The United Nations has suspended its anti-torture mission to Australia after inspectors were not allowed to visit several jails and detention facilities in the country, with a top official in New South Wales state justifying the blocking of the UN panel.
Tasked with touring facilities under a voluntary agreement to prevent cruelty to detainees, the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) said on Sunday they made the “drastic” decision after they were refused entry at “several” jails and detention facilities.
Australia’s prisons, youth detention centres, and immigration compounds have been plagued by persistent allegations of human rights abuses. Rights groups have raised concerns about the incarceration of Indigenous communities and the detention of refugees in the country.
Australia ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) in 2017, committing to reforms safeguarding detainees and making facilities subject to inspection.
Lead inspector Aisha Muhammad, a Supreme Court judge in the Maldives, said Australia was in “clear breach” of its international obligations.
“It is deeply regrettable that the limited understanding of the SPT’s mandate and the lack of co-operation stemming from internal disagreements, especially with respect to the States of Queensland and New South Wales, has compelled us to take this drastic measure,” Muhammad noted in a statement late on Sunday “This is not a decision that the SPT has taken lightly.”
UN torture inspectors have been forced to suspend their trip after being DENIED access to NSW prisons.
What does the NSW Govt have to hide? Why are they breaching our international human rights obligations to end torture? https://t.co/f5OxbXpXM7
— David Shoebridge (@DavidShoebridge) October 23, 2022
Sophie McNeil of New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) told Al Jazeera that a “bureaucratic bungle” had essentially led to the cancellation of the visit.
“There’s bipartisan support at a federal level for OPCAT … the problem is states and territories control the prisons, and they’re worried about funding that if these UN inspectors come in and say you have to do this, this and this, who’s going to pay for it?”, she said from the Australian city of Perth.
“So, unfortunately, kind of a disputed bureaucratic dispute over money has now led to really embarrassing international humiliation.”
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