Search results for “police”

Briefing

Deprivation of Children’s Liberty as the Last Resort: Independent monitoring mechanisms to safeguard children in detention

The African Child Policy Forum and Defence for Children International held a global conference in Kampala on 7-8 November 2011 to highlight the destructive impact on deprivation of liberty for children. The conference highlighted the critical importance of access to justice for children in Africa, whose rights are frequently denied and violated. The conference documents summarise […]

Languages: English, French, Spanish

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The issue

People from ethnic and religious minority populations continue to come into conflict with the law and be imprisoned at a higher rate than majority populations in many countries, constituting up to 50% of national prison populations. From country specific data, it remains clear that people belonging to national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities face discrimination […]

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Our timeline

Since 1989, PRI has been working in the field of criminal justice and penal reform at national, regional and international levels. Explore the timeline below for highlights from our work. Over the years, we have had many successes, working in more than 90 countries. We are proud of our past achievements and look forward to […]

Briefing

Human Rights during Detention and the Situation in Georgia

This factsheet “Human Rights during Police Detention and the Situation in Georgia” includes analysis of legislation and practices as regards police detention in Georgia, including safeguards and violations and relevant statistics. The document discusses all the challenges and human rights violations bringing concrete cases as evidence during administrative detention as well as during detention under […]

Languages: Georgian

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Preventive monitoring

Torture and ill-treatment usually occur in isolated places – such as prisons. By their very nature they are cut off from the rest of the world and those who practise torture feel confident that they are outside the reach of effective monitoring and accountable to no one. Preventing torture and ill-treatment requires that places of […]

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Our work

We advocate for effective safeguards against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. These include independent preventive monitoring mechanisms and rehabilitation for victims of torture and their families. We work with governments to criminalise torture as a specific offence in criminal legislation, and to establish effective independent public oversight or monitoring mechanisms […]

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The issue

Torture and ill-treatment destroy a person’s dignity, body and mind. The effects are lasting, often irreversible, and devastate individuals and their families.   Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on another person, whether physical or mental, to obtain information or a confession, to punish, to intimidate, humiliate or coerce. It may also […]

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Our work

We challenge the overuse of pre-trial detention, which undermines the chance of fair trial, the presumption of innocence, and ultimately the rule of law. We develop and promote alternatives to pre-trial detention and advocate for access to legal representation and adequate legal aid systems. We advocate for pre-trial detention to be imposed as an exception […]

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The issue

For many criminal offences, a prison sentence is not an appropriate response. There are a number of non-custodial alternatives to imprisonment available – that have proved to reduce reoffending rates as well as offer better protection of human rights. However, imprisonment has become the default response in many cases and ‘tough on crime’ policies have […]