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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.

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

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  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

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