Culturally appropriate, human rights compliant police custody monitoring expectations for detained Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people

Abstract

To support effective implementation of the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) in Australia, Culturally appropriate, human rights compliant police custody monitoring expectations for detained Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people have been developed. It is anticipated that these Expectations (standards) will have relevance to other jurisdictions with overrepresentation of Indigenous (or other marginalised/racialised groups) in their domestic criminal legal system. The Expectations can be used by both domestic bodies exercising the OPCAT mandate, and other statutory bodies or civil society actors working to strengthen protections against torture and ill-treatment of people detained in police custody.

            The Expectations reflect the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) position on what constitutes a ‘place of deprivation of liberty’, as articulated in its first ever General Comment. Thus, they account for stops and searches, containment at public assemblies, arrest/apprehension/detention, transport/transfer, and detention at police stations. They also reflect the well-established approach under OPCAT of not only monitoring conditions and treatment in detention, but also interrogating potential root-causes of torture and ill-treatment.