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The Asia Pacific Programme

The APT Asia-Pacific Programme was introduced in 2007, following a number of successful activities in the region, such as a seminar on the prevention of torture organised conjointly with the Nepal Law Society and in 2005 a joint APT-OHCHR workshop on methodology of visits to places of detention.

Given the sheer size of this region and the need for external support expressed by local human rights organisations we have decided to extend our involvement in the region. The Asia-Pacific Programme covers all South Pacific Island countries and all Asian countries from Iran eastwards, with the exception of the former Soviet Central Asian Republics and Mongolia, which fall under the APT's Europe & Central Asia Programme.

Core Activities
- Promotion of the UN Convention Against Torture and its Optional Protocol in target countries
- Technical advice to key stakeholders on the implementation of the UNCAT and its Optional Protocol, and support to the treaty reporting process
- Capacity-building of monitoring mechanisms
Recent Activities
- Towards OPCAT Ratification and the Establishment of an NPM in Indonesia
- Engaging with the National Preventive Mechanisms in New Zealand
- Promoting OPCAT ratification in Australia
- Torture Prevention Initiatives at the Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators
- International Symposium for the Domestic Application of the OPCAT in Korea
- OPCAT Promotion in Japan
- Thailand: Implementing the UN Convention Against Torture
- APT Submission to the Australian National Human Rights Consulation
- Thailand: Implementing the UN Convention Against Torture
- Indonesia: Putting the OPCAT into Practice
- Addressing the Ill-treatment of Detained Migrants
- Supporting the establishment of a National Preventive Mechanism in the Philippines
- Nepal: Preventive Detention Monitoring
- Thailand & the UN Convention against Torture
- Engaging with police forces in the Pacific
- Promoting the Optional Protocol in Timor-Leste
- Indonesia: Promoting the implementation of the Convention against Torture and its Optional Protocol (2)
- The APT on mission in the South Pacific
- Nepal: National Workshop on Torture Prevention
- Indonesia: Promoting the implementation of the Convention against Torture and its Optional Protocol (1)
- Thailand: Ratification and Implementation of the UN Convention against Torture
- Workshop on Implementation of the UNCAT and its Optional Protocol in the Maldives
- The APT advocates for torture prevention in Nepal

Featured Publication

Bringing the International Prohibition of Torture Home (Thai)
National Implementation Guide for the UN Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
A Redress Publication which has been translated & published into Thai by the APT and the ICJ

Asia Pacific Forum

Asia Pacific Forum

The APT has been actively collaborating with the APF since 2005.

In 2008, training workshops for the NHRIs of Indonesia, Nepal and Timor-Leste are planned. The APT is also in the process of drafting a Manual on Torture Prevention for NHRIs, which will seek to present the international standards applicable in this particular field, and give NHRIs a sense of how these standards are to be implemented at the domestic level.

Read more about the partnership between the APF and the APT.

Indonesia Report

On the 6 and 7 May 2008, the UN Committee against Torture reviewed the second periodic report of Indonesia, a country to which the APT has dedicated considerable attention in the last few years. In the context of its long-term torture prevention work in Indonesia, the APT assisted the Indonesian Working Group on the Advocacy against Torture, a coalition of NGOs headed by its partner organisation ELSAM (Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy), draft a shadow report to the Committee.

Quick Links

Monthly OPCAT Briefing

OPCAT Country Status (Info)

OPCAT Ratification Status

National Preventive Mechanisms

Payments to APT