The Optional Protocol to the UN Torture Convention (OPCAT) is unique amongst the UN human rights treaties and their Optional Protocols. Unique as it is not normative because it does not set out a new right which would be additional to those elaborated in the Torture Convention itself. Nor is it purely procedural as it does not set out, for example, a mechanism for complaints system to reinforce the rights enshrined in the Torture Convention. The OPCAT is unique as it is the only one among the UN human rights treaties which adopts a purely preventive stance by laying down mechanics for ensuring implementation of the obligation to prevent torture encapsulated in Article 2 of the Torture Convention. This torture prevention architecture is premised on the central conviction that regular visits by independent bodies to places of deprivation of liberty would minimise the risk of torture and other ill-treatment and thus aid the implementation of the obligation to prevent the occurrence of torture. The fundamental building-bricks of this OPCAT torture prevention system rests…
International Organizations
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Anti-war Protest: The Historic Case of Novaya Gazeta and Others v Russia
Born into a Jewish family in Ukraine, Vasily Grossman’s monumental account of totalitarian Stalinist Russia, Life and Fate, which included a remarkable portrayal of the battle of Stalingrad during World War II, was banned by the KGB before it could be published in the Soviet Union. In response, Grossman wrote to the then Soviet leader,…
Compliance through Enforcement in ISDS: What can UNCITRAL Working Group III learn from the ECtHR?
The ISDS reform process at UNCITRAL Working Group III provides a unique opportunity to consider new institutional dispute settlement designs. As EJIL:Talk! Readers will know from earlier blogs on this reform process, a standing mechanism to resolve investment disputes is one of the key proposals in the strengthening of the institutional design, with a Draft Statute…
Legal Limits for UNSC Action on Peace in Ukraine
The last weeks have seen a gradual increase of pressure on the Ukrainian leadership to succumb to Russia’s imperialist demands. In particular, the United States of America under the Trump Administration have repeated their calls for a “Peace Deal” between the two states at war. The Administration suspended military and intelligence aid to Ukraine after asserting that President…
Regulating Private Military and Security Companies: What’s in it for States?
Private military and security companies (PMSCs) are expanding like wildfire across the world, diversifying clients and operations. They offer services ranging from protection and training to direct participation in hostilities, arms dealing, and humanitarian evacuations. Their impact on human rights—particularly on civilians, women, children, and migrants—as well as on the environment, has been…