Today, Monday, a Palestinian ministerial team discussed with the United Nations Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture the establishment of a national preventive mechanism to prevent torture in Palestine, and a study of the situation in detention facilities and how the authorities implement their obligations to prevent torture and ill-treatment and provide appropriate detention conditions.

The Ministry of the Interior, at its headquarters in the city of Ramallah, organized this ministerial meeting, which included the Ministers of: Interior Major General Ziad Hab Al-Rih, Justice Muhammad Al-Shalaldah, Labor Nasri Abu Jaish, Health Mai Al-Kaila, Women’s Affairs Amal Hamad, and a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the presence of a business coordinator. Haitham Arar, the government team for the Convention against Torture.

The visit of the UN Committee, which is currently visiting the State of Palestine, aims to evaluate the measures taken to protect persons deprived of liberty from torture and ill-treatment, and to provide advice to the authorities regarding the mechanism to be established.

The visit includes meeting with the authorities at the highest levels, and the judicial, administrative and security bodies, provided that the committee submits its confidential preliminary observations to the Government of Palestine.

The ICRC delegation consists of the head of the Swiss delegation, Daniel Fink, the Moroccan Abdallah Onir, the Spanish Mata Mira, and the Tunisian Hamida Dridi, in addition to accompanying two human rights officers in the secretariat of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture.