Nations failing to investigate torture cases, UN expert says
UN rights experts have decried the failure by nations to investigate torture cases.
A UN independent expert has told the Human Rights Council that states must be “primary responders” in torture cases, to end impunity and bring justice on behalf of victims.
Alice Edwards, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment is concerned that the national duty to investigate torture is alarmingly, universally, under-implemented.
Emphasizing the importance of national proceedings, she says despite the impressive growth in international criminal courts and tribunals and our collective commitment to those entities, their capacity to deal with the scale and scope of torture crimes being perpetrated today will never be enough.
The report highlighted the main obstacles hindering full and prompt investigations into allegations of torture, including institutional, regulatory, political, and practical challenges.
In Uganda, few incidents of torture and other ill-treatment are officially reported, and, of those that do come to light, cases regularly collapse or are withdrawn before a satisfactory conclusion.
