Organizers: Task Force Detainees Philippines (Philippines) (“TFDP”)  & Justiça Global (Brazil) (“JG”) in cooperation with the United Against Torture Coalition (UATC)- Philippines

Title of the activity: OP-CAT’s National Preventive Mechanisms: Lessons from Brazil and the Path Forward for the Philippines (Webinar)

Proposed date and time: One-day two-hour seminar on 13 July 2023, Thursday,- 7 pm-9 pm (Manila time)

Context: Although Brazil and the Philippines have different prison demographics, they both have high incarceration and over-occupancy rates fueled by drug policies that promote penal responses to social and public health issues, creating a challenge for human rights protection within the prison system. Within the international human rights protection systems, one of the main instruments created to tackle this challenge is the National Preventive Mechanism (“NPM”) proposed by the OP-CAT. The Philippines has been discussing the implementation of its own NPM for the past decade or so, being one of the nineteen countries that ratified the OP-CAT but are yet to create their own NMP. The House Bill n. 6305, filed in November 2022, is the country’s latest attempt to fulfill its international obligation. Brazil, on the other hand, created its National Committee on the Prevention of Torture and its National Preventive Mechanism (“NMP”) in 2013 (Law n. 12.847), forming its National System for the Prevention of Torture – before that the state of Rio de Janeiro had already created its own state-level mechanism in 2010 (State Law n. 5.778). Since then, other state-level preventive systems were created under different formats (linked to the Legislative branch, to the Executive etc.).  After a decade of existence, Brazil’s NMP has undergone challenges, overcame attempts by a previous government to dismantle its structure and built up expertise and knowledge on not only the theme itself but also the difficulties in setting up such a body in a country with a substantial rate of incarceration.

Rationale for the proposed activity: Considering the current legislative situation in the Philippines regarding its own NPM, the push by its civil society towards its implementation, and Brazil’s more than a decade of experience in the matter (including with different institutional arrangements of preventive mechanism, considering the various state-level experiences), a webinar bringing together interlocutors and interested parties from both countries would be a great opportunity to engage with the qualified discussion already taking place in the Philippines and help in formulating solutions and measures that are compatible with the international human rights standards for a NPM, while also avoiding some of the pitfalls Brazil’s experience can help us highlight.

Goals and objectives: The overall goal of the webinar is to contribute to the legislative and societal debate regarding the Philippines’ NPM via an international interactive dialogue with Brazil’s civil society and experiences on the matter. More precisely, the aim has as its objectives: discuss the current House Bill on the Philippines’ NPM; identify some of the problems that may arise from the text as it is and other common problems with the implementation of NPMs; promote the exchange of knowledge and information regarding torture prevention and prison monitoring; and promote the connection between Philippines’ and Brazil’s civil society and human rights organizations to develop further joint-projects.

Format: 7 pm-9 pm on 13 July 2023, Thursday. The panel would be composed of: (i) a member, or former member, of Brazil’s NPM; (ii) a representative of the Philippines’ NHRI; (iii) a representative of the Task Force Detainees Philippines (TFDP); and (iv) a representative of Justiça Global (JG). The panel would start with a presentation by a member, or former member, of Brazil’s NPM, followed by a reaction by the representative of the Philippines’ NHRI. TFDP and JG would present their comments afterwards and the panel would follow with an open debate.

Organizational background:

Task Force Detainees of the Philippines https://www.facebook.com/TaskForceDetainees

Justica Global https://www.global.org.br/en/