UN has torture questions for Rudd
Mark Dodd | May 01, 2008
KEVIN Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations has been applauded by the UN, but the world body has raised serious concerns about Australia's compliance with its treaty obligations to combat torture.
Questions were raised yesterday by the UN Committee Against Torture in its review of Canberra's compliance with the international conventions on torture, cruelty, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment.
A copy of the committee's review was received by The Australian. Australia is among 145 nations that are signatories to the convention on torture and is obliged to present itself for periodic review by the UN.
Australia was praised for closing down offshore detention centres for asylum-seekers, but the UN wanted to know why the Government was building a new centre on Christmas Island.
"More information was also requested on the so-called super-maximum security prisons," the review said. "This formulation led to concerns that there was a period of isolation of unjudged persons. Also the absence of a definition of torture in Australian law was a gap that needed to be addressed."
To read the full article from The Australian, click on:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23625755-31477,00.html
KEVIN Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations has been applauded by the UN, but the world body has raised serious concerns about Australia's compliance with its treaty obligations to combat torture.
Questions were raised yesterday by the UN Committee Against Torture in its review of Canberra's compliance with the international conventions on torture, cruelty, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment.
A copy of the committee's review was received by The Australian. Australia is among 145 nations that are signatories to the convention on torture and is obliged to present itself for periodic review by the UN.
Australia was praised for closing down offshore detention centres for asylum-seekers, but the UN wanted to know why the Government was building a new centre on Christmas Island.
"More information was also requested on the so-called super-maximum security prisons," the review said. "This formulation led to concerns that there was a period of isolation of unjudged persons. Also the absence of a definition of torture in Australian law was a gap that needed to be addressed."
To read the full article from The Australian, click on:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23625755-31477,00.html
posted by Pax Christi @ Thursday, May 01, 2008
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