The following is an oral submission made by Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) at the 4th Session of the Human Rights Council on March 26, 2007:
Interactive dialogue – Special Rapporteur on Torture
Thank you Mr. President,
The ALRC would like to begin by voicing its strong support for the work and mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Torture, which is a key component of this Councils Special Procedures.
Torture in Asia is widespread and frequently systematic in a way that differs in many aspects from the experience of this practice in other regions. We document hundreds of cases of torture every year, including in several States that are members of this Council, and we are gravely concerned by the prevalence of this practice and the impunity for perpetrators that accompanies it.
In many States in Asia, including Council-members Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, torture is the prime method of investigation used by law enforcement agencies. Members of these agencies, under pressure to get results, side-step rigorous, forensic and work-intensive methods of investigation and resort to torture in order to force confessions to solve cases, or even simply to extract money. This practice most frequently affects the most vulnerable sectors of society. The concept of justice is sacrificed on the altars of brutality and corrupt convenience.
Whereas in certain situations elsewhere, which helped form the working methods of the mandate in question, torture has been used as a political tool for specific aims, in many countries in Asia, notably those mentioned above, torture is endemic, widespread and goes unpunished. Here, torture is not a practice used by a few rogue elements or in a few extreme cases, it forms the core of the methodology of investigation by State agents and is sustained by the lack of effective prosecutions of perpetrators, legislation or implementation thereof, and rule of law institutions.
How does the Special Rapporteur feel that the Human Rights Council can assist his mandate in order for it to be able to address such a widespread and deeply ingrained problem in the Asian region, in particular given the absence of a regional human rights mechanism?
Furthermore, we regret the statement of the representative of Nepal, as we continue to receive numerous cases of torture at present. And all parties seem to be failing to address human rights issues in favour of political considerations.
