OPCAT in federal states: towards a better understanding of NPM models and challenges

ABSTRACT

Since the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) entered into force a decade ago, it has been ratified by 88 states, 70 of which have designated their national preventive mechanism (NPM). The vast majority of these are unitary states, which have chosen to create or designate a single national institution as NPM, most often their national human rights institution. There is thus a wide and growing body of practical experience and scholarship relating to this type of NPM and the various advantages and challenges relating to such a system and model. Fewer of the 88 OPCAT ratifying states are federal; but, significantly, many of them have adopted. This article is an attempt to map and categorise the different approaches that federal states have taken to NPM establishment, as well as to draw some tentative conclusions about the advantages and shortcomings of different models. It is hoped this analysis provides insights for the implementation of OPCAT in Australia, particularly in relation to the multiple body NPM that seems likely to be established.

KEYWORDS:

• OPCAT
• federal states
• NPMs
• civil society organisations
• ; Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture (SPT)
• NPM models

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank their colleagues at the Association for the Prevention of Torture for their extensive input and feedback on this paper and related issues. We owe a particular debt to Barbara Bernath, Veronica Filippeschi and Jean-Sébastien Blanc.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. These are the local preventive mechanisms from the states of Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco and Rondonia.

2. These are the local preventive mechanisms from the provinces of Chaco, Corrientes, Mendoza, Misiones and Salta, and the federal LPM (existing Prison Ombudsperson’s Office).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ben Buckland

Ben Buckland is the Independent Oversight Adviser at the Association for the Prevention of Torture, Switzerland.

Audrey Olivier-Muralt

Audrey Olivier-Muralt is Director of Regional Programmes at the Association for the Prevention of Torture, Switzerland.