TREC/004/10/2013 – Prisons and Conditions of Detention and Prevention and Prohibition of Torture and other Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Africa
We, the participants of the NGO Forum preceding the 54th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and the 28th African Human Rights Book Fair held from 18th – 20th October, 2013 in Banjul, The Gambia
Hereby call on the African Commission to:
- Provide clear guidance to states on the contents of member states’ reports in respect of measures taken to implement prison and the prevention and eradication of torture and other ill treatment;
- Call upon adoption of the Draft Guidelines on Police Custody and Pre-Trial Detention when they are presented to the Commission in 2014. We commend the Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention for facilitating regional consultations in the drafting of the Guidelines;
- Encourage the provision of the ACHPR’s in-puts on the Draft General Comment 1 of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child on the imprisonment of infants with their mothers;
- Push Member States to ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and to also urge states to develop where lacking and utilize existing independent visiting mechanisms for places of detention;
- Encourage Member States to include human rights training, including in particular training on the prevention and eradication of torture and other ill treatment, in the curriculum of state security agencies and law enforcement officials.
- Advocate for Member States to provide training to investigating authorities on the Istanbul Protocol to ensure the prompt, effective and impartial investigation of torture and ill-treatment;
- Insist that member states comply with their obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as articulated in the Robben Island Guidelines and UN General Comment No. 3 on Article 14 by providing victims of torture and other ill treatment with prompt and effective redress.
Done in Banjul, The Gambia on 20th October, 2013
