§ Mr. GillTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which member countries of the OSCE have failed to eradicate torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. [101366]
§ Mr. VazThe issue of torture was discussed at the Human Dimension session of the OSCE Review Conference in Istanbul on 9 November. It was noted that, while torture is prohibited in all OSCE participating states, instances of abuse persist in many parts of the 405W region. No state should be complacent. Eradication of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is a constant process, requiring in particular effective human rights protection for detainees and investigation and punishment of offences.
The Government are funding work by the OSCE to address these issues, for example the production of a handbook on combating torture.