CHAPTER 5 PREVENTING TORTURE AND OTHER ILLTREATMENT States must take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture and other ill-treatment. They have a duty to act with due diligence to protect individuals from acts of torture and ill-treatment committed by private actors. Ensuring that procedural safeguards for persons deprived of their liberty are in place and respected will help to prevent torture and other ill-treatment, as will ratifying and implementing the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. Regular visits to places of detention by independent bodies is one of the most effective means to prevent torture and other ill-treatment.
5.1 The obligation to prevent torture and other ill-treatment 5.2 Monitoring treatment and conditions within places of detention 5.2.1 The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture 5.2.2 The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture 5.2.3 National Preventive Mechanisms 5.3 Other international monitoring mechanisms 5.3.1 The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture 5.3.2 The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 5.4 The role of the judiciary and legal professionals in the prevention of torture and other ill-treatment 5.5 The role of health professionals in the prevention of torture and other ill-treatment 5.5.1 Ethics standards for individual health professionals 5.5.2 Obligations on professional bodies: the role of the health professions 5.5.3 Legal decisions on the role of health professionals
5.1 THE OBLIGATION TO PREVENT TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT Key points: • States have obligations to ensure that state agents do not commit acts of torture and other ill-treatment, and to take preventive measures to stop abuses occurring. • States’ obligations also include preventing acts of torture and other ill-treatment by private individuals. • States must implement not only the measures to prevent torture that are set out in legal instruments, but also any other measures which would be effective in preventing torture. As discussed in Chapter 3.1, states have a “negative” obligation to ensure that state officials and other state agents do not commit acts of torture and other ill-treatment,
Combating torture and other ill-treatment
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