Developing practical plans to prevent torture

Representatives from the five national human rights institutions of South East Asia have concluded a major training program on torture prevention by developing detailed action plans for monitoring places of detention in their country and undertaking other preventive activities.

A total of 27 participants from the national human rights institutions of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Timor Leste took part in the ‘blended learning’ program, which included a five-week online course (October-November 2010) followed by a four-day workshop in December 2010 hosted by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia.

The goal of the program, a joint initiative of the APF and the Association for the Prevention of Torture, was to provide participants with information and skills to bolster their institution’s work to prevent torture, in particular through planning and undertaking preventive monitoring of prisons, police lock-ups and other places of detention.

As part of the workshop, participants had the opportunity to apply their learning to real-life situations through visits to two immigration detention facilities and a women’s prison.

This experience, they said, allowed them to “build up our confidence in relating to the authorities and to the detainees” and “to check the effectiveness [of the monitoring methodology] in practice”.

Participants noted that the online and workshop discussions had greatly enhanced their understanding of how to conduct preventive monitoring of detention facilities and had highlighted the importance of developing clear, concrete plans of action.

A number also said they were eager to share the knowledge they had gained from the training course with other staff members in their national human rights institution.

The content and exercises of the blended learning program drew on Preventing Torture: An Operational Guide for National Human Rights Institutions, a new publication and CD-Rom developed by the APF, APT and OHCHR.

Suraina Pasha, APF Regional Manager of Training, said that combining the online and face-to-face learning components had been a very successful model.

“This approach ensured that all participants developed a common level of understanding about the different aspects of torture prevention throughout the five week online period,” she said.

“It also meant that we could use the workshop discussions to focus on the practical questions and challenges faced by staff in the different national human rights institutions.

“We were delighted with the energy, enthusiasm and contributions of all the participants and we hope to keep people connected and sharing their experiences through our online forum,” she added.

The next APF-APT blended learning program on torture prevention will take place later in 2011 and involve representatives from the national human rights institutions of South Asia.

Date: 10 January 2011