Webinar | PROMOTING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SOUTH AFRICA’S NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM: THE CASE FOR CIVIL SOCIETY COLLABORATION

The establishment by South Africa of a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) is a long overdue and welcome development in the prevention and combating of torture in the country. While OPCAT creates the
obligation to establish and maintain an effective NPM to regularly and independently monitor all places of deprivation of liberty, it provides flexibility in terms of developing institutional structures, including how it incorporates the work of civil society organisations (CSOs) in its working methods.

To leverage this flexible approach and to enhance the effectiveness and transformative potential of NPMs, there has been an emerging global consensus on the need to include civil society organisations within NPM structures. As part of the ongoing efforts to ensure that South Africa’s NPM is independent and effective, has published a study that highlights the strategic benefits of integrating CSOs into the workings of the NPM, by drawing on the legal and practical rationale for their establishment and reflecting on the functioning of NPMs in other jurisdictions.

To launch the study and promote dialogue between the NPM and its CSO stakeholders on this critical
issue, APCOF is hosting an interactive webinar at 11h00 on 21 October 2020.

1. Ben Buckland – Senior Advisor, Association for the Prevention of Torture
2. Lucy Gregg – Head of Secretariat, UK NPM
3. Dr Kwanele Pakati – Advisor, NPM of South Africa
4. Abdirahman Maalim Gossar – Project and Research Officer, APCOF

Moderator: Louise Edwards – Director of Programmes and Research, APCOF

Please RSVP to Helene van der Watt: helene@apcof.org.za, who will provide you with the link to join
the discussion via Zoom.