OPCAT Implementation

This Schedule will support the designation or establishment of National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) Body/ies in the Australian Capital Territory (the ACT), in accordance with Part 4 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).

Article 17 under Part 4 of the OPCAT provides that ‘Each State Party shall maintain, designate, or establish, at the latest one year after the entry into force of the present Protocol or of its ratification or accession, one or several independent national preventive mechanisms for the prevention of torture at the domestic level.’

In the context of Article 17, ‘designate’ means to assign the role of NPM to an existing institution or institutions, and ‘establish’ means to set up a new body or bodies to carry out the functions of an NPM on an ongoing basis.