The Disease of Torture – The role of the CPT to perform preventive “medical” check-ups
David Kohl
Supervised by Ass.Prof. DDr. Renate Kicker
“Torture and other forms of ill-treatment can be viewed as a highly dangerous and contagious disease that needs to be battled and cured not only for sake of those who are affected by it but for the greater good of humanity.” This analogy might sound slightly farfetched at first, but if one thinks about its meaning it becomes clear that torture and other forms of ill-treatment – just like tragic diseases such as cancer – severely affect the lives of many humans and lead to (often) concealed but catastrophic (physical and psychological) consequences for those affected. And just like diseases, torture and ill-treatment result from numerous causes that can be found at very different levels, all of which need to be addressed in order to fully “cure” the disease of torture.
The establishment of the CPT in 1989 was a major step towards putting into place such a system to fight torture on a European regional level. It has been considered as an unprecedented milestone in the battle against torture due to its strong mandate. Whereas previous preventive monitoring bodies were relying on reports provided by state parties themselves, the CPT drafts its own reports through a visitation system that encompasses both periodic and ad-hoc visits. These visits are carried out by delegations consisting of at least two committee members who are supported by a number of specialists from different fields. The merit of this system is that the reports are drafted by impartial and independent experts, which results in a far more objective account of potential wrong-goings or risk factors. This is essential to cure the disease of torture. Just as in medicine, self-assessment provides only a biased and subjective evaluation of existing problems and often even worsens the prevailing situation as no pre-emptive measures can be taken to avoid torture and other forms of ill-treatment at its very roots.
But how does the CPT accomplish its mission to prevent torture and other forms of ill-treatment? Just as a general practitioner, the CPT engages in a continuous dialogue with all member states. The most significant instruments to communicate with state party governments are the committee’s reports (and if deemed necessary its recommendations) that are issued after each and every visit and include all findings of the delegation during the visit. Nevertheless, these documents are – in formal terms – not legally binding. So how do they still affect state parties’ conduct in regards towards issues raised by the CPT? The answer to this question can be found in the moral and political force these reports and recommendations have for particularly two reasons. Firstly, the behaviour of each state party’s government regarding the authorisation to publish the generally confidential reports and recommendations of the CPT allows drawing certain conclusions. Obstructive actions of member states in regards to this voluntary publication of the documents are often viewed as potential cover-ups of existing wrong-doings or risk factors. Secondly, under certain circumstances the CPT has the opportunity to unilaterally publish its findings during the visit of the respective member state. It can be seen that both of these can shed considerably bad light on the affected state parties thereby creating a strong moral and political pressure to prevent wrong-doings and risk factors in the first place.
From all this it can be inferred that the question of whether the CPT’s reports and recommendations are of a legally binding nature or not, does not really carry much weight in reality. This is due to the fact that the committee’s findings do have – as mentioned above – a very strong moral and political force on state party governments. Thus, even though they are not in formal terms legally binding, the CPT’s reports and recommendations are an integral part of the European regional framework of torture prevention and are of paramount importance in the on-going fight to cure the disease torture.