SA Human Rights Commission and partners will deliberate on preventing torture in Africa at a major International Conference

A major international conference on the prevention of torture is being held in Cape Town from Wednesday, 3^rd to Thursday, 4^th April, 2008. The event will bring together high-profile experts and representatives of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the South African Human Rights Commission, the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, governments, national institutions and NGOs from across Africa and further afield.

It will look at, in particular, the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) which is aimed at the prevention of torture through the establishment of national and international bodies with powers to visit places of detention.

Members of these international and national monitoring bodies, as well as academics and representatives of various national and international human rights organizations, will attend the conference, which will be a platform to debate various issues surrounding the prevention of torture.

The event is part of a three-year research project at the University of Bristol in the UK that aims to study the OPCAT and the effectiveness of national torture preventive mechanisms, and which is financed by the British-based Arts and Humanities Research Council. The conference has been organized with the cooperation of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and its Follow-Up Committee on the Association for the Prevention of Torture, and with local partners, the South African Human Rights Commission and the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation. The event has the additional financial support of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the UK Ministry of Justice.

This event will take place at the Cape Town Lodge on Buitendrachp Street.