Universal Periodic Review

Cease torture and inhuman or degrading treatment in places of detention and ensure that those allegations are investigated impartially and perpetrators are prosecuted and convicted

Proponent:

Remarks to progress by Liga (last modified Dec 31, 2024):

Individual legal protection in prisons is primarily regulated by the Prison Act. Legal protection in the event of restrictions of liberty outside of prisons is guaranteed in particular by the Accommodation Act and the Residential Homes Act. There are no plans to further strengthen individual legal protection. There is insufficient data on the practical exercise of legal protection.   A practical problem with allegations of ill-treatment and torture is necessarily that accusations are often difficult to prove and that witness testimony is often unreliable. There is also a need for greater awareness and training of prison staff to ensure that human rights standards are met in practice. The training regulations have not been modernised for some time and further training in the area of human dignity and human rights is only optional.  In addition, however, a review of the conditions in all forms of deprivation of liberty, not only of state but also private operators, is carried out by the relevant commissions of the Ombudsman Board in accordance with the OPCAT (Review of the conditions of deprivation of liberty by the Ombudsman Board in accordance with OPCAT: https://volksanwaltschaft.gv.at/artikel/opcat-umfassendes-menschenrechtsmonitoring-durch-die-volksanwaltschaft ). Anonymised individual cases are published according to annual review priorities agreed with the Human Rights Advisory Council (see Website of the Austrian Ombudsman Board: Preventive human rights monitoring). It would also be desirable if even better-prepared statistical data were available, in particular on abuses in the area of criminal detention and police detention.  Even though a separate investigation and complaints office for cases of abuse and torture has now been set up for police activities (see Gesetz über das Bundesamt zur Korruptionsprävention und Korruptionsbekämpfung, Änderung (2089 d.B.)), there is no comparable body for the activities of judicial police officers. It would be necessary under fundamental rights to establish a genuine organisationally separate and independent complaints office with low access barriers for all bodies whose employees exercise direct command and coercive power. Individual legal protection in prisons is primarily regulated by the Prison Act. Legal protection in the event of restrictions of liberty outside of prisons is guaranteed in particular by the Accommodation Act and the Residential Homes Act. There are no plans to further strengthen individual legal protection. There is insufficient data on the practical exercise of legal protection.   A practical problem with allegations of ill-treatment is necessarily that accusations are often difficult to prove and that witness statements are often unreliable. There is also a need for greater awareness and training of prison staff to ensure that human rights standards are met in practice. The training regulations have not been modernised for some time and further training in the area of human dignity and human rights is only optional.   In addition, however, a review of the conditions in all forms of deprivation of liberty, not only of state but also private operators, is carried out by the relevant commissions of the Ombudsman’s Office in accordance with the OPCAT (more details Article: Comprehensive human rights monitoring by the Austrian Ombudsman Board). Anonymised individual cases are published according to annual review priorities agreed with the Human Rights Advisory Council (see Website of the Austrian Ombudsman Board). It would also be desirable if even better-prepared statistical data were available, in particular on abuses in the area of criminal detention and police detention.   Even though a separate investigation and complaints office for cases of abuse has now been set up for the activities of the police (see Government bill: Federal (constitutional) law), there is no comparable office for the activities of prison officers. It would be constitutionally required to establish a genuine organisationally separate and independent complaints office with low access hurdles for all bodies whose employees exercise direct command and coercive power;