The APT welcomes the joint-NGO briefing on the review of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
This briefing has been issued ahead of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice to be held from 22 to 26 April in Vienna, provides information on the review process, and recommends that some particularly outdated Rules should now be strengthened in line with agreed detention standards.
At the forthcoming UN Crime Commission, the report and recommendations of the second inter-governmental expert group meeting on the process (held in December 2012 in Argentina) will be considered by the assembled States and a draft resolution (E/CN.15/2013/L.22) will be tabled to describe how the review process should continue.
Parallel to the review of the Standard Minimum Rules, the APT is developing practical tools for both policy makers and monitoring bodies, to ensure these minimum standards of detention are implemented more effectively. Further information on this process will be available soon.
