PERSPECTIVES - Bridging voices, inspiring hope

This is the second episode in a series exploring  the Méndez Principles on Effective Interviewing: a new tool to help end coercive interviewing. 

The Méndez Principles are designed to support investigators collect reliable information – not a confession – using rapport-based interviewing techniques. They also uphold the rights of those being interviewed by ensuring that key safeguards are respected in practice. 

Our guest, Ruth Ssekindi, is a highly experienced lawyer working with the Uganda Human Rights Commission. Her work involves monitoring police stations, prisons and other places of detention across the country. She knows the experiences of detainees and has been a vocal advocate to end torture and ill-treatment. She also understands how and why police in her country work the way they do.

Find out more about the Méndez Principles: https://www.apt.ch/en/mendez-principles-effective-interviewing

This is the first episode in a series exploring  the Mêndez Principles on Effective Interviewing: a new tool to help end coercive interviewing. 

The Méndez Principles are designed to support investigators collect reliable information – not a confession – using rapport-based interviewing techniques. They also uphold the rights of those being interviewed by ensuring that key safeguards are respected in practice. 

Our guest,  Wilder Tayler, has decades of experience in torture prevention. He’s worked for organisations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists. In Uruguay, he leads the National Preventive Mechanism, visiting places of detention all over the country and advocating for changes to address the risk factors that lead to torture and ill-treatment.

Naturally, he was one of the people asked to help draft the Méndez Principles.

This episode is the first in a series looking at how oversight bodies around the world are promoting safety and fairness for women in contact with the criminal justice system.

It’s part of the APT’s global campaign on women and prison.  Our goal is to support national oversight bodies in their efforts to promote implementation of the UN Bangkok Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders.

An important provision in the Bangkok Rules relates to body searches and strip searches.

Our guest in this episode is Rebecca Minty, Deputy Inspector with the Office of the Australian Capital Territory Inspector of Correctional Services.

Her office recently completed an inquiry into the case of an Aboriginal woman detainee who was forcibly strip searched. The report found that the woman’s human rights were breached and made a series of recommendations for change.

This episode is the first in a series looking at the impact of COVID-19 on places of detention – for people deprived of liberty and their relatives, the staff who work there and the monitoring teams who carry out visits. 

At the start of the pandemic, governments recognised that closed facilities like prisons had the potential to be ‘super spreaders’ of the virus among detainees and staff.  

So in March 2020, governments around the world began to release prisoners, the vast majority of whom were non-violent offenders. The key driver was the need to protect the health and safety of detainees and staff.  

But there is another, very important benefit that flows from this. We know overcrowding increases the risks of ill-treatment in places of detention. When you reduce prison populations, you also begin to reduce these risks.

This episode features Nicolas Patrick, Pro Bono and Responsible Business Partner at DLA Piper, who discusses the findings from a global study of prisoner release programmes conducted by DLA Piper. The study  was supported by the APT. 

We also speak with Dian Septiari , a journalist with the Jakarta Post, who has reported on how prisoner release schemes have operated in Indonesia. 

One month ago, on 25 May, George Floyd was tortured and murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, USA. Mr. Floyd’s killing is yet another manifestation of the violence and horror that exists at the nexus of systemic racism and police brutality. It has also sparked worldwide anti-racism protests and reinvigorated a movement calling for profound reform and rethinking of law enforcement.

This week, to mark the International Day in support of victims of torture on 26 June, we wanted to dedicate this episode to the issue of systemic racism and police brutality, and to reflect on how these phenomena relate to torture and ill-treatment.

We know that discrimination is a root cause for torture, and that both systemic racism and torture are deployed to dehumanise their victim. Today more than ever, it is crucial for the global communities to take proactive and concrete actions to address both systemic racism and torture in-depth and dismantle the structures of oppression that breed violence and impunity.

We welcome three guests who will bring their extensive expertise and experience to this discussion, from international, national, and local perspectives.

1. Tendayi Achiume, United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
2. Vincent Warren, Executive Director, Centre for Constitutional Rights 
3. Natasha Neri, civil society representative, activist and award-winning film director, working with victims and families of victims of police violence in Brazil. 

In this episode you will also hear:

1. Juan E.Mendez, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, on the expert-led initiative to develop international guidelines on non-coercive interviewing by law enforcement. 
2. A reading of ‘The Tradition’, poem by Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown performed by actor Anika Harden.

Note: The audio of Phineas Floyd addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council during the Urgent Debate on current violations of human rights that are based on racism, systemic racism, police brutality against persons of African descent and violence against peaceful demonstrations was recorded on 17 June 2020.

Enjoy listening!

In the current public health crisis, persons deprived of liberty are exposed to greater health risks. The present situation exacerbates existing situations of vulnerabilities of a population already disproportionately suffering from chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular conditions, or immunodeficiency. A pandemic situation such as this one force monitoring bodies to think differently in order to continue fulfilling their mandate in alternative ways while respecting the principle of Do no harm. 

This week, the APT returns with the final part of our “detention monitoring and the principle of do no harm” series with Dr. Elena Leclerc, Head of the Healthcare in Detention Unit, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Dr. Elena added a new dimension to the discussion as she succinctly touched upon topics such as how to visit quarantine areas in detention places and how should detaining authorities handle deaths in custody that are caused by COVID-19.

To learn more about the ICRC and their work in monitoring detention places globally, please visit their website.

In the current public health crisis, persons deprived of liberty are exposed to greater health risks. The present situation exacerbates existing situations of vulnerabilities of a population already disproportionately suffering from chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular conditions, or immunodeficiency. A pandemic situation such as this one forces monitoring bodies to think differently in order to continue fulfilling their mandate in alternative ways, while respecting the principle of Do no harm. 

This week, the APT returns with the second part of our “detention monitoring and the principle of do no harm” series where we will be listening to Professor Hans Wolff,  Head of the Department of Prison Medicine and Psychiatry at the University Hospitals of Geneva. Professor Wolff is also one of the members of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).  As a medical practitioner and a member of the CPT, Professor Wolff provided a very practical and insightful view on this topic that includes the appropriate use of masks and gloves during visits and whether or not oversight bodies should do health screening or testing before conducting their monitoring activities. 

To learn more about the CPT and their work in monitoring detention places in the European region, please visit https://www.coe.int/en/web/cpt

In the current public health crisis, persons deprived of liberty are exposed to greater health risks. The present situation exacerbates existing situations of vulnerability of a population already disproportionately suffering from chronic respiratory diseases, cardio-vascular conditions, or immunodeficiency. A pandemic situation such as this one forces monitoring bodies to think differently in order to continue fulfilling their mandate in alternative ways, while respecting the principle of Do no harm. 

In APT´s first podcast episode, Dr. Carina Ferreira-Borges, Programme Manager, Alcohol and Illicit Drugs & Prison Health, WHO European Office for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD Office) shared WHO´s practical guidances and recommendations for monitors, detaining authorities and detainees on how to prevent and contain the spread of the virus and at the same time, adhering to international human rights principles. This episode constitutes the first part of the series on "The Do No Harm Principle and Detention Monitoring : From Theory to Practice".

To learn more about the WHO guidances mentioned in this podcast, please visit the following link:
 http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-determinants/prisons-and-health/focus-areas/prevention-and-control-of-covid-19-in-prisons-and-other-places-of-detention