DUSHANBE, June 6, 2014, Asia-Plus – The Tajik Branch of the Open Society Institute/Assistance Foundation (OSI/AF-Tajikistan) jointly with the OSCE Office in Tajikistan and the Human Rights Center will organize training for Tajik psychiatrists, forensic medicine experts, judges, prosecutors and barristers on standards of the Istanbul Protocol from June 9-12.

According to the OSI/AF-Tajikistan, the training participants will be divided into two groups (physicians and lawyers) to get acquainted with the main aspects of investigating cases of use of torture and international standards of carrying out forensic medical examination of supposed victims of torture and documenting cases of torture.

The Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, commonly known as the Istanbul Protocol, is the first set of international guidelines for documentation of torture and its consequences. It became an official United Nations document in 1999.

The Istanbul Protocol is intended to serve as a set of international guidelines for the assessment of persons who allege torture and ill treatment, for investigating cases of alleged torture, and for reporting such findings to the judiciary and any other investigative body.

The Istanbul Protocol is a non-binding document.  However, international law obliges governments to investigate and document incidents of torture and other forms of ill-treatment and to punish those responsible in a comprehensive, effective, prompt and impartial manner. The Istanbul Protocol is a tool for doing this.