A Monitoring Guide
37
Selection priorities and criteria can be linked to types of places (e.g.
prisons, psychiatric institutions), particular issues (e.g. the use of
solitary confinement, access to healthcare) or categories of detainees (e.g. pre-trial, persons with disabilities). Monitoring bodies may
decide that the assessment of the situation of LGBTI persons deprived of liberty will be a priority, either as a stand-alone objective or
alongside other situations of vulnerability and forms of discrimination. Such decisions may be based on prior observations, information received (including letters from detainees and their relatives or
friends), changes at the legal or policy level, or simply a recognition
that the risks facing LGBTI persons deprived of their liberty require specific attention and dedicated consideration. In these cases,
monitoring bodies will need to consider whether to assess the treatment of LGBTI persons in specific types of facilities (e.g. prisons,
immigration detention centers) or to examine the issue across various detention settings.
During the planning stages, monitoring bodies will need to determine what expertise, capacities, and resources will be required to
achieve their objectives. They should also ensure that sufficient
time is allocated for visiting each contemplated facility, in recognition of the fact that this is a prerequisite for gaining an in-depth
understanding of extant power structures, relationships, and discriminatory patterns. It is also essential that monitoring bodies take
into consideration situations of risk that may be amplified by intersectional factors, and pay special attention to how sexual orientation and gender identity intersects with ethnicity, gender, age, or the
existence of a disability.
Planning decisions will depend on context-specific factors. In some
countries, for instance, closed institutions have special units or wings for gay, bisexual, and/or trans women detainees who are partially
or entirely segregated from the rest of the general population (it
should be noted that even when this practice is not officially ack34
Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, Analytical assessment tool for national preventive mechanisms, CAT/OP/1/rev.1, 25 January 2016, para. 22, p. 7.
Chapter II
human rights problems34.”
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