CASE STUDY

Human Rights and the UN

Human Rights and the UN

Case study- Torture, Human Rights, and Oversight. The Canadian Experience with the UN's Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT)

Introduction

The guarantee and protection of human rights has become enshrined in international jurisprudence within the last half century. The international community under the auspices of the United Nations(UN) has collaborated and become party to multiple conventions, declarations, protocols, and initiatives in an effort to prevent torture, abuse, discrimination, and mistreatment of the world's citizens. Progress has indeed been made as more nations have been willing to extend rights to their people (albeit sometimes only in promise and not in practice; commitment without compliance). However, there is more work that needs to be done and this work is not solely within the arena of the developing world. On the contrary, developed western nations are called upon to enact new measures to protect their most marginalized of citizens and to throw off shrouds of secrecy for the sake of greater transparency. The rights of even those most marginalized must be guaranteed and protected in accordance with international law. This of course includesindividuals who are deprived of their liberty and are held in a nation's jails, prisons, or other places of detention. The modern correctional system creates the conditions whereby abuse can occur as what takes place behind the walls of these institutions is often obscured from public view. For example, within the Canadian correctional system there are many systemic issuesthat require attention including the psychological effects of incarceration, lack of access to adequate healthcare and mental healthcare services, the use of administrative segregation, overcrowding, and so forth. Many of these issues are not related to isolated incidents but instead are prevalent through the system as a whole. The lack of public scrutiny coupled with an absence of political accountability and general indifference to the plight of prisoners or those on the fringes of society allows practices to occur that violate basic human rights. Too often, prisoners are constructed as 'the other' or viewed as lesser than law-abiding citizens. There is a general lack of respect for offenders as they are thought to 'get what they deserve.' Subsequently it is argued, what is needed is the promotion of less discriminatory attitudes and a focus on maintaining humanity within places of detention. It is for this reason that there is a need for transparency within the correctional systems of all nations, even democratized nations that do not have questionable human rights records.

The recognition of the need to protect and promote human rights within places of detention led to the development of an international instrument that aims to reduce the occurrence of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment in places of detention worldwide through a preventive approach. The emphasis on the prevention of abuse prior to its occurrence is in contrast with the traditional reactive oversight approach utilized by most states. The Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) calls for the creation of oversight ...