Building our Response on COVID-19 and Detention - OMCT Guidance brief to the SOS-Torture Network and partner organizations
Our society at large, millions of detainees as well as prison staff are at risk! How should we respond to the challenge Covid-19poses in places of detention? Read the new guidance brief from the global anti-torture movement.
Authorities have to re-organize life in a very sensitive environment. Places of detention are sometimes repressive, but they are also always fragile environments. Anychange, even a minor one,isimmediately noticed. Confinement measures in detention,far more than those outside of prisons,have an amplifying effect on detainees’ lives and on their physical and psychological well-being. This is part of the potentially explosive security environment in confining the already confined. Transparent and responsible communication towards those affected and their families is thus a core and an overriding principle to prevent adverse reactions and potential prison riots and other forms of violence.
This brief intends to provide evidence-based support and good practices for the protection of one of the most vulnerable groups of individuals affected by the COVID-19 outbreak: those deprived of liberty. It is addressed to members of the global SOS -Torture Network but may be used by any organization acting on people in custody.