According to UN Human Rights, conditions in many Latin American prisons remain dire, and this has become widely normalised within the general population.

“And that is linked to punitive policies and a punitive mindset in society at large, with the belief that offenders deserve the worst,” Jarab said.

For Jarab, the level of civilisation and humanism in a society is measured, among other things, by the quality of its prison system. “Because everyone can have nice shopping centres, but it is prisons that makes the difference,” he said.

Standards for the use of force

The seminar also launched the Spanish edition of a UN manual on the use of force, a tool developed to guide institutions in applying international standards.

“The manual on the use of force is a document that we at Omega Research Foundation have been using for some time,” McEvoy said. “It is a very important document because many times [these issues] can seem very abstract, but what this document does is make them much more concrete, and translating this type of tool seems fundamental to me.”

“Publishing this type of tool and sharing it with judges, prosecutors and public defenders enables them to begin making a more critical assessment of the actions of public security forces,” he added.

Jarab stressed that these standards are also essential in the context of protests and police control.

“Today, for example, we have more detailed standards on the so-called ‘less-lethal weapons’, which, mistakenly, are often considered ‘non-lethal’, but can be lethal if used improperly,” he said.

“So, it is very important that the use of these less-lethal weapons is neither widespread nor clearly inappropriate — for example, when tear gas cartridges are fired directly at a person. The deliberate use of such weapons to make people suffer could be classified as torture,” Jarab added.

Prisons and torture

Jarab warned that poor prison conditions do not only affect those who are detained, but society as a whole. In such conditions, he said, rehabilitation programmes designed to reduce reoffending can hardly function, as incarceration in inhumane conditions makes any genuine process of reintegration impossible.

Casamento stressed that torture remains common in many countries.

“There are certain practices that no longer occur, [but] when it comes to torture one must be very careful because it can be disguised,” she said.

According to Feoli, penal reforms grounded in gender sensitivity and humanity bring us closer to finding solutions, such as mitigating factors for women who are also victims of gender-based violence or who live in extreme poverty. Particularly at a time when, he stressed, the political climate seems to be overly repressive.

Reyes, a sentence enforcement judge, said that a good practice in Uruguay is the regular visits carried out by execution and supervisory judges, either weekly or monthly. “It is a way of monitoring and supervising to ensure that there are no cruel treatment or torture, and that human rights and the dignity of individuals are respected,” she said.

Guzmán added that prison overcrowding is a serious problem that gravely affects the human rights of people deprived of their liberty, particularly women. Delays in criminal justice systems increase overcrowding, he said, and this impacts severely other rights such as health, education, family life, and work.

“Overcrowding is the result of highly punitive policies, particularly in drug-related matters, which are counterproductive because a growing number of young people — and an even faster-growing number of women — are being incarcerated,” Jarab added.

Feoli pointed out that, in terms of preventing torture, what truly matters goes beyond formalities; it is the work carried out within each country.

“That is why the independence and autonomy of these bodies is so important if they are to be genuinely useful in preventing torture,” he said.

Jarab said that in many cases, people — particularly women — are in fact victims of violent men who force them to commit crimes, rather than genuine perpetrators.

The universal human rights system: a source of hope

Contesse explained that preventing torture is a central concern of the universal human rights system, evidenced by the existence of two specialised mechanisms: the Committee against Torture and the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture. The Committee monitors compliance with the Convention against Torture, while the Subcommittee oversees implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention.

According to Contesse, the work of both bodies becomes decentralised through the national preventive mechanisms established in countries that have ratified the Optional Protocol.

“And in addition to that, in some cases such as Argentina, there are national mechanisms that further decentralise into local bodies. What you end up with is work that operates at different levels, becoming increasingly visible as it moves from the global to the local,” he said.

The prevention of torture, Contesse said, depends on a renewed commitment by States to the Convention against Torture and to the work carried out by national preventive mechanisms.

“The absolute prohibition of torture must translate into policies, practices and institutional cultures that make its occurrence impossible,” Jarab said. “It is not enough to proclaim norms: we must ensure they are lived and applied.”

UN Human Rights supports States and national mechanisms in adopting international standards on the use of force and on preventing torture.

For Casamento, the universal human rights system makes an essential difference.

“It may seem slow because one would like solutions straight away, but the truth is that it provides a framework that then allows us to move forward in that direction in our own contexts,” she said. “It is like an umbrella. The treaty bodies and the various [UN Human Rights] offices throw us a lifeline in each of our countries and that is extremely valuable.”