Istanbul Protocol

The Istanbul Protocol (complete title: Handbook for the effective investigation and documentation of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment ) is the standard of the United Nations for training in the assessment of persons who allege torture or to have been abused, for investigating cases of alleged torture and for reporting such findings to the judiciary and other investigative agencies.

Development of the Protocol

The to the member organizations of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims ( IRCT ) scoring Foundation for Human Rights in Turkey ( TIHV ) seized in March 1996, the initiative for a uniform policy for an international symposium on " Medicine and Human Rights ", the Turkish Medical Association in Adana had organized. At the protocol worked 75 doctors, psychotherapists, lawyers and human rights activists, who represented together forty organizations from fifteen different countries. In August 1999, they handed over the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, the completely elaborated Istanbul Protocol. Among the numerous writers include, among others, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Red Cross, Physicians for Human Rights, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, the Center for the Treatment of Torture Victims in Berlin and treatment centers in South Africa, Chile and the USA, several university institutes, Turkish, Danish, British, Indian and German Medical Association and the world Medical Association, and not least the IRCT.

The protocol as a handbook

Mid-2004, the Istanbul Protocol was published as part of the UN 's Professional Training Series (UN series to professional training in the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as a handbook for the effective investigation and is now available in several languages. The Istanbul Protocol shows the current possibilities for detect signs of torture and distinguishes between the diagnosis of physical symptoms on the skin, face, teeth, chest, stomach, muscles, skeletal system, urogenital tract and nervous system due to different forms of abuse and the evidence of their psychological consequences.

The manual is aimed primarily at lawyers and physicians who wish to provide evidence of torture on the legal and medical level. In addition, the manual a set of standards for the investigation of torture cases, for example with reference to the conversation with survivors and witnesses, medical ethics, the selection of investigators, witness protection, dealing with perpetrators statements and on the establishment of commissions of inquiry.

The manual specifically identifies eight different types of physical torture:

Implementation of the Istanbul Protocol

The international human rights organization " Physicians for Human Rights ' (doctors of Human Rights) has created a guide for the assessment of refugees on the basis of the Istanbul Protocol in 2001. The organization also offers a curriculum for medical students for documentation of torture and ill-treatment.

In a two- year pilot project, the Istanbul Protocol was initially implemented in five countries: Morocco, Mexico, Georgia, Sri Lanka, and Uganda. The TIHV had it worked out a training program for medical and legal personnel. The pilot project reached a total of 244 health workers and 123 lawyers and court clerks.

The Istanbul Protocol Implementation program was Fort Led ( IPIP ) were also involved by the " Prevention through Documentation Project ," in which countries such as Egypt, Ecuador, Kenya, the Philippines and Serbia between 2005 and 2007. The Dutch project " CARE FULL" dealt with the application of the Protocol in asylum procedures. It was initiated by Amnesty International Netherlands, the Dutch Council for Refugees and Pharos ( Knowledge Centre on Refugees and Health ) and arose from the concern that the victims of torture and ill-treatment due to the across the EU increasingly stringent expectant right of asylum practice no such hearing more find. The Treatment Center for Torture Victims ( bzfo ) in Berlin has standards for the assessment of reactive psychological consequences of trauma issued that have a clear link to the Istanbul Protocol.

International recognition of the Protocol

After the Istanbul Protocol of the UN High Commissioner had been transferred for Human Rights on 6 August 1999, both the UN General Assembly and the UN Commission on Human Rights (since 2006 this is the UN Human Rights Council ) recommended that the Member States in the United Nations, the principles to be regarded as a powerful tool in the fight against torture. A decision by the General Assembly was adopted on 4 December 2000 as a resolution A/RES/55/89. At the 60th session, the Commission on Human Rights, adopted on 20 April 2000, Resolution 2000/43, in which the countries were called upon to comply with the principles of the Istanbul Protocol. On 23 April 2003, the Human Rights Commission has again issued a recommendation.

Apart from the United Nations and regional bodies have the implementation of the Istanbul Protocol recommended. These include the African Commission of Human Rights and the rights of peoples, a corresponding resolution adopted in October 2002. In the European Union it was the Council for General Affairs and External Relations, 2001 ( " Guidelines to EU Policy towards Third Countries on Torture and Other " of the EU policy towards third countries on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment policies "Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment " ) adopted. These guidelines were revised in 2008. The German text refers to the Istanbul Rules (not protocol).

Itemization

• Torture
• United Nations
• Istanbul