Press statement | 26.06.2017

UN International Day to Support Victims of Torture

On the occasion of the International Day of the Support to Victims of Torture, which is being celebrated on 26 June around the world, the Ombudsmen of Bosnia and Herzegovina emphasize the significance and importance of exercising the rights of victims of torture, as well as the need to establish a preventive mechanism in Bosnia and Herzegovina to visit institutions with persons deprived of their liberty, with the aim of preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments and acts (Optional Protocol, Article 3.). The Ombudsmen recall that in October 2008, Bosnia and Herzegovina ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly since 2002, which provides for all States Parties to Establish or designate one or more bodies at the national level, i.e. Establish preventive mechanisms that will make visits to institutions where persons are deprived of their liberty, with the aim of preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments and acts (Optional Protocol, Article 3.).

Namely, precisely the purpose of the action of the preventive mechanism is that the continuous visits to institutions for detaining persons deprived of their liberty (e.g. prisons, police stations, psychiatric hospitals, psychiatric departments in general hospitals, clinical centers, social protection institutions, asylum centers) act preventively and prevent Torture, regularly reviews the treatment of persons deprived of liberty, makes recommendations to the competent authorities in order to improve the treatment and position of persons deprived of their liberty and to prevent torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment, taking into account the relevant United Nations norms and submit proposals and give Opinions regarding applicable or proposed laws (Optional Protocol, Article 19.).

Regardless of the importance of establishing a preventive mechanism and the fact that the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have taken certain measures and activities in the past six years to form it, the Ombudspersons are particularly worried by the fact that it has not been established to date. Namely, until now, a legal provision has not been adopted that would allow the Ombudsmen to establish a preventive mechanism within this institution.

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