberty.

Under its mandate, the SPT can undertake visits to all States parties to the Optional Protocol and carry out unannounced visits to all places where people are deprived of their liberty. To date, the SPT has visited over 60 countries since 2007, when it began its mandate.

The SPT considers that the fundamental element in the prevention of torture and ill-treatment is the establishment of a constructive relationship with every State party and its preventive mechanism. The guiding principles of this relationship are cooperation and confidentiality.

The SPT delegation comprises Head of Delegation Carmen Comas-Mata Mira (Spain), Patricia Arias (Chile), Massimiliano Bagaglini (Italy), Marco Feoli Villalobos (Costa Rica) and Marie Brasholt (Denmark).

ENDS

Background

To date, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture has been ratified by 91 states. States are under the obligation to allow the SPT unannounced and unhindered visits to all places where persons are deprived of their liberty. States Parties should also establish a national preventive mechanism, which should conduct regular visits to places throughout the country where people are deprived of liberty.

The mandate of the SPT is to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of persons deprived of their liberty, through visits and recommendations to States parties to the Optional Protocol. The SPT communicates its recommendations and observations to States by means of a confidential report and, where necessary, to national preventive mechanisms. However, States parties are encouraged to request that the SPT publish the reports.
The SPT is composed of 25 independent and impartial members who are independent human rights experts drawn from around the world, who serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States Parties.