Announcements
Professor Meg Satterthwaite to speak at Side Event at the General Assembly

The absolute and non-derogable prohibition against torture and other illtreatment in international law cannot be territorially limited. In his latest thematic report on the extraterritorial application of the prohibition of
torture and other ill-treatment and attendant obligations (A/70/303), Special Rapporteur Juan E. Mendez (SRT) reminds States that denying responsibility for acts of torture or other ill-treatment committed, sponsored, or effectively controlled by their agents abroad creates dangerous incentives to avoid international legal obligations and results in serious breaches of international law. States are required to ensure a broad range of attendant positive or preventive obligations whenever they bring person within their jurisdiction by exercising control or authority over an area, place, individual, or transaction abroad – this includes actions taken in their own jurisdictions to prevent such acts in different
jurisdictions.

Meg UN Side eventThe side-event seeks to sensitize Member States to the importance of recognizing their fundamental extraterritorial obligations, and to ways in which they can fulfill them in light of the increasingly globalized and transnational nature of their activities, such as cross-border military operations and the use of force abroad; anti-migration operations; and renditions to justice and extraordinary renditions, among many other practices. It will also help explain the nature of an array of legal obligations imposed by the Convention Against Torture – such as the obligation of non-refoulement, to apply the exclusionary rule, to provide redress to victims, and to criminalize and investigate, prosecute, and punish every act of torture, including aspects of universal jurisdiction – from an extraterritorial perspective.

The panel will discuss practical challenges and the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur’s new report, and participants will have a valuable opportunity to provide input on both the substantive and the advocacy levels, offering strategies for member States, UN mechanisms, and civil society organizations on the extraterritorial application of the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment and attendant obligations in international law.

Read more about the event here.

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