The Méndez Principles: a step forward for preventing torture and ill-treatment worldwide

Despite universal prohibition, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment continue to be used in places of detention, especially during interrogation or police custody. In this blog, Valentina Cadelo from the Association for the Prevention of Torture presents the Principles on Effective Interviewing for Investigations and Information Gathering (the Méndez Principles) – a concrete human rights-based alternative to interrogation methods that rely on coercion to extract confessions. 

“The moment in which one is most vulnerable to torture is when you are faced with interrogation by investigators and law enforcement,” Juan E. Méndez, former UN Special Rapporteur on torture, reiterated in a recent podcast with the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT).

The heightened risk of torture and ill-treatment in the course of interrogations, and during the first hours of custody, has long been recognised as a challenge in all regions of the world. Worryingly, accusatory, coercive and confession-driven practices continue to characterise interrogations and often lead to torture and ill-treatment.

The use of coercive interviewing methods not only has a direct impact on the rights and dignity of persons being interrogated, there are broader consequences as well. First, these practices perpetuate a culture that justifies the use of torture and ill-treatment as a means to investigate and prevent crime, in violation of existing human rights obligations.

Second, they impede the correct functioning of criminal justice systems, particularly by increasing the risk of judicial error and ineffective investigations. As a result, they contribute to incidences of wrongful pre-trial detention, convictions and miscarriages of justice. Third, in the long term, they undermine civic trust in institutions that are essential to democracy and the rule of law.

A new reference framework can help address these challenges and, as a result, ensure better protection of people in the context of interrogations, while improving the effectiveness of criminal justice systems and strengthening public trust: the Principles on Effective Interviewing for Investigations and Information Gathering, also known as the Méndez Principles.

The Méndez Principles in a nutshell

The Méndez Principles provide an alternative to coercive and confession-based interrogation. They promote rapport-based interviewing, combined with the implementation of safeguards, during criminal justice investigations and other forms of information-gathering processes.

Backed by empirical and scientific research, the Méndez Principles provide guidance for policy-makers and decision-makers on effective interviewing to avoid torture and ill-treatment, while making the investigation and prevention of crime more effective and consistent with human rights standards.

Six core principles lie at the heart of the Principles: setting the foundations of effective interviewing, in science, law, and ethics (Principle 1); offering guidance on the practice of interviewing (Principle 2), including for persons in situations of vulnerability (Principle 3); and offering guidance on training (Principle 4), accountability (Principle 5) and implementation (Principle 6).

Specific benefits of the Méndez Principles

Central to the Méndez Principles is the aim of directly supporting State authorities to comply with their duty to protect the life and dignity of people in the course of questioning, particularly in the first hours of custody. The Méndez Principles provide comprehensive guidance for authorities to develop and implement holistic and institutional-level measures that help prevent torture, ill-treatment and forced confessions, while upholding the rights of those deprived of liberty and interviewed.

Significantly, instead of looking at interviewing in isolation, the Méndez Principles consider it as a process that starts from the first contact between a person and State authorities. They emphasise the need for authorities to ensure the effective implementation of procedural safeguards – such as the rights to access legal counsel, to remain silent, and to receive medical care – throughout the interview process. These safeguards help ensure the observance of fair treatment during the first hours of custody, when the risk of torture and ill-treatment is greatest.

The Méndez Principles also include specific guidance with regard to interviews involving persons in situations of vulnerability.  Building on the recognition that any interview constitutes itself a situation of vulnerability due to the inherent power imbalance, they emphasise the importance of assessing the specific needs and rights of persons in situations of heightened vulnerability (i.e., due to their age, sex, gender identity, nationality or ethnic origin, disability and other risks factors). Further, they recommend authorities address any specific need of the detained person, thereby providing concrete guidance on how to conduct such types of interviews, in full respect of human rights.

Finally, by promoting interviews that obtain more comprehensive, truthful and actionable information, the Méndez Principles contribute to effective criminal justice systems that safeguard the integrity of the justice process. This not only improves operational results but also ensures compliance with human rights, the rule of law and providing equal access to justice for all, under the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

Origins and drafting process

The Méndez Principles are the result of a four-year, expert-driven drafting process, in response to the 2016 call by former UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Méndez, to develop a set of standards for non-coercive interviewing methods and procedural safeguards during investigations and other information-gathering processes.

The drafting process was guided by a 15-member Steering Committee from different regions, whose backgrounds ranged from interviewing to psychology and human rights law.  An Advisory Council with around 80 experts provided further strategic and technical advice throughout the process, with the support of the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), the Anti-Torture Initiative (ATI) and the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (NCHR).

The Principles were adopted by the Steering Committee in May 2021 and officially launched on 9 June 2021.

The way forward: towards implementing the Méndez Principles

Recognition and support at the international, regional and national levels is essential for the Méndez Principles to become fully integrated into law and practice.

Today, a growing number of international, regional and national actors have welcomed the Méndez Principles as a crucial reference framework to shift away from confession-driven interrogation techniques to interviews that enable better human rights protection and adhere to procedural safeguards.

Encouraging steps in this regard include supportive statements by an increasing number of States, UN experts and international NGOs, including Penal Reform International (PRI), during the 49^th and 50^th sessions of the UN Human Rights Council.  These advances are expected to be followed by further expressions of support at the 77^th session of the UN General Assembly this autumn.

In parallel, UN special procedures and treaty bodies, such as the Committee against Torture (see e.g. CAT, Concluding Observations on Belgium), the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (see e.g. WGAD, Opinion No. 33/2021) and the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (see e.g. SPT,  Fifteenth annual report) are progressively integrating the Méndez Principles in their respective monitoring procedures and recommendations.

Similar steps are being undertaken at the regional and national levels, with the Méndez Principles being referred to and used by a growing number of independent monitoring mechanisms, such as the European Committee on the Prevention of Torture (see e.g. CPT, Report on Serbia), as well as National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs).

Of particular significance is the increasing interest the Principles have generated among law enforcement officials, the judiciary and lawyers involved in the conduct of interviews, as well as others in contact with persons deprived of liberty.

The growing support for the Méndez Principles is a clear indication of their positive impact on the protection of the rights and dignity of people in the course of questioning and interrogations.

In the coming months, the APT will continue to build support for the Méndez Principles by working closely with our partners and stakeholders, from the global level to the local. Through these efforts, we  hope to facilitate their implementation in law and practice and, ultimately, promote criminal justice systems that comply with human rights, uphold the prohibition of torture and place at their centre the rights to dignity and physical and mental integrity of every person.