Istanbul Protocol

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The Istanbul Protocol (full title: Manual for the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment ) is the United Nations standard for training in the assessment of persons allegedly tortured or tortured of being ill-treated for investigating cases of alleged torture and for reporting such findings to the judiciary and other investigative authorities.

Elaboration of the protocol

The Foundation for Human Rights in Turkey (TIHV), one of the member organizations of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) , took the initiative in March 1996 for a uniform guideline following an international symposium on "Medicine and Human Rights" organized by the Turkish Medical Association in Adana had organized. 75 doctors, psychotherapists, lawyers and human rights activists worked on the protocol, representing forty organizations from fifteen different countries. In August 1999, they handed over the completed Istanbul Protocol to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights , Mary Robinson . The numerous authors include a. Amnesty international , Human Rights Watch , the International Red Cross , Physicians for Human Rights, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, the treatment center for torture victims in Berlin and other therapy centers in South Africa , Chile and the USA , various university institutes, the Turkish, Danish, British, Indian and German medical associations as well as the World Medical Association , and not least the IRCT.

The protocol as a manual

In mid-2004, the Istanbul Protocol was published as part of the UN's Professional Training Series in the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as a manual for effective investigation and is now available in several languages. The Istanbul Protocol shows the current possibilities for the detection of traces of torture and differentiates between the diagnosis of physical symptoms on the skin, face, teeth, chest, abdomen, muscles, skeletal system, urogenital tract and nervous system as a result of different forms of abuse and the detection of their emotional consequences .

The manual is aimed primarily at lawyers and medical professionals who want to provide evidence of torture at the legal and medical level. In addition, the manual sets out a number of standards for investigating cases of torture, for example with regard to conducting discussions with survivors and witnesses, medical professional ethics , the selection of investigators, witness protection , dealing with statements by perpetrators and setting up investigative commissions.

The manual specifically addresses eight different types of physical torture:

  1. Beatings and other forms of blunt trauma
  2. Blows on the feet ( bastinade , Turkish: falaka )
  3. hanging
  4. Further persecution torture
  5. Electric shock torture
  6. Torture on the teeth
  7. Suffocation ( asphyxia )
  8. Sexual torture including rape

Implementation of the Istanbul Protocol

In 2001, the international human rights organization “Physicians for Human Rights” created guidelines for assessing refugees on the basis of the Istanbul Protocol. The organization also offers a curriculum for medical students to document torture and ill-treatment.

As part of a two-year pilot project, the Istanbul Protocol was initially implemented in five countries: Morocco , Mexico , Georgia , Sri Lanka , and Uganda . The TIHV had developed a training program for medical and legal professionals for this purpose. The pilot project reached a total of 244 health care workers and 123 lawyers and court clerks.

The Istanbul Protocol Implementation Program (IPIP) was continued between 2005 and 2007 by the “Prevention Through Documentation Project”, in which countries such as Egypt , Ecuador , Kenya , the Philippines and Serbia were involved. The Dutch project “CAREFULL” dealt with the application of the protocol in asylum procedures . It was initiated by Amnesty International Netherlands, the Dutch Council for Refugees and Pharos (Knowledge Center on Refugees and Health) and arose out of concerns that the victims of torture and ill-treatment would no longer have a proper hearing due to the increasingly strict asylum practice across the EU Find. The Treatment Center for Victims of Torture (BZFO) in Berlin has issued standards for assessing psychologically reactive consequences of trauma that are clearly related to the Istanbul Protocol.

International recognition of the protocol

After the Istanbul Protocol was handed over to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on August 6, 1999, both the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Commission (since 2006 the UN Human Rights Council ) recommended to the member states in the UN that To observe principles as a powerful tool in the fight against torture. A corresponding resolution of the General Assembly was passed on December 4, 2000 as resolution A / RES / 55/89. At its 60th session on April 20, 2000, the Commission on Human Rights adopted Resolution 2000/43, which called on states to observe the principles of the Istanbul Protocol. On April 23, 2003, the Human Rights Commission issued another recommendation.

In addition to the United Nations, regional bodies have also recommended the implementation of the Istanbul Protocol. This includes the African Commission on Human Rights and the Rights of the Peoples , which passed a resolution in October 2002. In the European Union, it was the Council for General Affairs and External Relations , which in 2001 published the “ Guidelines to EU Policy towards Third Countries on Torture and Other Cruel. ” (“ Guidelines to EU Policy towards Third Countries on Torture and Other Cruel , Inhuman and Degrading Treatment” , Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment ”). These guidelines were revised in 2008. The German text refers to the Istanbul rules (not the protocol).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The project ARTIP , ( Awareness Raising and Training for the Istanbul Protocol - awareness raising and training of the Istanbul Protocol) has information on the activities in several languages.
  2. ↑ a b c d e The Campaign against Impunity has published an article by Knut Rauchfuss with the title The “Istanbul Protocol” enables effective investigation and documentation of torture (undated) on its website; Retrieved December 16, 2012
  3. ↑ The Human Rights Education Association offers a download in Arabic, Azerbaijani, Chinese, English, French, Georgian, Indonesian, Catalan, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Turkish, Hungarian.
  4. ↑ a b A detailed reproduction of the content can be found in: Holger Furtmayr, Andreas Frewer: The Istanbul Protocol and Documentation of Torture . (PDF; 409 kB) In: MenschenRechtsMagazin , issue 2/2008, pp. 155–167.
  5. ^ The documentation Examining Asylum Seekers: A Clinician's Guide to Physical and Psychological Evaluations of Torture and Ill-Treatment is available for $ 45 (Physicians for Human Rights 2001).
  6. ↑ It can be viewed or downloaded under Model Curriculum on the Effective Medical Documentation of Torture and Ill-treatment .
  7. ↑ Standards for the assessment of psychologically reactive trauma consequences  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 159 kB) As of 2012, first version 2011; Retrieved December 16, 2012@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.bzfo.de  
  8. ↑ a b Corresponding information can be found on the page of the IRCT International recognition of the Istanbul Protocol, accessed on December 16, 2012
  9. ↑ The text of the resolution is available in several languages (here: English), accessed on December 16, 2012
  10. ↑ The text can be viewed in English on the website of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
  11. ↑ The document is summarized in German under EU guidelines on torture and other ill-treatment . Guidelines for EU policy towards third countries on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (PDF; 231 kB) accessed on December 16, 2012