Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

prevent their execution. We also work with the EU to lobby other governments and
to raise individual cases of third country nationals facing the death penalty.
Torture prevention
Our work on torture prevention includes encouraging states to sign and ratify the
international instruments prohibiting and preventing torture; where appropriate,
raising specific cases where allegations of torture are made; strengthening the
institutional capacity of the FCO to tackle torture by ensuring that all staff are alert to
allegations of mistreatment in their host country; and supporting reform in institutions
overseas where torture is most likely to occur, for example in prisons and other
places of detention. In September, we hosted a one-day seminar with the Arts and
Humanities Research Council which brought together British and European
academics and NGO experts on torture prevention. On the basis of this seminar, we
will launch an updated global torture prevention strategy in 2011.
The main international instruments which prohibit and prevent torture are the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the European Convention on
Human Rights and the UN Convention against Torture and its Optional Protocol.
The Convention against Torture obliges states to take measures to prevent acts of
torture in any territory under their jurisdiction and to ensure that all acts of torture are
criminalised. Under the Optional Protocol, signatories must establish independent
safeguards and checks in places of detention so that officials cannot mistreat
detainees without being brought to account. We encourage countries to ratify the
Optional Protocol and to establish national preventive mechanisms to monitor places
of detention. In Nigeria, we supported a project to improve the documentation of
torture and to achieve redress for victims which led to case reviews and prosecutions
and resulted in a group of core volunteer lawyers and medical practitioners being set
up to look at cases. Our support for the Geneva-based NGO, the Association for the
Prevention of Torture, helped maintain momentum towards establishing a national
preventive mechanism in Kazakhstan and in Kyrgyzstan, and in Nepal their work
led to the National Human Rights Commission adopting new guidelines on detention
monitoring. We also worked with them in Ghana, Lebanon, Paraguay, Senegal and
Tajikistan.
20