ALHR Activities

Joint Letter to Attorney-General urges Government to ratify OPCAT

Date	21 December 2011
Subject	International Treaties and Domestic Implementation
Type	Letter
Description	The Hon Nicola Roxon, MP Attorney-General Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 21 December 2011 Dear Attorney Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. We, the undersigned organisations, are writing to urge the Australian Government to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). We note that in December 2007, the newly elected Federal Labor Government announced its intention to ratify OPCAT and that in the intervening four years some progress has been made to make this happen. However, we are also aware that this has yet to occur. Our position is based on the serious and well-documented concerns with conditions of detention, including prisons, mental health facilities and immigration detention. We believe that ratifying OPCAT will assist Australian governments to protect the basic rights of people who are detained. There is strong evidence that external scrutiny of places of detention can deter and, where necessary, help to redress torture and other forms of ill treatment. Specifically, we support the international inspection regime, which will provide an important accountability measure through the international treaty system. We also support OPCAT?s ?national preventative mechanism? system. Properly implemented, this will promote greater transparency for placed of detention, and also a means for rectifying problems that arise in the detention system. It is in the interests of the broader community to prevent ill treatment in detention in order rehabilitation and reintegration into the broader community. For this reason, we encourage the Australian Government to ratify OPCAT as soon as possible. If you would like to discuss any of there matters further, please contact Edward Santow (02 8898 6598 or [email protected]). Yours sincerely, Edward Santow, CEO, Public Interest Advocary Centre, and on behalf of the follow organisations. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (Qld) Ltd Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement Inc Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia Amnesty International Australia Australian Lawyers for Human Rights Castan Centre for Human Rights Law Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service Civil Liberties Australia Community Legal Centres Association (WA) Inc Edmund Rice Centre Federation of Community Legal Centres (Victoria) Inc Human Rights Law Centre Hunter Community Legal Centre Illawarra Legal Centre Inc International Commission of Jurists (NSW Branch) Kingsford Legal Centre Marrickville Legal Centre North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency People with Disabilities Australia Prisoners Legal Service Inc (Qld) Public Interest Law Clearing House NSW Redfern Legal Centre Shoalcoast Community Legal Centre Uniting Justice Australia Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service Co-operative Ltd Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture
Attachments	Joint Letter to AG urging OPCAT ratification Dec 2011 (410.41 Kb)

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