ALHR welcomes Government decision to ratify OPCAT
Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) today welcomed the Federal Government’s action in tabling a National Interest analysis which records its decision to ratify the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). ALHR President Stephen Keim SC applauded the move as ‘a critical step to bringing conditions and practices in Australian detention facilities in line with international standards, and our international human rights obligations, and ultimately, preventing torture and other forms of ill treatment’.