GENEVA - The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) will visit the Plurinational State of Bolivia from 1 to 12 December to evaluate the treatment of people in various places of deprivation of liberty, and assess the existing preventive measures for torture and ill-treatment.
The upcoming mission, which has been announced and planned since 2023, is the SPT’s third visit to the country.
“We look forward to engaging constructively with Bolivian authorities to review the implementation of our recommendations from our 2010 and 2017 visits,” said Marie Brasholt, head of the SPT delegation. “We will assess progress, address challenges in preventing torture, and continue collaborating with the country’s independent monitoring body, the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM).”
Bolivia ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) in 2006, and established its NPM in 2013. In 2021, pursuant to Bolivian Law Nº 1397, the Ombudsperson was designated as the new NPM.
The SPT is authorized by its mandate to conduct unannounced visits to all places where individuals are deprived of their liberty within the territory of a State party.
During the visit, the SPT delegation will meet with government authorities, representatives of civil society, UN agencies, and the NPM and conduct joint visits to detention facilities with the NPM.
Following the visit, the delegation will send a report to the State party, which will remain confidential unless and until the Bolivian authorities decide to make it public, as was the case with the second report in 2017. The SPT’s first report to the Bolivian authorities, dated 2011, remains confidential.
The SPT delegation is comprised of Marie Brasholt, head of the delegation (Denmark), Massimiliano Bagaglini (Italy), Maria Andrea Casamento (Argentina), and Marco Feoli Villalobos (Costa Rica), along with two members of the SPT secretariat and two security officials.
For media inquiries or more information, please contact
In Bolivia: Virginia Vasiliou Thompson at virginia.thompson@un.org
In Geneva: Vivian Kwok at vivian.kwok@un.org
UN Human Rights Office Media Section at ohchr-media@un.org
Background
To date, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture has been ratified by 94 states. States are under the obligation to allow the SPT unannounced and unhindered visits to all places where persons are deprived of their liberty. States Parties should also establish a national preventive mechanism, which should conduct regular visits to places throughout the country where people are deprived of liberty.
The mandate of the SPT is to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of persons deprived of their liberty, through visits and recommendations to States parties to the Optional Protocol. The SPT communicates its recommendations and observations to States by means of a confidential report and, where necessary, to national preventive mechanisms. However, States parties are encouraged to request that the SPT publish the reports.
The SPT is composed of 25 independent and impartial members who are independent human rights experts drawn from around the world, who serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States Parties.
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