accountability

Serious shortcomings in the UK's compliance with the Convention Against Torture have been notified to the UN by human rights organisation Freedom from Torture.

Hot on the heels of their recent success at the Conservative Party Conference – where SSO Coordinator, Kolbassia Haoussou, shared a panel with the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, to discuss how to tackle impun

In an interview aired on the BBC last night, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf claimed that the British government and intelligence services had never asserted that British citizens in the custody of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) should not be subjected to torture or other ill-treatment. He suggested that Britain had turned a blind eye, stating 'maybe they wanted us to carry on whatever we were doing...maybe it was tacit approval'.

"Whilst the MF (now Freedom from Torture) applauds the coalition government on the commitment to end child detention there is still much to be wary of until further details are released. No details have been made public on the time frame given to implement the ending of child detention and as yet there are no proposals on what the government intends to set up as an alternative.It is also not known if age disputed children will be exempt from detention. We are also concerned that the ban on child detention should extend to all children, including children within families, not just unaccompanied children.The MF calls on the governmentto ensure the best interests of the child is the primary consideration when looking for alternatives to detention, and that all authorities working with or on behalf of children safeguard and promote their welfare."

The Court of Appeal's ruling compelling the Government to reveal evidence of its role in a British resident's torture shows that no government should be allowed to escape public scrutiny.

The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture (now Freedom from Torture) supports calls to close legal loopholes which allow people suspected of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to gain sanctuary in the UK.

Medics who stood by and allowed people to be tortured during the "war on terror" should be subject to public scrutiny and criminal prosecution, says Freedom from Torture, formerly the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.