Over the past decade, the tragic images of migrants fleeing torture, armed conflict, corruption, poverty, and marginalisation, have been known to all.
What is less known is that torture is often closely related to migration, whether as an underlying root cause or as one of the worst crimes that migrants have to endure on their journey. Once they reach safety, migrants who are torture survivors need support and treatment. Both are key to inclusion and rights-based policies.
States have been largely unwilling or unable to put in place minimum levels of protection for people on the move. In Africa - as elsewhere - existing migration laws and policies to protect migrants against torture have proven largely ineffective. Transit countries in the Maghreb and destination countries in Europe have implemented pullback and pushback policies that have recently increased the vulnerability of migrants to criminal groups and traffickers.
January 20, 2021
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Belarus.
New information:
Leanid Sudalenka, lawyer of the Homieĺ (Gomel) branch of Viasna, and
Maria Tarasenka, Viasna’s volunteer and Mr. Sudalenka’s assistant. Mr. Sudalenka works on documenting human rights violations and has helped Belarusian citizens to prepare over 84 individual complaints to the UN Human Rights Committee. Leanid Sudalenka is a laureate of the 2018 “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
How do States comply with international law?
The United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) monitors the implementation of States Parties’ obligations under the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The CAT was created in accordance with article 17 of the Convention against Torture. It is one of 10 treaty bodies attached to various human rights conventions. Please note that all CAT sessions have been postponed until 2021 due to COVID-19. Keep following this page for updates on the next sessions. You can also read our OMCT blog and OMCT E-Bulletin. Additionally, you can browse our country pages to learn about the CAT status of any and all countries in the world.