Concern growing over Brazil’s National Preventive Mechanism

Based on a presidential decree issued in June, Brazil’s multi-body national preventive mechanism will no longer be remunerated for work relating to the mechanism. This will detrimentally affect their capacity to conduct visits to places of detention, as well as their...

Iceland Ratifies the OPCAT

The ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture by Iceland brings the number of states who have ratified the treaty to 89. Following amendments to the law on the Parliamentary Ombudsman in Iceland in December 2018, aimed at bringing it into...

Video: Detention, Human Rights and the OPCAT

‘Detention, Human Rights and the OPCAT‘ was co-hosted by the Irish Penal Reform Trust and the Irish Criminal Bar Association on Monday 12 November 2018. Details on the event are available through the link above. Event highlights are available on...

Submissions to UNCAT on Ireland’s one year follow-up report

In its Concluding Observations in August 2017, the UN Committee against Torture called for follow-up from the State on three issues: ratification of the OPCAT; strengthening the independence of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission; and the investigation of...