CAT/OP/CHL/1/Add.1
Chapter 1
Introduction and methodology
1.
Torture is a wholly unacceptable practice that cannot be justified under any
circumstances. A number of international instruments have been adopted in the fields of
international humanitarian law and international human rights law with the aim of requiring
States to take all necessary measures to investigate and punish acts of torture. Beyond
reactive State obligations, these international treaties also establish proactive obligations,
with a view to ensuring that States identify critical areas in which torture is a particular
problem, so as to tackle those hotspots and prevent acts of torture. Both approaches are
necessary in order to eradicate this practice, which is condemned in the strongest terms by
the international community.
2.
It is precisely in the field of prevention that significant progress has been made in
international law in recent years, as States have agreed on the importance of establishing
both internal and external institutions to prevent torture. Unlike law courts, these
institutions seek to assist States in the elimination of torture and thus play more of a
collaborative role than an accusatory one. Consequently, as a general rule, most of their
work is confidential.
3.
One such institution is the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which was established by the Optional
Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment and mandated to conduct unrestricted visits to any places where
persons are or may be deprived of their liberty, and their installations and facilities, and to
access any information that it needs in order to fulfil its mandate.1 The Subcommittee on
Prevention of Torture is also mandated to advise States parties on the establishment,
designation and functioning of national preventive mechanisms, to interpret the provisions
of the Optional Protocol and to examine the legislative, administrative, judicial and other
preventive measures adopted by States at the local level.
4.
Pursuant to that mandate, on 14 December 2015, the Subcommittee informed the
Chilean Government that it planned to visit that country from 4 to 13 April 2016. Once the
Government had been notified, it prepared for the Subcommittee’s visit by establishing an
interministerial working group composed of representatives from the Ministry of the
Interior and Public Security, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry
of Social Development and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, under the
coordination of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The working group was responsible for
coordinating arrangements for the Subcommittee’s visit by ensuring, for example, that
access would be granted to places of detention, statistics on places of detention, national
legislation on torture and any information needed to enable the Subcommittee to fulfil its
mandate.
5.
After its visit, the Subcommittee sent a report containing its observations and
recommendations to the Government on 27 June 2016, setting a deadline of six months for
the submission of replies to its recommendations. 2 In order to draft these replies, the
Government convened further meetings of the interministerial working group composed of
focal points from various ministries which had been set up to prepare for the visit in April.3
1
2
3
GE.17-07762
See article 11 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, Visit to Chile undertaken from 4 to 13 April 2016: observations and recommendations
addressed to the State party, CAT/OP/CHL/1. In paragraph 8, the Subcommittee requests the Chilean
authorities to provide a detailed account within six months of the report’s transmission of the
measures taken to act upon measures taken to act upon the recommendations contained therein.
The interministerial working group was led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and included
representatives from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, the Office of the Minister and
Secretary General of the Presidency, the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security, the Ministry of
Social Development, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Defence.
3