The Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners (CPRP) has been provided with an opportunity tomorrow (4) to meet the visiting United Nations (UN) Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) delegation.
Chairman of the CPRP, Attorney-at-Law Senaka Perera confirmed this to Ceylon Today.
The SPT delegation comprising Satyabhooshun Gupt Domah from Mauritius, Petros Michaelides from Cyprus, and June Lopez from The Philippines, headed by Victor Zaharia from the Republic of Moldova arrived in the country yesterday (2) and will be in the island till 12 April.
The torture prevention body is tasked with examining the treatment of people deprived of their liberty and the safeguards in place for their protection against torture and ill treatment by visiting these places. They are to advise and assist the Lankan authorities on the measures to be taken to ensure compliance with the obligations of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) and their fulfilment thereof.
Sri Lanka ratified the Optional Protocol in 2017, following which an effective national torture prevention body and mechanism with the authority and capacity to undertake preventive visits to any place of detention where persons may be deprived of their liberty, must be established.
Sri Lanka also has the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Act, No. 22
of 1994 in place.
-By Ruwan Laknath Jayakody
