Conclusions

Police station visiting by human rights boards is a valuable addition to the existing safeguards against torture and ill-treatment. An innovation in Turkey, independent police station visiting is increasingly recognized worldwide as a safeguard for detainees, and a protection against abuse. The Turkish government has acknowledged the need for and the usefulness of police station monitoring by signing the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Torture Convention in September 2005. At least as an interim measure before protocol-based systems are established, human rights boards are ready and willing to monitor police stations and gendarmeries, and some have already begun to carry out effective visits. Less than half of boards have yet carried out visits, and remaining boards should be encouraged to make a start on this work. Many boards are holding back from carrying out ad hoc visits, believing that they should not intrude on gendarmerie or police premises unless a victim of a human rights violation has made a formal complaint. Such complaints are rare, and certainly do not match the frequency of allegations of ill-treatment. Boards must set themselves a pace of visiting that will provide a reasonable frequency of visits. As well as carrying out random unannounced and announced visits, boards should be alert to reports of ill-treatment in their province, and respond accordingly. Provincial governors’ close identification with the boards may help to establish the boards in the early stages of their monitoring activities, but could in the longer term undermine the independence of visiting delegations. The independence of delegations must soon be enhanced – in particular, by providing dedicated resources, by governors standing well back from the monitoring process, and by the inclusion of HRA or Mazlum-Der representatives, acting on a consultancy basis if necessary. Delegations, currently working out their own working and training methods, are keen to receive information and training about how to carry out their duties properly, by ensuring that places of interrogation and detention are run in conformity with international standards. Reporting of the boards’ visiting activities is as yet limited, but the Human Rights Presidency has committed itself to detailed reporting in the near future.

Human Rights Watch’s recommendations to the Human Rights Presidency of the Prime Minister’s Office:

Encourage provincial human rights boards countrywide to participate in police station monitoring.

Enhance the independence of police station monitoring by provincial human rights boards by:

Encouraging bar and medical chamber delegates to take the lead in monitoring activities;

Providing boards with a budget and resources sufficient to conduct their monitoring activities independent of the provincial governor’s office;

Encouraging human rights NGOs such as Mazlum-Der and the Human Rights Association to assist boards in visiting as consultants.

Begin posting information about police stations and gendarmeries visited, including dates and composition of delegations, on the Human Rights Presidency’s website.

Begin posting the findings of monitoring delegations in the form of quarterly reports containing meaningfully detailed information on methods, findings and recommendations.

Work with the Council of Europe, and particularly the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, to support the training of police station visitors, in particular by developing inspection criteria based on international human rights provision of simple training materials.

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