Section One Context About OPCAT The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) is an international human rights treaty designed to strengthen the protection of people deprived of their liberty. It acknowledges that such people are particularly vulnerable to ill-treatment, and advocates that efforts to end ill-treatment focus on prevention through a system of regular visits to places of detention. At the time of its adoption in 2002, OPCAT was the first treaty to establish a dual international and national system for the protection of human rights. At the international level, OPCAT established the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture (SPT). The role of the SPT is to periodically visit places of detention in each of the States which ratify the treaty (States Parties) and to make recommendations to those States concerning the prevention of ill-treatment. At the national level, OPCAT requires States Parties to have in place a ‘national preventive mechanism’ (NPM), the role of which is also to visit places of detention and monitor the treatment of and conditions for detainees. While the two visiting regimes – at international and national levels – may overlap, they are intended to complement each other and be mutually reinforcing. The scope of OPCAT is deliberately broad. States Parties must allow the SPT and the NPM to carry out visits to “any place under its jurisdiction and control where persons are or may be deprived of their liberty, either by virtue of an order given by a public authority or at its instigation or with its consent or acquiescence”. 1 OPCAT defines deprivation of liberty as “any form of detention or imprisonment or the placement of a person in a public or private custodial setting which that person is not permitted to leave at will by order of any judicial, administrative or other authority.” 2 About the SPT Following the entry into force of OPCAT in 2006, the SPT began its work in February 2007. The role of the SPT is to visit places of detention and make recommendations to States Parties concerning the protection of detainees against torture and other illtreatment. When they ratify OPCAT, States Parties must grant the SPT unrestricted access to all places of detention and allow it to conduct private interviews with any detainee it chooses, as well as any other relevant people. Sanctions against anyone, or any organisation, who speaks to the SPT are prohibited. States Parties are also obliged to provide the SPT with information on the number of detainees and the number of places of detention and their location, as well as information relating to treatment and conditions. Following a visit, the SPT passes on its recommendations and observations to the State in confidence and, if relevant, to the NPM. SPT reports may be published at the request of the State Party. OPCAT emphasises co-operation between the SPT and the State Party and the need for dialogue about the implementation of the SPT’s recommendations. 1 Article 4(1). The full text of OPCAT is available on the website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at: www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cat-one.htm 2 Article 4(2). 7