KULOB, June 24, 2008, Asia-Plus  - A roundtable meeting dedicated to International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which is marked on June 26, has opened in Kulob.  

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Jumakhon Olimi, the member of the collation network of the Central Asia Torture Prevention Project also head of the Kulob public association Parallax, said that since its creation in 1945, the United Nations has worked to eradicate torture.  

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in its Article 5, proclaims that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

On December 10, 1984, the UN General Assembly (Resolution 39/46) adopted the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT).  This Convention, which entered into force on June 26, 1987, obliges states to make torture a crime and to prosecute and punish those guilty of it. It notes explicitly that neither higher orders nor exceptional circumstances can justify torture.  It was an important step to acknowledge that torture, and all forms of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, are absolutely and universally illegal. Proposed by Denmark, the UN General Assembly in December 1997 marked the historic date - 26 June - as International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

According to him, Tajikistan joined the CAT in 1995; however it has not yet signed the Optional Protocol to the CAT that would allow Tajikistan’s citizens to apply directly to the UN Committee against Torture.   

The roundtable meeting participants include human rights activists, representatives of the prosecutor’s office, ministry of interior, courts, public associations, political parties and media.    

From June 24 to June 26, similar roundtable meetings will be also held in Dushanbe, Khorog, Khujand and Qurghon Teppa.