The South African government needs to ratify an international treaty on preventing torture, South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) chief executive Tseliso Thipanyane said on Friday.
Thipanyane said he is concerned about the government’s ”terrible attitude” towards the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (Opcat).
He was speaking at a briefing held to communicate the outcomes of a Cape Town conference on torture and ill-treatment in places of detention.
Thipanyane said South Africa has signed Opcat, but after three years has failed to ratify, or formally approve, it.
Opcat requires the formation of ”national preventative mechanisms” by the state to conduct visits to places of detention and to release annual public reports.
”Torture needs to be defined by law and made punishable,” said Bacre Waly Ndiaye, director of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Ndiaye said if prisons are producing more criminals and worse criminals, it is a problem for all society.
”We have to build a culture of respect for human rights and human dignity,” he said.
Ndiaye said torture is not yet regarded as a criminal act by law in some African countries.
Chairperson of the UN’s sub-committee on the prevention of torture, Silvia Casale, said: ”We hope that we will soon see the ratification of Opcat in South Africa.
”We have great expectations of being able to work with our colleagues in NGOs and the SAHRC in the prevention of torture in Africa.”
The two-day conference in Cape Town was attended by representatives of the SAHRC and similar bodies from other African countries, the office of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights and academics. — Sapa