18th annual report of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture
Summary
The present report follows the structure adopted by the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment at its fifty-fourth sessiona and contains a description of the work that the Subcommittee undertook in 2024.
Following a brief introduction, the Subcommittee provides an update on matters relating to the system of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, including the number of States Parties, the Subcommittee’s sessions and membership and the operation of the Special Fund established by the Optional Protocol (sect. II).
The Subcommittee also provides substantive information concerning its visits, visit reports and follow-up dialogues (sect. III), national preventive mechanisms (sect. IV) and engagement with other bodies in the field of torture prevention (sect. VI). The Subcommittee dedicates a specific section of the report to the adoption of its first general comment (sect. V).
The Subcommittee concludes by describing its plan of work for 2025 (sect. VII) and sharing reflections and future challenges (sect. VIII).
The annexes contain the Subcommittee’s submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on its general comment No. 27 on children’s rights to access to justice and effective remedies and its submission to the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief following the call for input for a report on religion or belief and torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Excerpt: Advice to national preventive mechanisms: impact of drug policies on the effective prevention of torture and ill-treatment
Mindful of the numerous reports emanating from the United Nations human rights system on the negative impact of drug policies on the full implementation of human rights, the Subcommittee deems it appropriate to reflect on its own experience regarding the impact of drug policies on effective strategies to prevent torture and other ill-treatment. Throughout the two decades of its mandate, the Subcommittee has considered the impact of drug policies on strategies to prevent torture and ill-treatment and the effective implementation of the obligations undertaken by States Parties to the Optional Protocol as well as on the full realization of the mandates of national preventive mechanisms worldwide.
The variety of approaches to combat drugs adopted by different States has a significant impact on the rights of persons deprived of liberty, including the freedom from torture and other ill-treatment, in a wide variety of settings of deprivation of liberty. In the criminal justice context, such approaches include “zero-tolerance” and “war on drugs” policies, implemented through widespread arrests, mandatory pretrial detention and sentencing, which all contribute significantly to overcrowding in detention. However, prisons, as well as police and other criminal justice detention facilities, are usually ill-equipped to offer the specific healthcare services required by detainees who use drugs, including medical assistance for acute and extremely painful withdrawal symptoms. The Subcommittee has documented the absence of effective detoxification and treatment programmes within detention facilities, the lack of independent and specifically trained medical personnel responding to the needs of detainees who use drugs, especially for withdrawal symptoms, and even deaths in custody as a result of methadone overdose.
Consequently, while urging States to address the negative impact of drugs in detention facilities, including inter-prisoner violence and corruption, the Subcommittee has also made recommendations on providing effective treatment to detainees who use drugs. These recommendations include the provision of specialist treatment programmes, equivalent to those available outside prisons, respecting the principle of equivalence of care, appropriate testing, to be carried out by medical personnel only, detoxification programmes, medication and immediate medical assistance for withdrawal symptoms, effective reintegration programmes following release to guard against relapses and assistance with social reintegration. The Subcommittee has emphasized the need for detainees with substance use disorders to be moved to specialist healthcare facilities where appropriate treatment can be provided.
Moreover, the Subcommittee has been mindful of institutionalization approaches to the drug problem worldwide and has made it clear that effective drug strategies must include prevention, including harm reduction, and the provision of effective outpatient treatment, with appropriate follow-up to treatment and the provision of care and treatment in communities to minimize reliance on the deprivation of liberty as part of the response to drug use.
Recalling article 4 of the Optional Protocol, the Subcommittee has emphasized that deprivation of liberty may take place in a wide variety of contexts, including healthcare and treatment for drug use. In this regard, recognizing that drug treatment centres, including compulsory drug treatment centres and private facilities, as well as any other settings, including unofficial ones and/or those operating under different national social, cultural and/or religious traditions, fall under the mandate of both the Subcommittee and national preventive mechanisms is paramount. Equally, the Subcommittee has underscored the importance of any treatment in such facilities being evidence-based, holistic and carried out solely by specifically trained interdisciplinary medical personnel, with emphasis on the therapeutic and voluntary nature of the treatment, ensuring that patients in such drug treatment centres are not subjected to coercive techniques, corporal punishment or punitive regimes. Lastly, the reintegration into society of persons treated for drug use should be prioritized, including through the effective provision of education and vocational training.
As the Subcommittee continues to implement its mandate as required by article 11 of the Optional Protocol, it will retain and reinforce its focus on the negative impacts of drug policies on effective strategies to prevent torture and ill-treatment. It urges all national preventive mechanisms to ensure that they include national drug policies in their mandates to prevent torture and ill-treatment at the national levels and monitor in particular the effects of the practical implementation of any such drug policies on the rights of all persons deprived of their liberty, be it in criminal justice, administrative, healthcare or other contexts.