Brussels: Every day children, women and men are tortured in every corner of the world. But although it is easy to condemn this inhuman practice, it is so much more difficult to put a stop to it.
MEPs discussed how the EU could make a difference ahead of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture held every year on 26 June.
EU guidelines on torture
Members of the human rights sub-committee debated with experts the EU's updated guidelines on torture on 21 June. The EU is to use these guidelines when dealing with countries outside the EU as well as in multilateral forums, such as the UN committee against torture or the UN subcommittee on the prevention of torture. The aim is to support and strengthen ongoing efforts to prevent torture and other ill-treatment and bring an end to them.
Global fight against torture
Anna-Lena SvensSon-McCarthy, a lawyer and human rights consultant, said it would be important to have a new holistic approach and reinforce the EU's dialogue with other countries. To ensure an effective implementation of the guidelines, the EU and its member states should jointly promote the EU's human rights values. The EU´s internal and external policies should be fully coherent and consistent.
Mark Thomson, secretary general of the Association for the Prevention of Torture, said the EU as a whole should join the global system for fight against torture: the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT).
Role of the human rights special representative
German Green MEP Barbara Lochbihler, chair of the subcommittee, said in an interview after the meeting:
"Without justice for the victims and an end to impunity, torture will go on." She therefore calls on the EU to always follow its guidelines on torture in its external relations, but also when it comes to alleged cases of torture in the EU itself. Lochbihler said having an EU special representative on human rights would be very helpful for this.