12-Point Programme for the Prevention of Torture
This
12-point programme sets out measures to prevent the torture and other
ill-treatment of people who are in governmental custody or otherwise in the
hands of agents of the state. It was first adopted by Amnesty International
in 1984, revised in October 2000 and again in April 2005. Amnesty
International holds governments to their international obligations to prevent
and punish torture and other ill-treatment, whether committed by agents of
the state or by other individuals. Amnesty International also opposes torture
and other ill-treatment by armed political groups. |
Torture and
other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (other ill-treatment)
are violations of human rights, condemned by the international community as an
offence to human dignity and prohibited in all circumstances under
international law. Yet they happen daily and across the globe. Immediate steps
are needed to confront these abuses wherever they occur and to eradicate them.
Amnesty International calls on all governments to implement the following
12-point programme and invites concerned individuals and organizations to
ensure that they do so. Amnesty International believes that the implementation
of these measures is a positive indication of a government’s commitment to end
torture and other ill-treatment and to work for their eradication worldwide.
1. Condemn
torture and other ill-treatment
The highest
authorities of every country should demonstrate their total opposition to
torture and other ill-treatment. They should condemn these practices
unreservedly whenever they occur. They should make clear to all members of the
police, military and other security forces that torture and other ill-treatment
will never be tolerated.
2. Ensure
access to prisoners
Torture and
other ill-treatment often take place while prisoners are held incommunicado –
unable to contact people outside who could help them or find out what is
happening to them. The practice of incommunicado detention should be ended.
Governments should ensure that all prisoners are brought before an independent
judicial authority without delay after being taken into custody. Prisoners
should have access to relatives, lawyers and doctors without delay and
regularly thereafter.
3. No secret
detention
In some
countries torture and other ill-treatment take place in secret locations, often
after the victims are made to "disappear". Governments should ensure
that prisoners are held only in officially recognized places of detention and
that accurate information about their arrest and whereabouts is made available
immediately to relatives, lawyers, the courts, and others with a legitimate
interest, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Effective judicial remedies should be available at all times to enable
relatives and lawyers to find out immediately where a prisoner is held and
under what authority, and to ensure the prisoner’s safety.
4. Provide
safeguards during detention and interrogation All prisoners should be immediately informed of
their rights. These include the right to lodge complaints about their treatment
and to have a judge rule without delay on the lawfulness of their detention.
Judges should investigate any evidence of torture or other ill-treatment and
order release if the detention is unlawful. A lawyer should be present during
interrogations. Governments should ensure that conditions of detention conform
to international standards for the treatment of prisoners and take into account
the needs of members of particularly vulnerable groups. The authorities
responsible for detention should be separate from those in charge of
interrogation. There should be regular, independent, unannounced and
unrestricted visits of inspection to all places of detention.
5. Prohibit
torture and other ill-treatment in law
Governments
should adopt laws for the prohibition and prevention of torture and other
ill-treatment incorporating the main elements of the UN Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(Convention against Torture) and other relevant international standards. All
judicial and administrative corporal punishments should be abolished. The
prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment and the essential safeguards for
their prevention must not be suspended under any circumstances, including
states of war or other public emergency.
6.
Investigate
All
complaints and reports of torture or other ill-treatment should be promptly,
impartially and effectively investigated by a body independent of the alleged
perpetrators. The scope, methods and findings of such investigations should be
made public. Officials suspected of committing torture or other ill-treatment
should be suspended from active duty during the investigation. Complainants,
witnesses and others at risk should be protected from intimidation and
reprisals.
7. Prosecute
Those
responsible for torture or other ill-treatment should be brought to justice.
This principle applies wherever those suspected of these crimes happen to be,
whatever their nationality or position, regardless of where the crime was
committed and the nationality of the victims, and no matter how much time has
elapsed since the commission of the crime. Governments should exercise
universal jurisdiction over those suspected of these crimes, extradite them, or
surrender them to an international criminal court, and cooperate in such
criminal proceedings. Trials should be fair. An order from a superior officer
should never be accepted as a justification for torture or ill-treatment.
8. No use of
statements extracted under torture or other ill-treatment
Governments
should ensure that statements and other evidence obtained through torture or
other ill-treatment may not be invoked in any proceedings, except against a
person accused of torture or other ill-treatment.
9. Provide
effective training
It should be
made clear during the training of all officials involved in the custody,
interrogation or medical care of prisoners that torture and other ill-treatment
are criminal acts. Officials should be instructed that they have the right and
duty to refuse to obey any order to torture or carry out other ill-treatment.
10. Provide
reparation
Victims of
torture or other ill-treatment and their dependants should be entitled to
obtain prompt reparation from the state including restitution, fair and
adequate financial compensation and appropriate medical care and
rehabilitation.
11. Ratify
international treaties
All
governments should ratify without reservations international treaties
containing safeguards against torture and other ill-treatment, including the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its first Optional
Protocol; and the UN Convention against Torture, with declarations providing
for individual and inter-state complaints, and its Optional Protocol.
Governments should comply with the recommendations of international bodies and
experts on the prevention of torture and other ill-treatment.
12. Exercise
international responsibility
Governments
should use all available channels to intercede with the governments of
countries where torture or other ill-treatment are reported. They should ensure
that transfers of training and equipment for military, security or police use
do not facilitate torture or other ill-treatment. Governments must not forcibly
return or transfer a person to a country where he or she would be at risk of
torture or other ill-treatment.