Our office participated this week in a regional forum to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange amongst stakeholders who work on preventing torture and protecting human rights in the MENA region. Speaking on behalf of OHCHR, Ms. Kinga Janik recalled that international law prohibited torture at all times and in all places, even in situations of armed conflict or public emergency. She said that states have made unprecedented efforts towards establishing frameworks for implementing the prohibition of torture. Yet, today torture and ill-treatment are far from being eradicated, and continue to be practiced with impunityin the region and throughout the world. Torture victims or their relatives hardly ever receive the redress, reparation and rehabilitation they are entitled to under international law.

The regional forum was organized by the Lebanese Working Group on the Prevention of Torture.