{"id":8514,"date":"2026-09-20T13:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T10:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/?p=8514"},"modified":"2026-09-20T13:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T10:10:08","slug":"does-torture-prevention-work-a-question-lebanon-can-no-longer-avoid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/archives\/8514","title":{"rendered":"Does Torture Prevention Work? A Question Lebanon Can No Longer Avoid"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bassam Alkantar *<\/em><\/p>\n

I have just finished reading Does Torture Prevention Work?<\/em>, by Richard Carver and Lisa Handley, a rigorous comparative study that examines one of the most important, and too often neglected, questions in the global struggle against torture. The book does not merely ask whether torture is prohibited, whether governments have ratified international treaties, or whether national legislation formally guarantees detainees\u2019 rights. It asks a more demanding question: which measures actually reduce torture in practice?<\/p>\n

For Lebanon, this question could not be more timely. Nearly 18 years have passed since Lebanon ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). Ten years have passed since Parliament adopted Law No. 62 of 2016, establishing the National Human Rights Commission, which includes the Committee for the Prevention of Torture as Lebanon\u2019s National Preventive Mechanism (NPM). Almost nine years have also passed since the adoption of Law No. 65 of 2017 on the criminalization of torture and the punishment of its perpetrators.<\/p>\n

These developments represented major legal and institutional commitments. Yet the central lesson of this book is that treaties, laws and institutions must ultimately be judged by their impact on what happens during the first hours and days of detention.<\/p>\n

Carver and Handley examine the effectiveness of torture-prevention measures through comparative research across 16 countries over 30 years. Rather than assuming commonly recommended measures work, they test their actual impact. The study examines four broad areas: safeguards governing arrest, detention and interrogation; the criminalization, investigation and prosecution of torture; independent monitoring of places of detention; and mechanisms for receiving and handling complaints.<\/p>\n

Its most important conclusion is clear: detention practices have the strongest impact on the incidence of torture.<\/p>\n

This finding is fundamental for Lebanon. The risk of torture does not begin when a detainee enters a formal prison. It often arises much earlier: at the moment of arrest, during transportation, in police stations, military or security facilities, interrogation rooms, and sometimes in locations that are not properly registered or subject to effective external scrutiny. The first hours following arrest are frequently the period in which a detainee is most isolated, frightened, and vulnerable to pressure.<\/p>\n

The safeguards identified in the book are neither abstract nor revolutionary. A person must be detained only in a lawful and officially recognized location. The detention must be properly registered. The detainee\u2019s family or another person of their choice must be notified promptly. The detainee must have immediate, confidential access to a lawyer and an independent medical examination. Authorities must promptly bring the person before a judge. Interrogations should be recorded by audio or video, and criminal investigations should rely on professional evidence-gathering rather than confessions.<\/p>\n

Lebanese law formally recognizes several of these guarantees, particularly following the amendment of Article 47 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. However, the relevant question is not whether these rights appear in legislation. It is whether every detainee, regardless of nationality, economic status, political affiliation, alleged offence or detaining authority, can exercise them from the first moment of deprivation of liberty.<\/p>\n

One sentence from the book should be placed on the wall of every police station, detention facility, prosecutor\u2019s office and courtroom in Lebanon: what matters is not the law in the statute book, but the practice in the police station.<\/p>\n

This distinction between law and practice helps explain why legal reform, while indispensable, is never sufficient on its own. A right of access to a lawyer means little if the detainee is not informed of it, if consultation is delayed until after interrogation, if confidentiality is not respected, or if the person cannot afford legal representation. A right to medical examination is weakened if the doctor lacks independence, proper training, or the ability to document injuries safely. Judicial supervision loses its preventive value if allegations of torture are ignored, if judges rely on contested confessions, or if detainees fear retaliation for speaking.<\/p>\n

The book\u2019s second major lesson concerns accountability. Criminalizing torture can have a preventive effect, but only when allegations are investigated effectively, and perpetrators face a realistic prospect of prosecution and punishment. In most of the countries studied, the authors found fewer prosecutions, fewer convictions and lighter penalties for torture than for comparable offences committed by ordinary individuals.<\/p>\n

This conclusion should prompt an honest examination of Lebanon\u2019s implementation of Law No. 65 of 2017. The law’s adoption was a landmark achievement, but its preventive value cannot be measured by its publication in the Official Gazette. It must be assessed through concrete questions. How many allegations have been promptly referred for independent investigation? How many victims and witnesses have received protection? How often have courts excluded statements allegedly obtained through torture? How many proceedings have reached final judgments? Do the penalties reflect the gravity of the offence? Are investigations entrusted to authorities sufficiently independent from the institutions implicated in the allegations?<\/p>\n

Where torture allegations disappear into procedural disputes, jurisdictional uncertainty, prolonged investigations or institutional silence, the law\u2019s deterrent force is diminished. Impunity is not only a denial of justice for past violations; it creates conditions in which future violations become more likely.<\/p>\n

The third lesson concerns independent monitoring. The study finds that monitoring places of detention contributes to reducing torture, even if its statistical impact is not as strong as the impact of operational safeguards and consistent prosecution. This confirms the importance of Lebanon\u2019s Committee for the Prevention of Torture.<\/p>\n

The NPM is not a ceremonial institution and should not be treated as another body that conducts occasional prison visits. Under OPCAT, preventive monitoring requires regular and unannounced access to every place where people are or may be deprived of liberty. That includes prisons and police stations, but also military and security detention facilities, juvenile institutions, psychiatric hospitals, migrant detention locations and any other setting in which individuals cannot leave freely.<\/p>\n

Effective monitoring must examine more than physical conditions. Overcrowding, healthcare, food, sanitation and infrastructure are crucial, but prevention also requires scrutiny of arrest records, interrogation procedures, access to lawyers and doctors, disciplinary practices, the use of isolation, transfers, complaints, deaths in custody and the treatment of people facing heightened risks.<\/p>\n

To fulfill this mandate, the NPM needs adequate financial resources, multidisciplinary expertise, operational independence, unrestricted access to places and records, and protection against interference or retaliation. State authorities must engage seriously with its recommendations and provide reasoned responses. A visit followed by a confidential report that produces no institutional change cannot, by itself, transform detention practice.<\/p>\n

The book is also thought-provoking in its assessment of complaint mechanisms. It does not suggest that complaints are unimportant. Complaints may provide individual remedies, expose violations and generate evidence. Yet the research did not find that complaint-handling bodies alone consistently reduced the future incidence of torture. When the same institution performs monitoring and complaint functions, the monitoring role appeared to have the clearer preventive impact.<\/p>\n

For Lebanon, this means that receiving complaints cannot substitute for proactive prevention. Authorities should not wait until a survivor, often traumatized and fearful, manages to submit a formal complaint. Prevention requires identifying dangerous practices before they become repeated violations. Complaints should inform visit planning, reveal patterns, and guide systemic recommendations, but they must be connected to monitoring, investigation, protection, and accountability.<\/p>\n

The book’s international comparisons further show that progress is neither automatic nor irreversible. Some countries achieved sustained reductions through comprehensive reforms to policing, detention safeguards, and investigative practices. Others experienced initial improvement that later stalled because impunity persisted or reforms remained unimplemented. In several countries, strong legal frameworks coexisted with routine violations at the local police-station level. Political crises, security threats, and inflammatory rhetoric also contributed to the return or escalation of abuse.<\/p>\n

This warning is especially relevant to Lebanon, where prolonged institutional weakness, economic collapse, overcrowded detention facilities, pressure on the judiciary and security institutions, and recurring political and security crises can undermine safeguards. Emergency conditions must never become a justification for suspending the absolute prohibition of torture. International law permits no exception, whether based on war, instability, public emergency, terrorism, or orders from a superior authority.<\/p>\n

Reading Does Torture Prevention Work?<\/em> left me convinced that Lebanon does not primarily suffer from an absence of legal commitments. It suffers from a gap between commitments and implementation. Closing that gap requires simultaneous action: enforcing safeguards from the first moment of arrest, ensuring immediate access to lawyers and independent doctors, recording interrogations, reducing reliance on confessions, strengthening judicial scrutiny, investigating allegations independently, prosecuting perpetrators, and enabling the NPM to monitor every place of deprivation of liberty effectively.<\/p>\n

Training is also essential, as the book demonstrates, but training cannot replace accountability. Police officers, military personnel, prosecutors, judges, lawyers and doctors need specialized knowledge and practical skills. Yet no amount of training will succeed if institutions continue to tolerate violations or reward results obtained through unlawful methods.<\/p>\n

After 18 years of OPCAT, ten years since the establishment of the NPM in law, and eight full years since Lebanon criminalized torture through specific legislation, the country must move from measuring progress by laws adopted and institutions created to measuring it by outcomes. Are detainees safer? Are interrogations more professional? Are allegations investigated? Are courts rejecting evidence obtained through coercion? Can independent monitors enter every detention facility without obstruction? Can victims obtain truth, protection, and remedy?<\/p>\n

The book’s title asks whether torture prevention works. Its answer is cautiously affirmative: it works when safeguards operate in reality, monitoring is independent, investigations are credible, and impunity is challenged. For Lebanon, the remaining question is therefore not whether prevention is possible. It is whether the state and all its institutions are prepared to make it real.<\/p>\n

*Commissioner for International Relations at Lebanon\u2019s National Human Rights Commission, which includes the Committee for the Prevention of Torture. He previously served as an investigator with the United Nations Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya and worked as a researcher for Amnesty International.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bassam Alkantar * I have just finished reading Does Torture Prevention Work?, by Richard Carver and Lisa Handley, a rigorous comparative study that examines one of the most important, and too often neglected, questions in the global struggle against torture. 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Une institution nationale ind\u00e9pendante \u00e9tablie en vertu de la loi n\u00b0 62\\\/2016, qui comprend un m\u00e9canisme national de pr\u00e9vention de la torture (le Comit\u00e9 pour la pr\u00e9vention de la torture), conform\u00e9ment aux dispositions de la loi n\u00b0 12\\\/2008 (ratifiant le Protocole facultatif se rapportant \u00e0 la Convention contre la torture).\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nhrclb.org\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/nhrclb\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/nhrc_lb\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/nhrclb\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/nhrclb\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCDxi0DJVqYSNfc06GleK8ig\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tumblr.com\\\/nhrclb\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nhrclb.org\\\/en\\\/archives\\\/author\\\/admin2024\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Does Torture Prevention Work? 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The book does not merely ask whether torture is prohibited, whether governments have ratified […]","og_url":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/archives\/8514","og_site_name":"National Human Rights Commission - Lebanon","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NHRCLB","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nhrclb\/","article_published_time":"2026-09-20T10:10:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/NHRC-CPT-Image-Sep-20-2026-10_47_52-AM-1024x683.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"NHRCLB","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@nhrclb","twitter_site":"@nhrclb","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"NHRCLB","Est. reading time":"13 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/archives\/8514#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/archives\/8514"},"author":{"name":"NHRCLB","@id":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en#\/schema\/person\/bcb35210564d89b3fafa40dbc39320bf"},"headline":"Does Torture Prevention Work? 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An independent national institution established under Law No. 62\/2016, which includes a National Preventive Mechanism against torture (the Committee for the Prevention of Torture), in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 12\/2008 (ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture). Une institution nationale ind\u00e9pendante \u00e9tablie en vertu de la loi n\u00b0 62\/2016, qui comprend un m\u00e9canisme national de pr\u00e9vention de la torture (le Comit\u00e9 pour la pr\u00e9vention de la torture), conform\u00e9ment aux dispositions de la loi n\u00b0 12\/2008 (ratifiant le Protocole facultatif se rapportant \u00e0 la Convention contre la torture).","sameAs":["https:\/\/nhrclb.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nhrclb\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/nhrc_lb","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/nhrclb","https:\/\/x.com\/nhrclb","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCDxi0DJVqYSNfc06GleK8ig","https:\/\/www.tumblr.com\/nhrclb"],"url":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/archives\/author\/admin2024"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8518,"href":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8514\/revisions\/8518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nhrclb.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}