Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

We continued to lobby states to sign and ratify the Optional Protocol. As of 31
December, 57 states had become party to it. Seven states ratified the Optional
Protocol during 2010: Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador,
Gabon, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Togo and a further three states signed it:
Bulgaria, Panama and Zambia. In October, the monitoring body established under
the Optional Protocol, the Sub-Committee for the Prevention of Torture, grew from
10 to 25 members (its maximum) as a result of the increased number of ratifications.
This will significantly increase the capacity of the sub-committee to conduct
monitoring visits to places of detention. The Government has pledged an additional
£520,000 in 2011 to the Special Fund for Torture Prevention held by the Office of the
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which will help finance the work of the
sub-committee in providing expertise on establishing national preventive
mechanisms and in providing assistance to countries on implementing the
recommendations of the sub-committee.
We are also strengthening our institutional capability to tackle torture and cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment. We are updating the guidance for all our staff on
how to report allegations and concerns they may have about suspected torture or
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment that occur overseas so that they can be acted
upon appropriately. The updated guidance will be published and issued to staff in
2011.
Prison reform
Prison conditions in many countries do not meet human rights standards.
Independent oversight of prisons is important to maintain prison standards and
prevent the mistreatment of prisoners. In 2010, we worked with the International
Centre for Prison Studies to bring prison management practices in China towards
international human rights standards. Prison construction standards have been
updated and in 2011 the prison law will be revised. We also funded a project with
the Great Britain China Centre to establish independent monitoring of police
detention centres in China. After a successful pilot programme, two more lay visitor
schemes were launched in October. In Nigeria we funded a project to develop a
new curriculum for prison service training resulting in a marked improvement in
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