Freedom from torture and persons with disabilities

OHCHR expert seminar on freedom from torture and persons with disabilities

On 11 December 2007, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights convened an expert seminar on “Freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment and persons with disabilities”, in collaboration with the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the Committee against Torture. OHCHR organized this seminar with three principal aims:

• To facilitate an understanding of torture and other forms of ill treatment in light of the recently adopted Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• To identify the forms of torture and ill-treatment which most affect persons with disabilities
• To help mainstreaming the rights of persons with disabilities within the work of the United Nations human rights mechanisms, with special reference to the work of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and of the Committee against Torture.

Participants to the meeting included: the Special Rapporteur, Mr. Manfred Nowak, Ms. Nora Sveaass and Ambassador Luis Gallegos from the Committee against Torture as well as experts on the question of torture and the rights of persons with disabilities from civil society, including organizations of persons with disabilities and the academia. To facilitate discussion, OHCHR prepared a guidance note for participants. To read the guidance note for discussion click here.

• Final Report of OHCHR expert seminar on torture and persons with disabilities. To read the seminar report and the annexes with the presentations of experts click under:
  Final Report | Annex I | Annex II | Annex III | Annex IV | Annex V| Annex VI

Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on “Protecting Persons with Disabilities from Torture”.

During the OHCHR expert seminar on “Freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment and persons with disabilities”, the Special Rapporteur Manfred Nowak committed to address in his thematic report to the General Assembly due in September 2008 the question of torture in relation to persons with disabilities, and to ensuring that his fact-finding missions include monitoring places of detention, including psychiatric institutions and foster homes where persons with disabilities are deprived of their liberty.

In his report, the Special Rapporteur clarifies the legal framework for the protection of persons with disabilities from torture, including in light of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; applies the torture protection framework to the types of treatment, violence and abuse experienced by women, men and children with disabilities; identifies some of the specific forms of torture and ill treatment typically inflicted on persons with disabilities. Last, the Special Rapporteur formulates recommendations to States, independent human rights monitors (e.g. national human rights institutions, national anti-torture preventive mechanisms, civil society) and United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms.

• Report of the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak. To read the report click here:
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