Open Letter to all States parties to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Re: 2025 ELECTIONS TO THE UNITED NATIONS COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE

Excellencies,

The undersigned non-governmental organizations would like to draw your attention to the upcoming election, in October 2025, of five members to the UN Committee against Torture.

The 10-member Committee against Torture serves a crucial function in guiding States parties on the implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter “the Convention”). Members are elected for a term of four years in accordance with article 17 of the Convention.

One key determinant of the effectiveness of the Committee, as with all the UN treaty bodies, is the expertise, independence, impartiality and diversity of its membership, as set out in the Convention and General Assembly resolution 68/268.

Experts should be persons of “high moral standing” and “recognized competence in the field of human rights” serving in their personal capacity (article 17). Diversity in treaty body membership is reflected in the gender balance and the geographic representation of its experts, as well as their professional backgrounds. Independence and impartiality are crucial for the fulfilment of the mandate and the credibility of treaty bodies, as laid out in the General Assembly resolution 68/268, entitled “Strengthening and enhancing the effective

functioning of the human rights treaty body system”. The Committee is currently comprised of eight men and two women. Historically, women’s representation in the Committee has been only approximately 21%. It is, therefore, of utmost importance to take action to promote a balanced gender representation within the Committee, which will have a crucial impact on the legitimacy and effectiveness of the main human rights body addressing torture and other ill-treatment globally.

The need to ensure gender diversity in the Committee, and the specific measures to achieve this goal, are further highlighted in the recent General Recommendation 40 of the CEDAW Committee on the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems, as well as in the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee Report on representation of women in human rights organs and mechanisms. Both the CEDAW Committee and the Advisory Committee have recommended States to have transparent procedures at the national level for nomination and selection for positions in international organizations, as a way to ensure women are represented.

We believe that open, transparent and competitive national processes for selecting treaty body candidates contribute to better treaty body membership. As a State party to the Convention, if you are planning to nominate a candidate, we would therefore like to encourage you to consider setting up such a process to select the most suitable candidate, in accordance with the highest membership criteria. We recommend that such a process involves, at a minimum, open and wide calls for applications and a transparent selection process with a view to recommending the strongest candidate possible for formal nomination by the competent government authority. We further request that you include gender diversity as a specific selection criterion and goal in formal nomination and during the voting process.

To assist States parties to identify candidates, we have highlighted key criteria for membership in a suggested checklist (see Annex) as set out in article 17 of the Convention and in General Assembly resolution 68/268 on Strengthening and enhancing the effective functioning of the human rights treaty body system. The annexed document also includes some of our own recommendations related to these criteria.

Once nominations have formally closed on 16 June 2025, we will circulate an invitation to an event with the nominated candidates or a “Meet & Greet”, to offer them the opportunity to present their skills, experience, expertise, intended contribution to the Committee’s work and availability to serve.

We hope that the checklist will be useful to you as a State party to identify the strongest possible candidates and remain available to provide further information throughout this process.

Signatories

Amnesty International

Association for the Prevention of Torture*

GQUAL Campaign

International Federation of ACATs*

International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims*

International Service for Human Rights

Omega Research Foundation*

REDRESS*

World Organization against Torture*

*Member of the United Against Torture Consortium