Statement by the International Federation of ACATs (FIACAT)

Item 3 - Interactive dialogue with the working group on arbitrary detention

45th session of the Human Rights Council

21 September 2020

Thank you, Madam Chairperson,

Ladies and Gentlemen, members of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

FIACAT thanks you for your report and particularly appreciates your deliberation no. 11.

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted and aggravated certain issues from which many prisons throughout the world suffer.

Prison overcrowding and increased promiscuity among inmates make it impossible to comply with barrier measures against the virus. In this respect, the measures taken by many States to relieve prison overcrowding, such as pardons and remissions, are to be encouraged. Nevertheless, these sporadic measures do not provide a sustainable response to the existing problems which could make it possible to better anticipate similar crisis in the future. It is therefore essential to make fundamental changes, respecting judicial safeguards, in order to ensure in practice that freedom is the rule and detention the exception. This applies particularly to pre-trial detention. As you pointed out in your deliberation No. 10, any person in pre-trial detention beyond the legal time limits should be released until the criminal proceedings against him or her have been concluded. Nevertheless, many cases of abusive pre-trial detention are still documented around the world.

This concern is all the more present as the Covid-19 crisis has led to the suspension of many legal proceedings, which could then lead to further congestion in the courts.

Finally, the Covid-19 has also seriously threatened the independent monitoring of places of deprivation of liberty by civil society organisations, NHRIs and national preventive mechanisms. Such monitoring is a guarantee against arbitrary detention and should be carried out in all circumstances, if necessary by means other than visits to these places.

Thank you for your attention.

How can abolition in Liberia be encouraged?

Message from the President

The death penalty violates the most fundamental and sacred right of an individual: the right to life. This right is essential for the existence of mankind. It must be ensured in order to fulfill the protection and enjoyment of any other right, indeed a person must be alive to claim the rights that appertain to him/her.

The right to life is a fundamental human right that must be guaranteed and protected by all States at all times. Infringement of this right by any State amounts to a gross human rights violation. The State, which has the responsibility to protect the lives of its people and ensure their safety and security, betrays their trust.

ACAT Liberia wishes to remind the Government of Liberia of its obligations under the Second Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR OP2), calling for a Moratorium on the Death Penalty and its subsequent abolition. Liberia acceded to the ICCPR OP2 in 2005 but it is yet to ratify the instrument and domesticate it in its legal framework.ACAT Liberia therefore calls on the Government of Liberia to ratify the ICCPR OP2, domesticate it in its laws and commute the sentences of convicts on death rows.

Dale Nikke Tokpah

President of ACAT Liberia

 

PROJET APRES CI

Une synergie d’action réaffirmée entre les acteurs de la chaîne pénale, la FIACAT et l’ACAT Côte d’Ivoire pour renforcer la protection des droits des détenus vulnérables

 

Paris, Yamoussoukro, le 23 juillet 2020 - La Fédération Internationale des ACAT (FIACAT) et l’Action des Chrétiens pour l’Abolition de la Torture de Côte d’Ivoire (ACAT CI) ont organisé les 22 et 23 juillet 2020 à l’hôtel Fondy de Yamoussoukro le séminaire-atelier de lancement du projet « Assister les Prévenus et favoriser la Réinsertion Sociale des femmes et mineurs des prisons de Côte d’Ivoire (APRES CI) » financé par la Délégation de l’Union européenne en Côte d’Ivoire. 

Cet atelier portant sur le thème « renforcer la protection des droits des détenus vulnérables » marque le lancement officiel du projet prévu pour les trente prochains mois. Il a réuni soixante-dix participants issus des administrations judiciaires et pénitentiaires et de la société civile dont les contributions ont permis d’élaborer une stratégie commune d’action pour le renforcement de la protection des droits des détenus.

Le projet APRES CI poursuit deux objectifs essentiels. Le premier est de lutter contre la détention préventive injustifiée dans six (6) juridictions du pays (Abidjan, Aboisso, Adzopé, Bouna, Man et Sassandra). Le second est de favoriser la réinsertion sociale des femmes et mineurs des prisons cibles. Le projet maintient et pérennise les acquis de la première phase qui a duré trois ans. Et il se veut innovant puisqu’il intègre l’accompagnement psychologique des détenus et la réinsertion socio professionnelle des femmes et des mineur.es.

Au cours de cette formation, plusieurs thèmes ont été abordés. Il s’agit entre autres des dangers que représente la Covid19 dans les lieux privatifs de liberté, les innovations du nouveau Code de procédure pénale tant en matière de garde à vue que de détention préventive, et la problématique de la réinsertion socioprofessionnelle.

A terme, le projet se donne de recenser tous les cas de personnes en détention préventive injustifiée dans les prisons cibles et d’accompagner la réinsertion des populations les plus vulnérables en détention.

Ces travaux en atelier ont permis de définir une feuille de route que les différents acteurs ont décidé de suivre pour l’atteinte des résultats du projet à divers niveaux :

En ce qui concerne la lutte contre la détention préventive injustifiée, il s’agira pour tous les acteurs de surveiller scrupuleusement les délais de détention préventive et signaler immédiatement tout dépassement. Quant au suivi psychologique des détenus, il s’agit d’aider les détenus à supporter le stress et l’angoisse liés à leur incarcération et participer à leur reconstruction ; S’agissant de la réinsertion socioprofessionnelle des femmes et mineurs des prisons cibles, il s’agira de les aider à travers des activités de formation et de resocialisation.

Contacts presse :

FIACAT : Lionel Grassy – grassy@fiacat.org +32 470 92 85 10 ACAT Côte d’Ivoire – acat_ci2230@yahoo.fr - (+225) 22429596 / 78024337

How to work with the African Commission on human and peoples' rights

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty developed this training manual in partnership with the International Federation of Christians Against Torture (FIACAT). They were inspired to create it after observing that civil society organizations did not understand on how to work within the structure of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR). In context of the second phase of a project on “Contributing to the abolition of the Death Penalty in sub-Saharan Africa”, this how-to guide aims to provide information not only on the ACHPR itself and its functioning, but also on the opportunities that civil society can have within this human rights body to advocate for the abolition of the death penalty.

The authors used initial versions of this guide for training sessions during the 64th and 65th Ordinary Sessions of the ACHPR in 2019. The purpose of these training sessions was to help participants in the ordinary sessions better understand the context of the mechanism and how they can interact with it. The authors used and built on these versions to create a clear and comprehensive manual. This training manual is inspired in part by a guide produced by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), NGOs and the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights (2010), and completed with first-hand experience in working with the ACHPR from active members of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. In partnership with FIACAT and FIDH, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty continues to work closely together within the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights with the aim to abolish the death penalty on the African continent.

This how-to guide is divided into three main sections. The first section provides context about the ACHPR and its mandate as a human rights mechanism on the African continent. The second and third sections delve into the structure and tools available to civil society organizations in order to make the most of working within the ACHPR. Annexes provide templates for civil society.