On May 31, 2006 the National Assembly of Armenia ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). On June 22 the OPCAT is coming into force. Association for the Prenention of Torture (APT), which is the key advocate in the ratification process distributed the following press-pelease to it's partners worldwide.

"The OPCAT is the most important development for the effective prevention of
torture at the universal level” said Manfred Nowak, the UN Special rapporteur on

torture.

The Optional
Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT), a new
international mechanism to prevent torture, will come into force on 22 June
2006. This will lead to the creation of a UN Subcommittee on Prevention and
independent national visiting bodies which will conduct in-country visits to all
places of detention. Countries that ratified the OPCAT have to set up these
national visiting bodies within a year.

Regular and unannounced visits to any place of detention is one of the best ways
to prevent torture and ill treatment. Until now, there was no system of such
preventive visits at universal level, which contributed to a lack of
transparency of the conditions and treatment of people in detention. The
Subcommittee and national visiting mechanisms will be able to access any form of
detention where people can not leave at will, such as prisons, police stations
or psychiatric hospitals. Under the OPCAT, countries also have to ensure that
these international and national bodies have access to all the information on
the treatment and conditions of prisoners and places of detention, as well as
allow private interviews with detainees. Through the ratification, they will
effectively open their places of detention to independent national and
international scrutiny.

On 23 May 2006, Honduras and Bolivia ratified the OPCAT, which brought the total
of States Parties up to the necessary 20 ratifications to bring it into force on
the 22nd of June. This has been one of the fastest ratification processes of an
international human rights treaty, as it was adopted by the UN General Assembly
on 18 December 2002.

The Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), a Geneva-based
non-governmental organisation was at the origin of the OPCAT and a key advocate
in the ratification process. APT welcomes this entry into force and encourages
other states to ratify the Protocol as soon as possible in order to prevent
torture worldwide. APT also urges the UN Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights, NGOs and other representatives of civil society to prioritise the
implementation of this innovative preventive mechanism.

On May 31, 2006 the National Assembly of Armenia ratified the Optional Protocol
to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).

For further information, please contact:

Edouard Delaplace, Senior Programme Officer, Association for the Prevention of
Torture (APT), Geneva, Tel: +41 (0)22 919 21 83,

Email: edelaplace@apt.ch

www.apt.ch