Press Releases

16. 2. 200915:42

Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the EU on the ratification of the OPCAT by Kyrgyzstan

The EU welcomes the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by the Kyrgyz Republic on 29 December 2008.

The EU encourages the Kyrgyz Republic to take early steps towards implementing its obligations under the Optional Protocol by establishing a National Preventative Mechanism and cooperating with the Subcommittee on Prevention.

The EU urges all countries that have not already done so to become parties to the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and to consider signing and ratifying its Optional Protocol.

"The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland and Liechtenstein, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Armenia and Georgia align themselves with this declaration.

* Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process."