TORTURE: The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) Publishes 18 Country Reports on the Rights of the Child [press release]

[Geneva, 26 June 2003] - To mark the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (26 June), The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has published 18 country reports on the rights of the child in Ethiopia,
Egypt, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Turkey, Guatemala, Paraguay, Cameroon, Kenya, Bahrain, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Argentina, Sudan,the Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Haiti and Italy.

Since 2001, in partnership with local NGOs and members of the OMCT network, and supported by the European Commission Democracy Programme, Misereor, and the Fondation de France, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has produced 18 alternative country reports presented to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, now available to the public in English, French and Spanish.

The goal of these reports is to highlight the deficiencies or the improvements of national legislation regarding the international commitments made by governments in protecting the rights of the child, as well as to denounce practices contrary to these commitments. These reports were presented orally before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and widely circulated.

Several of these reports showed that the practice of torture and other ill treatment against children, often in police stations or detention centres, remains all too frequent. OMCT denounced practices such as sexual abuse, blows to sensitive parts of the body, cigarette burns,
keeping children standing in the hot sun, food and sleep deprivation, as well as placing them in solitary confinement. Moreover, OMCT also denounced the inhuman conditions of detention in which many children are held. They are often detained with adults and are kept in overcrowded establishments where sanitary conditions are often disastrous, access to basic care very limited or non-existent, and education, protection and rehabilitation opportunities rarely provided.

These reports are now available in English, French and/or Spanish on OMCT's website at www.omct.org or can be ordered by phone or fax to OMCT.

For further information, contact:

Séverine Jacomy sj@omct.org or Sylvain Vité sv@omct.org
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
8 rue du Vieux-Billard, Case postale 21,CH-1211 Geneve 8, Switzerland
Tel: 00 41 22 809 49 39; Fax: 0041 22 809 49 29; E-mail: omct@omct.org
Website: www.omct.org