Denmark and Switzerland hosts international conference on fighting impunity for acts of torture and other ill-treatment

On 13 June 2022 Denmark and Switzerland hosted an international conference on “Fighting Impunity for Acts of Torture: Ensuring accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims”.

The conference was organised with the support of the 2022 OSCE Polish Chairmanship and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). Read more about the Conference here.

Read the welcoming remarks as delivered by the Permanent Representative of Denmark to the OSCE, Ambassador René Rosager Dinesen: 

Dear colleagues. Dear valued members of civil society. Ladies and Gentlemen. 

 

On behalf of Denmark and Switzerland, I have the great pleasure of welcoming you to this international conference on “Fighting Impunity for Acts of Torture”, which is organised with the support of the 2022 Polish OSCE Chairmanship and ODIHR. 

 

This is the third time that Denmark and Switzerland organise an international conference on torture prevention here in Vienna. However, this year the conference takes place against the devastating backdrop of Russia’s illegal aggression against Ukraine.

 

Russia has violated an unthinkable number of the international commitments at the heart of the rules-based inter-national order. We will not tire of saying it: We condemn this aggression in the strongest possible terms, and Den-mark stands in full solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.

 

24 February 2022 will go down in history as a watershed moment. The world has not been – and will not be – the same after that day. The condemnation and outcry against Russia’s aggression has spanned the globe. Russia’s neighbourhood is moving closer together. In a Danish context, this became evident in the beginning of this month when a vast majority of the Danish voters in a Referendum decided – after 30 years – to fully join the EU’s common defence and security policy. 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Torture prevention and accountability is as important in times of peace as in times of war.

Today, we will engage in an important conversation on how to speed up the implementation of our shared OSCE commitments on prevention and eradication of torture and other ill-treatment.
A conversation on how to move forward in the fight against impunity – to ensure accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims.

 

The prevention and eradication of torture and other ill-treatment is a long-standing Danish priority, which we work to promote in all international organisations, including in the OSCE. We appreciate the excellent cooperation we have had with both ODIHR, Switzerland and many of you on this agenda throughout the years, and it was of course an important moment for us when OSCE participating States managed to agree on the organisation’s first comprehensive ministerial decision on this important topic in Tirana in 2020.

 

But the work is not done with the decision. Today, we will be discussing how to overcome the various obstacles, which continue to exist across the world and in the OSCE region, to achieving accountability in line with our shared commitments, not least in situations of armed conflict as in Ukraine today.

 

This include the commitment to ensure that all allegations of torture are investigated promptly, effectively, thoroughly, and impartially by competent and independent national authorities.

 

For Denmark, accountability for gross human rights violations is a key-priority. Recognizing that accountability re-quires an international “team effort”, Denmark is working to establish, promote, and support coalitions of states and civil society organisations working for accountability across the multilateral society, for instance in relation to violations of human rights in Belarus and in Ukraine since the Russian invasion. 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

The prohibition of torture is absolute. In Tirana in 2020, OSCE participating States strongly condemned all forms of torture and other ill-treatment as one of the most flagrant human rights violations and reaffirmed that freedom from torture and other ill-treatment is a non-derogable right under international law.

 

However, these words and documents does not mean much, if we do not act accordingly. If we want to make torture and other ill-treatment a mat-ter of the past, we must work together to increase our joint efforts against impunity. We have gathered all of you today – with your knowledge and your dedication – to help develop a shared understanding of the work still in front of us.

 

Before I conclude, I would like to thank the Polish OSCE Chair and ODIHR for their valuable support in organising the event. ODIHR’s toolbox in the fight against torture and other ill-treatment is multifaceted and efficient, and we are very pleased to have the Director of ODIHR, Mr. Matteo Meccaci, with us today to share a few introductory remarks. I would also like to thank our key-note speaker, Dr. Mykola Gnatovskyy, and our excellent panellists – both the ones who are online and the ones that are here in Vienna – for being here with us today.

 

I am very much looking forward to the fruitful discussions and hopefully multiple new recommendations from the participants on how to redouble our work in the fight against impunity for acts of torture.

 

Thank you.