Azernews.Az

A series of events to strengthen the role of Azerbaijan's Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) in the prevention of torture and ill treatment began Monday with a conference organized by the OSCE Office in Baku and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Commissioner's Office and the Azerbaijan parliament.
According to a protocol to the UN convention against torture and other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment, each state party is responsible for developing a mechanism to regularly monitor facilities such as prisons, detention centers and psychiatric facilities, to ensure reasonable conditions and treatment. Following the ratification of the Optional Protocol by Azerbaijan in January 2009, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree assigning the responsibility for Azerbaijan's National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) to the Commissioner for Human Rights.
"Azerbaijan is to be applauded for ratifying the Optional Protocol and designating the Commissioner for Human Rights as the National Preventive Mechanism," said Bilge Cankorel, the head of the OSCE Office in Baku.
Liane Adler, ODIHR's representative at the conference, stressed the importance of strengthening the legislative framework for the National Preventive Mechanism and securing sufficient financial and human resources for its activities.
The conference brings together representatives of the Commissioner's Office, state justice and law enforcement authorities, international organizations and civil society to discuss ways to strengthen the Commissioner's capacity to assume his or her NPM role. Representatives of the UN Sub-Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the Association for the Prevention of Torture, as well as an expert from the Human Rights Implementation Center at Bristol University are also taking part.*