Visit of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and meeting with GNCHR

A delegation of the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture visited the GNCHR at its premises on Wednesday 16 October 2024, as part of its mandate and met with representatives of the Board and Members of the GNCHR as well as the GNCHR staff. 

Matters related to the mandate of the Subcommittee were discussed as well as the contribution of the GNCHR to these issues through its work, as well as relevant initiatives that the GNCHR will undertake in the near future. 

The meeting was attended by Giannis Ioannidis (First Vice-President), Elli Varchalama (Second Vice-President), Spyros Apergis (Alternate Chair, Sub-Commission for the Application of Human Rights to Aliens), Katerina Trimmi (Member of the GNCHR), Eva Tzavala (Scientific Staff Coordinator), Dr. Katerina Harokopou (Legal Officer), Dr. Christos Tsevas (Human Rights Officer), Katerina Pantou (Head of the Secreatariat), Garyfallia Anastasopoulou (Assistant Coordinator of the Racist Violence Recording Network), Ilias Tsampardoukas (Supervisor of the Recording Mechanism of Informal Forced Returns). 

The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) conducted its first visit to Greece from 6 to 17 October to assess the measures taken by the State party to protect people deprived of liberty from torture and ill-treatment. During the mission, the SPT delegation visited prisons, police stations, detention centres for migrants, and other places of deprivation of liberty. 

The SPT delegation was composed of Anica TOMSIC Head of Delegation (Croatia), Uju AGOMOH (Nigeria), Suzanne JABBOUR (Lebanon) and Juan Pablo VEGAS (Peru) and were accompanied by two Human Rights Officers from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.