Our country Celebrates the International Day for the Prevention of Torture
Our country commemorated the International Day Against Torture under the slogan “Protecting civic space is a basis for fairness and justice for victims of torture.”
In a speech on the occasion, the head of the national mechanism for the prevention of torture, Ms. Moulaty Mint Al-Moukhtar, stressed that our country was a pioneer in establishing a national mechanism for the prevention of torture, and allocated the necessary material and human resources to ensure that the mechanism was able to carry out its tasks in good conditions and with complete independence.
She said that Mauritania has strengthened its legal arsenal with the anti-torture law, which is embodied in the mechanism teams directing places of deprivation of freedom in the three districts of Nouakchott, in addition to visiting all prisons in the inner cities.
She explained that the reports of these visits included the housing and living conditions in places of deprivation of liberty and the extent of respect for preventive measures against the Covid 19 pandemic, stressing that these visits took place in positive conditions.
In turn, the High Representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in our country, Ms. Kanza Janek, stressed in a speech on the occasion that torture is prohibited at all times and in all circumstances, given its serious repercussions on the victim, adding that the twenty-sixth of June was an opportunity to sign the United Nations Convention against Torture.
She said that this convention has been signed and ratified by 162 countries, and is mainly based on the fight against torture. She also indicated that the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is an opportunity for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to support the Mauritanian government to continue its policy to combat torture.
The commemoration ceremony was attended by the Assistant Commissioner for Human Rights and the Chairman of the National Human Rights Committee, Mr. Ahmed Salem Bouhebeini.