KEY STEPS
STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT
1
Agree timeline for strategy
development and identify
lead person or agency
2
Review relevant laws,
policies, regulations
and practices
3
Consultation
and drafting
4
Adopt strategy
IMPLEMENTATION
5
Raise awareness
of the strategy
and its goals
6
Build partnerships and
hold consultations on
implementation
7
Conduct training
8
Revise and/or implement
legislation, policies
or regulations
9
Review and where
necessary revise
procedures
10
Allocate resources
and build capacity of
institutions and staff
11
Develop or source tools
and materials to assist
implementation
12
Seek technical
assistance from others
REVIEW
• Periodically review goals
against delivery
•R
evise strategy when
necessary
•P
ublicise progress
TAKING STOCK OF POSITIVE
PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES
Developing or revising a torture prevention strategy can
assist in identifying practices that work well and to reinforce
them, as well as finding areas where further action may be
required. This would generally include reviewing a range of
existing laws, regulations, policies, procedures and practices.
Specific issues relating to vulnerable groups within society
also need to be considered and reflected in the strategy.
Relevant areas to review may include:
• justice
• health
• policing and law
enforcement
• women
• prisons/corrections
• security
• children/juvenile justice
• migration and asylum
• extradition
• military
Torture prevention strategies may be developed as part of a
process of taking stock following a review into a particular
incident or a range of concerns. At other times, a strategy
may be developed as part of a process of institutional
strengthening, capacity building or organisational change.
Ratifying UNCAT is a good opportunity to start thinking
about developing a set of steps to be taken to implement the
Convention, which could be framed within a strategy.
In developing their strategies, some States have taken
advantage of recommendations from international review
processes, such as the concluding observations and
recommendations made by the UN Committee against
Torture under the State party reporting procedure, and other
international and regional human rights bodies and experts,
as well as recommendations accepted or noted as part of the
Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process.
“
Ratifying and implementing UNCAT is an effective way
for States to strengthen how justice is administered, and
in so doing, will help realize the Sustainable Development
Goals, in particular Goal 16.”
H.E. Marta Mauras, Ambassador and Permanent Representative
of Chile to the United Nations in Geneva, 2017.
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