UN torture prevention body suspends visit to Australia after inspectors barred from jails

The United Nations has decided to suspend its anti-torture mission to Australia after inspectors were denied entry into several jails, calling it a “clear breach” of international obligations.

The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT), a treaty body tasked with preventing the ill-treatment of detainees, said in a press release on Sunday that it “had no other option” but to suspend its visit to Australia due to “obstructions it encountered” while carrying out its mandate.

“The SPT delegation has been prevented from visiting several places where people are detained, experienced difficulties in carrying out a full visit at other locations, and was not given all the relevant information and documentation it had requested,” it said.

Lead inspector Aisha Muhammad, a Supreme Court judge in the Maldives, said Australia is plainly violating its obligations under Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), to which it is a party.

“This is a clear breach by Australia of its obligations under OPCAT. State parties have an obligation to both receive the SPT in their territory and allow it to exercise its mandate in full,” she said.

Muhammad also said that a “lack of cooperation” arising from “internal disagreements” between the federal and state governments has compelled the UN to take this “drastic measure.”

While the federal government of Australia ratified the convention, eastern states New South Wales and Queensland have hamstrung the process, saying they needed more funding to put the convention into practice.

Both aforementioned states blocked UN inspectors from their respective jails and detention facilities during the SPT members’ visit, which began on October 16 and was due to run until October 27.

Australia ratified the OPCAT in 2017, committing to reforms safeguarding detainees and making facilities subject to inspection. The country has until January 2023 to meet its obligations. There are no penalties for missing the deadline, but Australia could be placed on a non-compliance list of countries with significant human rights concerns.

“Australia has had almost five years to prepare for this visit. Australia will now have to answer for this embarrassing debacle in front of the United Nations Committee against Torture,” Former prison inspector Steven Caruana told AFP on Monday.

Only three other countries – Rwanda, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine – have had anti-torture inspectors suspend or postpone missions.

Australia’s prisons, youth detention centers, and immigration compounds have been plagued by persistent allegations of human rights abuses, particularly against Aboriginal communities.

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