Rights of torture victims and their family members must be protected!

On January 24, 2019 the Government of Tajikistan has adopted National Plan of Actions for 2019-2022 to fulfill recommendations of the United Nations Committee Against Torture. The National Plan consists of 22 paragraphs: investigation of torture cases, punishment for torture, intensification of activity of Human Rights Ombudsman in RT, basic legal guarantees and remedies, access to independent lawyer, inspection of detention places, custodial detention conditions, independent grievance mechanism, indemnification and rehabilitation, etc.

The National Plan envisages around 80 measures aimed at improvement of legislation and law enforcement practices as to prevention of torture. Implementation of the National Plan involves a wide range of state authorities, courts, law-enforcement bodies, Ombudsman institution.

So, Paragraph №7 of the National Plan: “Protection of rights of torture victims and their family members, human rights defenders and journalists”.

This paragraph implies the partial implementation of the following measures:

·        Carry out systematic supervision on the part of law-enforcement bodies and investigate all criminal cases for torture, control the harassment of the injured parties, their family members, their lawyers, journalists and other persons, and evaluate results

·        Develop mechanisms to implement the Law of RT “On the public protection of parties to a criminal proceeding”.
This material has been prepared by the International Torture Victims Protection Day that is marked every year on June 26.

Torture is like a dreadful virus, and there is only one vaccine against it – public disclosure.    

Activities dedicated to the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture became possible within the framework of the project “Support for anti-torture agenda and human rights groups in Tajikistan”, funded by the European Union.