Burton Mark: Crimes of Torture Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Burton Mark: Crimes of Torture Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:630;Page:2204] 
Hon MARK BURTON (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I move  
That the Crimes of Torture Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 It is my intention to move that the Crimes of Torture Amendment Bill be referred to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee for consideration. This bill is an important piece of legislation. It provides for compliance with the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In doing so the bill sends a clear message to all those who commit torture and other forms of ill-treatment that New Zealanders find those practices abhorrent and intolerable. The Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee has conducted an international treaty examination of the Optional Protocol and concluded that: “Ratification will reinforce New Zealand’s reputation as a country that has a strong and unfaltering commitment to human rights and is prepared to take steps in order to ensure human rights are protected in New Zealand and the international community.” 
For many New Zealanders torture is a remote concept. Most of us have never experienced the fear of torture and I hope that remains the case. Despite being prohibited under international law for more than 50 years sadly torture still continues to be widespread in many parts of the world particularly within places of detention. Persons who are deprived of their liberty are most at risk as they are cut off from the outside world and are dependent upon the authorities for their most basic needs and the protection of their rights. I am pleased to note that the New Zealand legal system already provides strong protection against torture under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and the Crimes of Torture Act. The Optional Protocol provides another tool in our kit against torture and offers an innovative approach to combat torture. No other international treaty provides the concrete steps to prevent this repugnant and illegal practice from occurring. 
Practical experience both in New Zealand and overseas has shown that visits to places of detention are one of the most effective means to prevent torture and to improve conditions of detention. Visits not only have a deterrent effect but also enable experts to examine at first hand the treatment of persons who are deprived of their liberty and their conditions of detention. Many problems stem from inadequate systems which can be improved through regular monitoring. By making recommendations for improvements in establishing a continuing dialogue with detention personnel in relevant authorities the visiting experts are able to help resolve many of the problems observed. The Optional Protocol acknowledges this by establishing a system of regular visits to places of detention which are carried out by complementary international and national independent expert bodies. This focus upon prevention represents an innovative development within the United Nations human rights system. 
The Optional Protocol breaks new ground by setting out for the first time in an international instrument criteria and safeguards for effective preventive visits by proactive international and national bodies. The bill is not only a measure to ensure that New Zealanders will continue to be protected against torture and other forms of ill-treatment in the future; it is a signal to others around the world that torture will not be tolerated and with the collective efforts of the international community we hope it can be prevented. 
The bill is another example of how this Government defends and advances international human rights in the multinational environment. It illustrates New Zealand’s strong commitment to the protection and promotion of international human rights as embodied both in international law and in our own domestic law. The bill is a positive example of how to ensure compliance with the Optional Protocol and its goal of preventing torture. The bill provides for a regime that enables New Zealand to comply with its obligations under the protocol; includes provisions that enable an international body to visit places where people are deprived of their liberty; allows the designation of one or more domestic bodies known as National Preventive Mechanisms to also examine places of detention; and establishes a Central National Preventive Mechanism to coordinate the activities of those domestic bodies. 
The first pillar of the preventive system will be a new international body—a subcommittee of the United Nations Committee Against Torture. The Optional Protocol charges the subcommittee with making regular visits to places where people are deprived of their liberty and to make recommendations to State parties concerning the protection of persons deprived of their liberty against torture and other forms of ill-treatment. The bill enables the subcommittee to exercise in New Zealand its functions and powers set out in the Optional Protocol. The subcommittee will be permitted to visit any place under the Crown’s jurisdiction or control where persons are deprived of their liberty to have unrestricted access to such information as is necessary for the proper performance of its functions and to conduct private interviews with detained persons. 
The bill also provides that in accordance with the provisions of the Optional Protocol members of the subcommittee may be accompanied by one or more experts when visiting the place of detention. After visiting places of detention the subcommittee will proffer recommendations and observations confidentially to the New Zealand Government. The subcommittee may publish its report together with any comments of the Government if requested so to do by the Government. 
The second pillar consists of a system of regular visits undertaken by national bodies to places of detention. The Optional Protocol requires each State party to have at the domestic level at least one visiting body for the prevention of torture. Those bodies will be referred to as National Preventive Mechanisms. The bill authorises the Minister of Justice to designate National Preventive Mechanisms which must be functionally independent from State authorities. New Zealand already has agencies that fit this mandate and will act in this role such as the Ombudsman and the Police Complaints Authority. The functions of a National Preventive Mechanism are to examine at regular intervals the conditions of detention examine the treatment of detainees and make any recommendations for improving the conditions of the detention and the treatment of detainees with a view to preventing torture. 
A National Preventive Mechanism is also required to provide at least one written report to the Minister of Justice each year on the exercise of its functions under this bill. The bill also authorises the Minister of Justice to designate a Central National Preventive Mechanism to coordinate the activities of the National Preventive Mechanisms and to maintain effective liaison with the UN subcommittee. This will be an important role given the range of places of detention in New Zealand and the likelihood that several institutions may contribute to the role of monitoring those places for the prevention of torture. It is likely that the Human Rights Commission will have that role. 
In carrying out its functions the Central National Preventive Mechanism must consult and liaise with the review and reports prepared by the National Preventive Mechanisms and coordinate the submissions of those reports to the subcommittee. Flowing from those tasks the Central National Preventive Mechanism also has responsibility for advising the National Preventive Mechanisms of any systematic issues arising from those reports. The body may also make recommendations to the Government on any matters relating to the prevention of torture and other cruel inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment in places of detention within New Zealand. 
I am confident that this bill will enable compliance with the Optional Protocol. More important I am confident that this bill will help ensure that for generations of New Zealanders now and in the future torture will remain an unthinkable impossibility in a country that treats the practice with the contempt it deserves. I commend this bill to the House.