International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

CNPCT event to discuss challenges of combating torture from a cross-cutting perspective

Preso exibe marcas de queimaduras durante inspeção do Complexo Prisional de Pedrinhas (MA) - 2015

In commemoration of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on June 26, the CNPCT (National Committee to Combat and Prevent Torture) will hold a special event on the 26th and 27th, after its 14th Ordinary Meeting, to debate torture from various perspectives and approaches.

On the first day of the event, the seminar “Challenges to formulating a cross-cutting policy to combat and prevent torture” will be staged to debate torture in Brazil from the perspective of gender, mental health and race. The first day will also see the release of the Annual Report 2016-2017 of the National Mechanism to Combat and Prevent Torture.

The second day of the event will be dedicated to the presentation and discussion of recent publications on the topic, one of which is “Shielded Torture – How the institutions of the justice system perpetuate violence in custody hearings”. Published in February by Conectas Human Rights, the study shows how judges, prosecutors and public defenders overlook, trivialize and even rationalize episodes of police violence reported by detainees in hearings with a judge within 24 hours of their arrest. The presentation of the research will be followed by the debate panel “Custody Hearings as an Instrument to Combat Torture”.

Participating in the debates during the two-day event will be representatives of organizations such as CNDH (National Human Rights Council), CNBB (National Council of Brazilian Bishops), University of Brasília, Ipea (Applied Economic Research Institute), Ministry of Human Rights, PFDC (Attorney General’s Office for the Rights of the Citizen), CNJ (National Justice Council), IBCCRIM (Brazilian Criminal Sciences Institute), the Senate Human Rights Committee and others. The event is open to the public. See the complete program here.

Event

• International Day in Support of Victims of Torture – CNPCT
• Date: June 26 & 27, 2017
• Time: 9 am to 6 pm
• Place: Human Rights Secretariat – South Commercial Sector-B, Block 9, Lot C
• Parque Cidade Corporate Building, Tower A, 10th floor
• Brasília – Federal District