Guatemala paves the way for a national anti-torture body
On 7 October 2010, the National Congress of Guatemala passed a law on the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM).
Guatemala has established the legal basis for creating a
national oversight mechanism, the NPM, which will monitor all
places of detention in the country with a view to strengthening the
protection against torture. Hereby Guatemala has come one step
closer to fulfilling its obligations under the Optional Protocol to
the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT), which it ratified in
2008.
The new law is expected to have a significant impact on the
prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment in Guatemala. It paves the way for
setting-up a specialist anti-torture body, which will conduct
regular and independent visits to prisons, police stations and
other places of detention. One of the purposes of the NPM is to
examine the treatment and conditions of persons deprived of their
liberty and enter into a dialogue with the authorities about how to
prevent violations of the human dignity and integrity of the most
vulnerable persons in society.
"With this new law, Guatemala has gained a powerful tool with which
it can improve the inhuman treatment and the deplorable conditions
in many Guatemalan prisons through a sustained and constructive
dialogue with the authorities", says Therese Rytter, Legal Advisor
of the RCT.
RCT has a long term commitment to Guatemala and has been supporting
the process of torture prevention for over a decade. The adoption
of the NPM law represents a milestone in the joint efforts of
national and international organizations, notably the RCT's
long-standing partner organization in Guatemala, the Human Rights
Office of the Archbishop of Guatemala (ODHAG), and the Office of
the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to put an end to the
practice of torture.
The Optional Protocol introduces a system of regular visits by
independent international and national bodies to places of
detention to prevent torture and other ill-treatment. The NPM is
the national arm of the Optional Protocol, which entered into force
in 2006. The Optional Protocol is based on the idea that the more
open and transparent the places of detention are, the fewer abuses
will find place.
Homepage of
ODHAG
For further details on the
NPM law
For further details on the Optional
Protocol