Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Malcolm D. Evans is Principal of Regent’s Park College, Oxford. He was formerly Professor of Public International Law at the University of Bristol and Chair of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture. In 2015, he was appointed KCMG for services to the prevention of torture and the promotion of religious liberty, having previously been awarded the OBE in 2004."Writing eloquently and accessibly, Evans dwells on the readily achievable. This is an essential text for those interested in questions of detention, monitoring and anti-torture." Human Rights Law Review
"Evans’ reflections are authoritative, unique and fascinating, as can only be expected given his experience and erudition—helping to sow the seeds in the minds of those who blindly insist on rigidity and consistency in the orthodox human rights practice against its messy reality." Human Rights Law Review
How big a problem is torture? Are the right things being done to prevent it? Why does the UN appear at times to be so impotent in the face of it?
In this vitally important work, Malcolm D. Evans tells the story of torture prevention under international law, setting out what is really happening around the world. Challenging assumptions about torture’s root causes, he calls for what is needed to enable us to bring about change.
The author draws on over ten years’ experience as Chair of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture to give a frank account of the remarkable capacities of this system, what it has achieved in practice, or not been able to achieve – and most importantly, why.
Part 1: The Solution
1. What Is Torture?
2. Why Prevention?
3. Establishing the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture
4. What the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture Requires
5. The Visiting Mandate of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture
6. The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and National Preventive Mechanisms
Part 2: The Problem
7. Visits: An Insider’s Story
8. Accepting the Unacceptable
9. Excusing the Inexcusable
10. Prescribing the Inappropriate
11. Working with Fictions
12. Thinking Positively about Prevention
• Unique author: Malcolm Evans was Chair of United Nations Sub-Committee for Prevention of Torture for over ten years: one of the most well-known and respected people in the field
• Personal account of the role, shortcomings, and potential of international law in torture prevention around the world.
• Critiques the flaws in how we currently try to prevent torture, outlines the politics of human rights and reveals the impact on people who society finds it all too easy to forget