Module 6

The Sub-Committee for the Prevention of Torture

Hands of the prisoner
Hands of the prisoner

The Sub-Committee for the Prevention of Torture (SPT), was established by the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OP-CAT).
The OP-CAT, adopted in 2002, marked a new departure for a UN human rights treaty in emphasizing prevention, and designing its supervisory mechanisms with this goal in mind.

Bodies established pursuant to OP-CAT are pro-active, not driven by receiving complaints, but able to visit any place of detention at any time (even if there are no allegations of abuse). There are two key institutions.

  • First, when a state ratifies OP-CAT, it must designate (or establish) a “National Preventive Mechanism” (NPM) – a domestic body that undertakes regular visits to places of detention, and operates independently.
  • Second, OP-CAT establishes a “UN Sub-Committee on Prevention of Torture” (SPT) that is empowered, at short notice, to visit places of detention in countries party to OP-CAT and which makes recommendations to the authorities. The SPT is quite unique among the treaty bodies in its extensive powers of on-site investigation.

You can read more on the SPT on the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture website.  The Canadian government announced in May 2016 that it would begin the process of ratifying OP-CAT.

Video: The OP-CAT and the SPT

Watch the following videos to better understand the distinctive features of the OP-CAT and the work of the SPT.

  1. Association for the Prevention of Torture, short video clip on history of OP-CAT –”Preventing torture – From an idea to a global reality“.

Please watch the video on YouTube.

  1. Association for the Prevention of Torture short video clip on work of SPT – “No one knows about us“.

If you are having trouble viewing the video on the page, watch the lecture on YouTube.

Reflection question

The OP-CAT is quite unique in establishing a proactive monitoring body that can visit countries regularly. Do you think other UN treaty bodies would benefit from such powers? Or would the intrusive nature of such powers mean states would be reluctant to engage with them? Consider the issues such questions raise as we look next at the issue of reforming the treaty bodies.