Turkey needs to strengthen safeguards to protect detainees from torture and inhumane treatment, especially in migrant detention centres and in early phases of incarceration, a UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) delegation said following their second visit to Turkey.
“We remain concerned about the effective exercise of the fundamental rights and guarantees during the first hours of detention, which are of paramount importance for the prevention of torture and ill-treatment,” said Suzanne Jabbour, Chairwoman of the SPT and Head of the Delegation.
The SPT remains concerned about the living conditions in detention centres and prisons, and the situation of migrant detention centres, Jabbour said.
The delegation also met with Turkey’s National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) under its Human Rights and Equality Institution, tasked with preventing torture and ill-treatment while monitoring conditions of deprivation of liberty. They held two joint visits to detention facilities with the NPM, in addition to meetings to discuss its operation and working methods.
“We call on the Government to significantly strengthen the NPM’s independence and resources in order for this mechanism to effectively fulfil its mandate under the OPCAT, given the oversized population of numerous places of detention in the country,” Jabbour said.
Turkey ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) in 2011 and established its NPM in 2014.
The SPT delegation also met with government officials, including twice with the justice minister, to confidentially present its preliminary concerns and observations, as well as with legislative and judicial authorities, NGOs and UN agencies.
The subcommittee has the authority to carry out unannounced visits to any detention centre or other place people are deprived of liberty. Reports prepared based on the visits are shared with relevant authorities and remain confidential on the SPT’s side, however, it encourages states to publish the reports. It will present two confidential reports, to Turkey and to the NPM.
In their second visit, between 4 and 15 September, the SPT delegation met with Turkey’s Human Rights Investigation Commission chairman Hakan Çavuşoğlu, to assess how SPT’s previous recommendations were implemented.
During the visit, Çavuşoğlu had denied wrongdoing by Turkey and said reports on torture and mistreatment during custody and arrest were “terrorist organisations abusing the concept of torture to weaken Turkey’s struggle”.
Civil Society in the Penal System (CISST) identified at least 1,562 rights violations in Turkey’s prisons in 2021 in the association’s annual report in 3 July 2022. A May report by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) found that cases of torture were at their highest in 30 years in 2021.
