Oct. 24 (UPI) — A United Nations delegation focused on preventing torture has suspended its visit to Australia over a dispute on access to prisons in two of the country’s states.
The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture of the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a statement Sunday accusing Australia of preventing the delegation from visiting several places where prisoners are detained and not providing requested information.
The delegation’s travels began on Oct. 16 and were expected to continue through Thursday but were suspended over a lack of access to prisons in Queensland and New South Wales, according to the statement.
Aisha Shujune Muhammad, the head of the four-member delegation, called the situation a “clear breach” of Australia’s obligations under a U.N. mandate titled “Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.”
The mandate, known as OPCAT, has been ratified by 91 nations including Australia and allows the SPT to make “unannounced and unhindered visits to all places where persons are deprived of their liberty” to prevent torture and other degrading punishment worldwide.
“It is deeply regrettable that the limited understanding of the SPT’s mandate and the lack of cooperation stemming from internal disagreements, especially with respect to the States of Queensland and New South Wales, has compelled us to take this drastic measure,” Muhammad said.
“This is not a decision that the SPT has taken lightly.”
The delegation was refused entry to a facility in the city of Queanbeyan in New South Wales while officials in Queensland said they would be allowed into prisons but not inpatient medical units, The Guardian reported.
“The whole role of our jail system is to keep people safe, protect us from the criminals that we lock up every day,” NSW corrections minister Geoff Lee told The Guardian.
“It’s not to allow people just to wander through at their leisure. [The U.N.] should be off to Iran looking for human rights violations there.”
A group of 74 human rights organizations and lawyers signed a joint statement of concern Sunday that condemned the governments of the two states for not complying with the U.N. delegation.
“The ability to carry out unannounced visits to detention facilities, conduct private interviews with people deprived of their liberty and review documentation is an essential element of the framework established under OPCAT,” the statement reads.
“We therefore condemn in the strongest possible terms decisions that necessarily serve to obstruct or impede the preventive mandate of the SPT which is focused on a proactive approach to preventing the torture and ill treatment of vulnerable adults and children.”
