Law School Brings Together Top Experts to Address
Deplorable Conditions
in Detention Facilities Around the World
Event Date is March 18, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Register now for "Enhancing Visits to Places of Detention: Promoting Collaboration"

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2011 - On Friday, March 18, American University Washington College of Law and the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) will present a day-long conference addressing the crucial role of visits to detention facilities around the world in ensuring that safeguards for detainees are enforced.

"Deplorable conditions persist in detention centers and prisons around the world despite local, national, and international efforts to the contrary," said American University Washington College of Law Dean Claudio Grossman. "The law school in partnership with APT is cosponsoring this unique conference, convening a remarkable group of international and national experts to help remedy this unacceptable affront to human dignity."

Visits to places of detention play a critical role in helping states comply with their international human rights obligations. Rapporteurships, treaty organs, and other bodies working nationally and internationally are entrusted with carrying out this key function and have developed a rich body of principles and practices. Yet there have been few formal opportunities to share experiences and learn from each other in order to enhance efficiency and avoid duplication. This conference will convene top experts including mandate holders, policymakers, lawyers, NGOs, scholars, and practitioners from around the world to analyze key challenges confronting detention visits today and establish channels for enhancing collaboration.

Conference Schedule

Location: American University Washington College of Law, 4801 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Room 603

8:30 - 9:00 a.m. REGISTRATION (and Continental Breakfast)

9:15 - 9:45 a.m. OPENING REMARKS

  • Claudio Grossman, Dean, American University Washington College of Law and Chairperson, UN Committee against Torture
  • Mark Thomson, Secretary General, Association for the Prevention of Torture

9:50 - 11:20 a.m. PANEL 1: PROMOTING SAFEGUARDS THROUGH DETENTION VISITS

Moderator: Claudio Grossman, Dean, American University Washington College of Law and Chairperson, UN Committee against Torture

  • Safeguards for preventing disappearances and torture (Ariela Peralta ‘05, Deputy Director, Center for Justice and International Law)
  • Access of independent health professionals to places of detention and the role of NGOs (Suzanne Jabbour, Director, Restart Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture and Vice-president, UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture)
  • Safeguards for preventing sexual violence in prisons (Brenda V. Smith, Professor of Law, Director of Project on Addressing Prison Rape, American University Washington College of Law)
  • Protecting safeguards of detained persons with disabilities (Alison Hillman '02, Open Society Foundations, Program Officer, Disability Rights Initiative)

11:30 - 1:00 p.m. PANEL 2: PROTECTING VULNERABLE GROUPS THROUGH DETENTION VISITS

Moderator: Hernan Vales, Secretariat of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

  • Specificities of visits to particular vulnerable groups, including juveniles and pretrial detainees (Haritini Dipla, 2nd Vice-President, European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Lawyer, Professor of international law, University of Athens)
  • Detention visits and vulnerable groups in Africa (Catherine Dupe Atoki, Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa and Chairperson, Committee on the Prevention of Torture, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights)
  • Migrant detention center visits: enhancing protection of asylum seekers and other persons of concern to UNHCR (Vincent Cochetel, Regional Representative for the United States and the Caribbean, UN High Commissioner for Refugees)
  • Visits to jails, prisons, and immigration detention facilities in the U.S. (Alison Parker, Director, U.S. Program, Human Rights Watch)

1:00 - 2:30 p.m. LUNCHEON WITH KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Mary Werntz, Head of Regional Delegation, International Committee of the Red Cross:

"The Impact of Visiting Mechanisms in Torture Prevention"

2:45 - 4:15 p.m. PANEL 3: COLLABORATION TO INCREASE THE IMPACT OF DETENTION VISITS

Moderator: Cynthia Totten, Program Director, Just Detention International

  • Collaboration between UN, regional and national visiting bodies for the planning of visits and the follow-up to recommendations (Víctor Rodríguez, Member, UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture)
  • The application of international, regional and national standards on persons deprived of liberty (Andrés Pizarro, Attorney Specialist, Office of the Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights)
  • Effective collaboration among national actors and their relationship with international and regional mechanisms (Roselyn Karugonjo-Segawa, Director, Monitoring and Inspections, Uganda Human Rights Commission)
  • The United Nations Committee against Torture (Alessio Bruni, Member, UN Committee against Torture)

4:30 p.m. CONCLUDING REMARKS

  • Vivian Lozano, Human Rights Officer, FOTCD - National Institutions and Regional Human Rights Mechanisms Section, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

For more information visit the conference webpage or register now.