T O O L UNCAT Implementation Tool 4/2018 NON‑REFOULEMENT PROCEDURES AND SAFEGUARDS The absolute prohibition against refoulement set out in Article 3(1) of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention, or UNCAT) – namely the prohibition against the transfer of any person to a place where they would face a real risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (hereafter “torture or other ill-treatment”) – is a fundamental feature of the global torture prevention architecture. This tool includes some examples of the range of legal and practical procedures and safeguards that States have developed to give it effect. CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS  The prohibition against refoulement is widely recognised in constitutional texts and/or legislation. Some States’ constitutions enshrine the prohibition against refoulement explicitly; in others, constitutional provisions, stipulating that binding international treaties (e.g., UNCAT) prevail over contrary domestic law, have given effect to the prohibition against refoulement. The courts of some States have also confirmed the latter. Article 3, UNCAT 1. No State Party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he [or she] would be in danger of being subjected to torture. 2. For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights. “ It is insufficient merely to intervene after the infliction of torture, when the physical or moral integrity of human beings has already been irremediably harmed. States are bound to put in place all those measures that may pre‑empt the perpetration of torture.” Prosecutor v. Anto Furundzija, No. IT‑95‑17/1‑T, Judgment of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, 10 December 1998, para. 148 The CTI ‘UNCAT Implementation Tools’ are a series of practical tools designed to share good practices among States on the implementation of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT). They offer thematic guidance and ideas for State practitioners and policymakers as they develop or revise context-specific strategies, mechanisms and procedures to prevent torture and other forms of ill-treatment or punishment, and provide remedies for victims. 1/13

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