Launch of New Global Torture Index: Measuring the Risk of Torture Worldwide

The Index is an interactive map, currently covering 26 countries from the five global regions, that collects and visualises data to assess States compliance with international anti-torture standards. It measures each country based on seven thematic pillars: Political Commitment Against Torture, Ending Police Brutality and Institutional Violence, Freedom from Torture While Deprived of Liberty, Ending Impunity, Victim’s Rights, Protection for All, and Right to Defend and Civic Space.

The initiative is a direct response to OMCT and the SOS-Torture Network’s core mission: ending torture and other ill-treatment, which are still widespread and often left unpunished.

“By gathering and analysing data at the local level from national organisations, the Index provides an unprecedented, evidence-based picture of the risks and state of torture across countries. This comprehensive analysis will strengthen national and international advocacy efforts, helping shape more targeted and impactful strategies to end torture,” explains Cecilia de Armas Michelis.

So far, the Index has been successfully implemented in 26 countries, working with almost 80 different organisations, fostering enhanced collaboration and joint efforts at the national level.

For Dr. Uju Agomoh, Founder and Director of PRAWA, Nigeria, and Chair of the Index Steering Committee, the Index holds transformative potential. “It provides a common platform that can be contextualised, which is easier for different stakeholders to relate with. This provides strong empirical evidence to push reforms. It makes advocacy more likely to succeed.”

Dr. Agomoh also highlights how the Index can be used by national actors not only to assess their own performance but also for comparison across countries and regions.

The Global Torture Index is designed to be an ongoing, collaborative process and the interactive map can be used to engage various stakeholders, from law enforcement agencies, justice sector institutions, national human rights institutions and preventive mechanisms, to human rights defenders, UN bodies, and the media.

“By having a structured tool that will enable all key institutions to document, track performance, build capacity, and advocate for torture prevention and eradication, it will help create more visibility and fast track progress globally in the prevention of torture,” envisions Agomoh.

The launch will be moderated by Imogen Foulkes, BBC Geneva correspondent. Two discussion panels will feature experts directly involved in the data collection for the Global Torture Index. Panelists will cover, through their first-hand accounts, how certain law enforcement practices significantly increase the risk of torture and other ill-treatment; the entrenched relationship between impunity and the risk of torture; the neglect faced by victims and survivors in the justice system, and lack of State-funded rehabilitation programmes; systemic gaps and recurring patterns in places of deprivation of liberty; and the compounded risks faced by individuals exposed to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, with a particular focus on children, woman, and people on the move. The role and serious risks faced by human rights defenders, the scarcity of public, available and disaggregated data, will also be developed.