Worldwide Campaign against Torture [Archives:2000/43/Front Page]

The Coordination Council of Yemeni Groups of Amnesty International in cooperation with United Nations Information Center launched last Wednesday the international campaign against torture.
The coordination council visited al-Radea prison which used to be a torturing center during the Imamate reign. The council also visited the Civil Society Forum located in Haddah street as it is a center for defending human rights.
After that organizers invited personalities and media men to attend a round table session in the Research and Studies Center where speeches and papers were presented. Mrs. Elham Abdulwahab, Yemeni Committee coordinator, delivered a speech welcoming the participants and reviewed the role of the groups in developing awareness of human rights and anti-torture legislations among the people.
Then, Mr. Mohammed Yahya al-Sabri, member of the One Hundred Committee on Combating Torture, pointed out the different forms of torture, its strategies for combating torture program which contains 12 points. This program was highly stressed upon by the Amnesty International which calls upon all individuals, groups and organizations to publicize and put into circulation this program.
Another paper was presented pertaining to the role of NGOs in combating torture. The paper reviewed some misbehavior by some security men against political activists, journalists and ordinary people in pending criminal investigation. It praised the YTs role in following up cases of torture, ill-treatment of some sources, reporting them to the public. It also called party organ newspapers and independent newspapers to allocate some space in their newspapers to cases of torture which people are often exposed to. It also called upon the NGOs to define a specific program to combat torture so as to have an active role in this regard.
Some of the participants expressed their opinions reviewing the success that can be achieved through coordination and cooperation between these organizations.
Mr. Abdullatif al-Duraini presented an interposition reviewing the roles played by the National Committee for Human Rights in developing the awareness and culture of Human rights among the police and judiciary authorities to contain cases of torture reported sometimes.
International Campaign to combat torture aims at holding those perpetrators of torture accountable for their actions; training security forces all over the world to respect international standards pertaining to human rights and those of conducting lawful investigations; combating trade in torturing tools; facing violence against women; disclosing and combating violence and crimes against children; ensuring governments commitment to their obligation for freedom of people. The campaign also prepares the stage for the UN conference on discrimination as it is one form of torture. It also ensures governments obligation to endorse UN treaty to combat torture which will take place in coming December in Italy.

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