1 / 17

Cambridge University, 18 May 2011 Dr Bronwyn Naylor, Monash University Australia

Monitoring for human rights in places of detention: NPMs and IMBs – how effective are they in securing human rights? An ARC-funded project. Cambridge University, 18 May 2011 Dr Bronwyn Naylor, Monash University Australia. The question.

hesper
Télécharger la présentation

Cambridge University, 18 May 2011 Dr Bronwyn Naylor, Monash University Australia

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Monitoring for human rights in places of detention:NPMs and IMBs – how effective are they in securing human rights?An ARC-funded project Cambridge University, 18 May 2011 Dr Bronwyn Naylor, Monash University Australia

  2. The question • In what ways can the rights of people in detention be protected?

  3. Outline • Human rights as a framework • Sources of rights • Reactive approaches • Proactive approaches • Monitoring mechanisms

  4. Human rights as a framework • Judeo-Christian values; Bills of Rights • Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) • Human Dignity • Right to life and liberty • Freedom from torture or cruel, unhuman or degrading treatment of punishment • Equal treatment • No arbitrary interference with privacy, family life ...

  5. Sources of rights • UN ICCPR (1976) • UN Convention against Torture ... (1987) • European Convention on Human Rights (1950) • UK Human Rights Act 1998 • European Convention for the Prevention of Torture ... (2002) • UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners

  6. ICCPR Article 7 • No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. … Article 10(1) • All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. Article 10(3) • The penitentiary system shall comprise treatment of prisoners the essential aim of which shall be their reformation and social rehabilitation….

  7. Reactive approaches - enforcement • ICCPR – Human Rights Committee • European Convention – European Court for Human Rights • HRA – adopts European Convention; UK and European courts

  8. Reactive approaches – complaints • Prisons and Probation Ombudsman • Ombudsman (Australia) • Independent Visitor schemes

  9. Proactive approaches - prevention • Monitoring • Community accountability • Aims: • to discover and expose breaches; • to deter breaches; • to achieve change.

  10. Taxonomy of monitoring mechanisms • External/internal • Independent/ not independent • Complaints-focussed • Audit-compliance focussed • ‘Human rights’ criteria vs values/ or ‘good governance’ criteria • Sector-specific vs generalist • Formal vs voluntary/informal

  11. Internal/external bodies • Internal body – working knowledge; access to policy development; can negotiate • BUT • May be co-opted/ captured; goals of organisation may override goals of monitoring; limited public reporting

  12. Formal external monitoring bodies(1) Domestic • UK: HM Inspectorate of Prisons • WA: Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services Regional • Committee for the Prevention of Torture (under ECPT)

  13. Effective external monitoring bodies • Authority? Powers? • Independence • Access • Expertise • Impartiality • Enforcement • ‘pressure of example’ • Unannounced/ Announced visits: ‘we tend to smell a lot of fresh paint ...’ (Casales 2006)

  14. Formal external monitoring bodies(2) International • UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987) • OPCAT – Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (2006) • ‘places of detention’ • NPM (National Preventive Mechanism) • UK: 18 existing bodies; Inspector of Prisons Convenor. • SPT (Subcommittee for Prevention of Torture)

  15. Informal monitoring bodies • Accountability • Permeability to ‘civil society’ - Amnesty International - Red Cross - Liberty - Community Visitors - Community groups/ advocates - ….

  16. Informal external monitoring • Visiting Committees to Prisons - from Quaker initiatives C18 • Independent Monitoring Boards (UK) • ‘.. Bring with them the values of the outside world to the closed and deformed world of the prison… the eyes and ears from the outside’ (Stern 2006) • Religious and community groups – Brigidine Asylum Seeker Project (Aust) • High Court case

  17. Conclusions • In what ways can the rights of people in detention be protected by monitoring approaches? • Possible interconnecting network of methods? • Political, social, cultural contexts

More Related