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Together Against Torture 26 June is International Day for Supporting Victims of Torture

July 4, 2004

    

 

 

Together Against Torture: 26 June is International Day for Supporting Victims of Torture

26 June is the International Day for supporting victims of torture. Two non-governmental organisations, the Human Rights Information and Documentation Centre (HRIDC) and the Georgian Centre for Psychological and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (GCRT), conducted a joint action for the support of victims of torture and submitted an open letter to the Georgian Parliament demanding the Georgian government ratify an Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture.
 
At 12h00 on 26 June 2004, the Human Rights Information and Documentation Centre and the Georgian Centre for Psychological and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims conducted a joint action in Vere Park to support victims of torture. The action aimed at bringing the facts and figures of torture to the public ear. A day before the action the initiatory group of refugees from Abkhazia, ’’Nugeshi,’’ along with the Georgian Centre for Psychological and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims, held a press-conference on the theme of ’’A Future without Violence.’’

After an exhibition of various instruments of torture, the participants of the action proceeded their way to Rustaveli Avenue in the direction of the Georgian Parliament. 

The organisers of the action submitted an open letter to the Georgian Parliament demanding the Georgian government ratify an Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against torture. The letter was signed by the organisers as well as the public.

According to Mr Ucha Nanuashvili, Director of the Human Rights Information and Documentation Centre in Tbilisi, the incidents of torture have increased lately and this protocol will make it possible for the respective UN Committee to pay visits to Georgia which will contribute to transparency and revealing evidence of torture, especially in places of detention.

Mr Nanuashvili believes that it is due to the fact that most NGOs are not sufficiently organised and high-ranking officials do not voice strong enough statements calling for the violation of human rights which contribute to the violation of the presumption of innocence and the increased frequency of torture in Georgia.

What follows is the above-mentioned open letter which was submitted to the Georgian Parliament on 26 June 2004.

An Open Letter to the Georgian Parliament

26 June  2004

On 18 December , at the 57th Session, 2002 the UN General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment  which was open for ratification by other countries on 4 February  2003. The Optional Protocol will assist States in preventing torture by providing for a system of regular visits to places of detention by independent and adequately mandated international and national bodies of experts.

As a result of its working visits, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) revealed the evidence of increased torture and how it is a widely spread occurrence within law enforcement bodies and places of detention. The experience gained by the CPT whilst working in different countries proved the fact that their visits to places of detention is considered to be an effective way of preventing torture.
 
On the basis of these visits, experts will make recommendations for practical improvements to conditions and practices in places of detention.

The Optional Protocol will lead to effective and concrete measures aimed at preventing torture such as the establishing of national mechanisms for periodic visits and for constructive co-operation with the various governmental bodies.

Today, when Georgia has taken the path towards Western integration, we consider it to be of paramount importance that all acts of torture in Georgia are prevented in order to make it possible for the country to take an honorable place among the countries of the world in which human rights defense is a major priority of the governmental policy.

We, the undersigned, therefore appeal to the Georgian Parliament to start preparatory and immediate work for joining the Optional Protocol and ratifying it as soon as possible.

 

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