The Human Rights Law Resource Centre strongly supports Australia’s proposed accession to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Optional Protocol).
The Optional Protocol establishes a system of regular visits to places of detention by both international and domestic independent expert bodies in order to prevent torture and other forms of ill-treatment from occurring.
In July 2008, the Centre made a Submission to the National Interest Analysis of OP-CAT examining the benefits of Australia’s accession to the Optional Protocol and outlining what the domestic implementation of the obligations contained therein would entail.
The Centre considers that Australia’s accession to the Optional Protocol would:
- protect the human rights of persons deprived of liberty and reduce the incidence and likelihood of ill-treatment of such persons;
- complement and strengthen existing domestic inspectorate and monitoring mechanisms for places of detention and promote human rights compatible detention management;
- foster and promote systematic analysis (and systemic change where necessary) of laws and policies affecting the rights of persons deprived of their liberty;
- strengthen Australia’s leadership role within the international community; and
- be consistent with the Australian Government’s commitment to constructive engagement with the UN human rights system and to the harmonisation of domestic laws, policies and practices with international human rights standards.
The HRLRC considers that the Optional Protocol can be implemented with relative ease within Australia’s existing political and legal structures.
