Submission to the Special Rapporteur on Torture

At the end of November, Dr Mattia Pinto, lecturer at CAHR and York Law School, worked with Dr Silvana Tapia Tapia (Leverhulme Research Fellow, University of Birmingham) and Professor Natasa Mavronicola (Professor of Human Rights Law, University of Birmingham) on a submission to the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The joint submission concerns the Special Rapporteur’s forthcoming report on "The duty to investigate crimes of torture in national law and practice". Specifically, it focuses on the limitations of the penal paradigm shaping the duty to investigate incidents of torture and ill-treatment, based on a case study examining the special criminal justice pathway in responding to Violence Against Women in Ecuador.

The submission also considers what can be gained by shifting the emphasis from criminalisation and punishment and towards mechanisms that go beyond the penal frame, such as guarantees of non-repetition and transformative reparations.

The submission will be published on the Special Rapporteur’s webpage.