12 Thinking Positively about Prevention
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Malcolm D. Evans
Abstract
Chapter 12 takes stock of what all these reflections might mean for improving existing systems of torture prevention, whether they are adequate and whether more fundamental or systemic change is necessary. Much can be done through existing systems and structures, and they probably have within them all that is necessary to bring about meaningful change. The real question is how to release that potential. Some of the answers lie in rather mundane but nevertheless important changes in working practices, but others are of a more profound nature and require rethinking some of the fundamental assumptions about the operation of detention systems, states and the human rights system itself. Doing so also allows us to understand better why it is that torture remains so prevalent and why the ways in which are trying to address this seem to be deficient.
Abstract
Chapter 12 takes stock of what all these reflections might mean for improving existing systems of torture prevention, whether they are adequate and whether more fundamental or systemic change is necessary. Much can be done through existing systems and structures, and they probably have within them all that is necessary to bring about meaningful change. The real question is how to release that potential. Some of the answers lie in rather mundane but nevertheless important changes in working practices, but others are of a more profound nature and require rethinking some of the fundamental assumptions about the operation of detention systems, states and the human rights system itself. Doing so also allows us to understand better why it is that torture remains so prevalent and why the ways in which are trying to address this seem to be deficient.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Acknowledgements vi
- Introduction 1
-
The Solution
- What Is Torture? 17
- Why Prevention? 34
- Establishing the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture 49
- What the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture Requires 65
- The Visiting Mandate of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture 84
- The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and National Preventive Mechanisms 102
-
The Problem
- Visits: An Insider’s Story 123
- Accepting the Unacceptable 139
- Excusing the Inexcusable 149
- Prescribing the Inappropriate 160
- Working with Fictions 171
- Thinking Positively about Prevention 184
- References 199
- Index 203
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Acknowledgements vi
- Introduction 1
-
The Solution
- What Is Torture? 17
- Why Prevention? 34
- Establishing the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture 49
- What the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture Requires 65
- The Visiting Mandate of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture 84
- The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and National Preventive Mechanisms 102
-
The Problem
- Visits: An Insider’s Story 123
- Accepting the Unacceptable 139
- Excusing the Inexcusable 149
- Prescribing the Inappropriate 160
- Working with Fictions 171
- Thinking Positively about Prevention 184
- References 199
- Index 203
