The HRIC has worked closely with the APT over the years, especially in the remits of its OPCAT project.

The Centre stands at the inception of the so-called OPCAT Contact Group, which was reformed into OPCAT Network in 2012 and together with APT, the HRIC are the two organsiations of the Steering Committee of this Network. The group was established in September 2006 by the then OPCAT Research Team of the University of Bristol. This group is a gathering of civil society organisations that all work on aspects of OPCATs’ implementation. The OPCAT Contact Group gained standing before the SPT and has participated in all but one sessions of the treaty body, providing assistance and support to the SPT. It comprises Amnesty International (AI), Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), International Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (FIACAT), Human Rights Implementation Centre (HRIC), International Disability Alliance (IDA), Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (MDAC), World Organisation against Torture (OMCT), Penal Reform International (PRI), Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY) and World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP).

November 2011

10-11 November, 2011 – all members of the HRIC’s staff were invited and attended the OPCAT Global Forum held in Geneva and organised by the Association on Prevention of Torture (APT). This event marked the five years after the entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and the APT had invited over 300 experts, implementers and practitioners in the prevention of torture around the world to take stock of the OPCAT’s novel system for preventing torture and to identify concrete ways to strengthen it.

At this event, Prof Malcolm Evans delivered a key-note speech, and Dr Elina Steinerte delivered a presentation entitled  ‘On a visit or a mission? The Mandate of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture’ during the Thematic Session ‘Enhancing the SPT’s impact'.