The United Nations human rights chief, Volker Türk, condemned Kyrgyzstan’s decision to dissolve the National Centre for the Prevention of Torture and transfer its mandate to the Ombudsperson’s Institute, warning the move undermines Kyrgyzstan’s obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture; President Sadyr Japarov signed the law on 23 September and the High Commissioner urged urgent steps to prevent any interruption in independent monitoring.
The National Centre for the Prevention of Torture, established in 2012, has been regarded as a regional model and the only independent national human rights institution in Central Asia that met international standards; UN experts and legal precedents under OPCAT require national preventive mechanisms to be functionally, operationally and financially independent with secured budgets, conditions critics say the new arrangement fails to guarantee.
Human rights organisations and international monitoring bodies warned the abolition risks eroding detention oversight and increasing detainee vulnerability, calling for a reinstated or reconstituted mechanism within the Ombudsperson’s Institute that complies with OPCAT standards, includes civil society participation and has a ring‑fenced budget to ensure uninterrupted, independent preventive visits.
Excerpts from jurist.org article by Ben Golin | U. Nevada School of Law, US
