UN Torture Prevention Body to Carry Out Assessment Visit on Nigeria

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

The United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT) is set to visit Nigeria from 8 to 19 September.
This second visit aims to assess the treatment of individuals in detention and measure whether the country has strengthened its capacity to protect the human rights of all people deprived of liberty since the subcommittee’s previous visit ten years ago.

A statement on Thursday by the UN Human Rights Office Media Unit said the SPT delegation will visit various places where individuals are held, including prisons, police stations, and psychiatric institutions, among other facilities.
The delegation will also engage with the relevant Nigerian authorities, notably the National Human Rights Commission, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders, to discuss torture prevention measures and mechanisms.

The Head of the delegation, Aisha Shujune Muhammad said: “The SPT’s visit is an opportunity for Nigeria to advance its commitment to torture prevention and to strengthen safeguards in detention places.”

She added that: “It is also an occasion to help the authorities set up a National Mechanism for Prevention of Torture (NPM), an obligation under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture that Nigeria ratified in 2009.”

The statement said at the end of the visit, the SPT will present its confidential preliminary observations to the Government of Nigeria.
The SPT delegation will comprise Aisha Shujune Muhammad (Maldives) Head of the delegation, Satyabhooshun Gupt Domah (Mauritius), Andrew Christoffel Nissen (South Africa), and Victor Zaharia (Moldova), and will be accompanied by two Human Rights Officers from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

To-date, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture has been ratified by 94 states. States are under the obligation to allow the SPT unannounced and unhindered visits to all places where persons are deprived of their liberty.
State parties should also establish a national preventive mechanism, which should conduct regular visits to places throughout the country where people are deprived of liberty.

The mandate of the SPT is to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of persons deprived of their liberty, through visits and recommendations to States parties to the Optional Protocol.

The SPT communicates its recommendations and observations to States by means of a confidential report and, where necessary, to national preventive mechanisms. However, state parties are encouraged to request that the SPT publish the reports.

The SPT is composed of 25 independent and impartial members who are independent human rights experts drawn from around the world, who serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States Parties.