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Torture

Current Issues in Prison Management

Summary

Learn more about the Australian Human Rights Commission's summary of issues in Australian adult corrections and youth detention.
Learn more about the Australian Human Rights Commission's summary of issues in Australian adult corrections and youth detention.

Australia's Sixth Periodic Review

Summary

Learn more about the Commission's update to the Committee against Torture on the implementation of recommendations from their Concluding Observations.
Learn more about the Commission's update to the Committee against Torture on the implementation of recommendations from their Concluding Observations.

OPCAT could revolutionise Australia's treatment of detainees

The federal government has announced it will ratify and implement the OPCAT treaty . Few people will have heard of OPCAT (Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture). It creates no new legal rights. Yet it could be the single most positive step this decade in improving conditions in all Australian places of detention.

OPCAT will enhance how independent bodies inspect places of detention in Australia. The idea is to identify and address problems before they escalate into serious mistreatment and worse.

OPCAT: Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture

Barbed wire fence
(OPCAT) is an international agreement aimed at preventing torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.