NCHR contributes to Convention against Torture Initiative’s regional seminar for the Asia-Pacific

Together with the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and CTI (Convention against Torture Initiative) the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights co-hosted the Asia-Pacific "Regional Seminar the UN Convention against Torture: Building Robust Preventive Frameworks". The event took place in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, on April 20-22.

Image of the coat of arms of Fiji, Denmark, Morocco, Ghana, Chile and Indonesia.

Display of the coat of arms of the six CTI core states.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stand on torture

At the conference, Indonesia’s minister of foreign affairs Retno Marsudi, pointed out that in order to prevent torture, states must ensure the capacity of their officials, provide adequate resources to the law enforcement bodies, and grant victims of torture with compensation.

NCHR and Investigative Interviewing 

CTI deserves praise for their seamless technical organization of the event and the active participation of several CTI countries, such as Denmark, Fiji, and the CTI’s host country, Switzerland, which allowed the NCHR to lead two sessions on investigative interviewing. These sessions became a valuable add-on to the parts of the seminar highlighting other anti-torture measures, such as preventive frameworks and safeguards, ratification of international treaties, as well as national legislation and anti-torture bills.

At the session addressing the UNCAT’s correlation with the investigative interviewing method, and the Mendez principles, NCHR were joined by two valued cooperation partners, Anna Guidice of the United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and Association for the Prevention of Torture’s (APT) Secretary General Barbara Bernath. 

police and researcher in from of conference bannerAKBP Eko Novan Prasetyo Puspito, Indonesian National Police and forensic linguist Dr Dian Dia-an Muniroh, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia.

 

Showcasing in-country capacity 

The session on developments of investigative interviewing in Indonesia became particularly noteworthy due to the expertise displayed by the presenters from “the home team”, including NCHR’s partners Rully Sandra and Farhat M. Adibrata from FRR Law Office who presented findings from their base-line study on policing in Indonesia. Equally impressive were forensic linguist Dian Di-an Muniroh from Universitas Pendidikan, and Police Chief Commissioner Eko Novan Prasetyo Puspito. Eko handled interventions and questions about the adaptability of investigative interviewing to Indonesian culture with great calm and refinement, and made a case of the irrationality behind the police’s mistreatment of the public.

Tags: RoL NCHR, Investigative interviewing, Indonesia, Police Training, CTI, Rule of Law, anti-torture By Knut D. Asplund
Published May 18, 2022 3:46 PM - Last modified Oct. 19, 2023 3:06 PM