[Press Release] Philippine expert, Dr. June Lopez, joins the UN’s torture prevention body -APT

Philippine expert, Dr. June Lopez, joins the UN’s torture prevention body Dr. June Caridad Pagaduan Lopez, the Philippines, was elected to the United Nation’s Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT). Dr June Lopez, currently Professor of Psychiatry at the College of Medicine, University of the Philippines in Manila, is an expert on forensic evidence and…

Human Rights Online Philippines

October 31, 2012

2–3 minutes

College of Medicine, Human Right, June Lopez, Mark Thomson, National Human Rights Institution, Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Philippine, Psychiatry, SPT, Torture, Uniform Resource Locator, United Nations, University of the Philippines

Philippine expert, Dr. June Lopez, joins the UN’s torture prevention body

Dr. June Caridad Pagaduan Lopez, the Philippines, was elected to the United Nation’s Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT).

Dr June Lopez, currently Professor of Psychiatry at the College of Medicine, University of the Philippines in Manila, is an expert on forensic evidence and psychiatry with focus on torture, sexual violence and trauma.

Her election, along with 11 other experts, to the UN torture prevention body was welcomed by Mr. Mark Thomson, Secretary General of the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT):
“This election brings greater diversity to the Subcommittee. I am certain that the SPT will greatly benefit from Dr. Lopez expertise as a psychiatrist and her long experience in teaching and research on torture and other human rights violations,” he said.

The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture is the international body established under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), which sets up a system of independent monitoring visits to all places where persons are detained, such as prisons, police stations and psychiatric hospitals. With its 25 members the SPT is the largest UN treaty body. Dr. June Lopez was elected as one of 12 new experts to replace SPT members whose terms of office will expire by the end of 2012.

The Philippines is one of the most recent States to join the torture prevention treaty (in April 2012). It became the first country to postpone the implementation of one of the obligations under the OPCAT, namely the in-country visits by the SPT, for three years.

The APT recently concluded a visit to the Philippines, where the Geneva based organisation held discussions with representatives from the Government, the National Human Rights Institution and civil society on the options for setting up a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) – the independent national body in charge of monitoring places of detention. The ongoing consultations regarding designation of the Philippine NPM are a first amongst ASEAN countries and could play a significant role in the region.

For more information, please contact: Rebecca Minty, Asia-Pacific Programme Officer, Association for the Prevention of Torture, e-mail: rminty@apt.ch or visit http://www.apt.ch.

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