Lebanon\u2019s candidate, Dr. Sanaa Hamzeh, has been elected to the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) for the 2027\u20132030 term. The election took place on Thursday, 1 October 2026, at the United Nations Office at Geneva, during the eleventh meeting of States parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT).<\/p>\n
According to Lebanon\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Dr. Hamzeh received 76 votes from the 96 States parties, achieving the highest number of votes alongside the Greek candidate. The Ministry thanked the countries that supported her candidacy and wished her success in contributing to international efforts to prevent torture and ill-treatment.<\/p>\n
The election selected 13 members for four-year terms beginning on 1 January 2027. Dr. Hamzeh\u2019s election continues the participation of Lebanese experts in the Subcommittee, whose current membership includes Dr. Suzanne Jabbour, whose term ends on 31 December 2026.<\/p>\n
More Than Three Decades of Experience Supporting Survivors<\/strong><\/p>\n Dr. Hamzeh is a senior clinical psychologist and expert in forensic psychological documentation, with more than 35 years of experience in the rehabilitation of survivors of torture, war-related trauma and sexual violence, and in working with persons deprived of their liberty.<\/p>\n She co-founded Restart Center in 1993 and serves as its clinical advisor. Her work combines survivor-centred psychological care, psychological and medico-legal documentation of torture, and training for professionals in health, justice, law enforcement and civil society.<\/p>\n Dr. Hamzeh participated in the working group responsible for the 2022 update of the Istanbul Protocol, contributing to Chapter VI on psychological evidence of torture. She served as Vice-President of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) from 2016 to 2019, has been a member of the Independent Forensic Expert Group since 2014, and has convened the IRCT\u2019s Compliance Advisory Board since 2023.<\/p>\n Her international experience includes collaboration with Physicians for Human Rights on the documentation of torture and conflict-related sexual violence affecting Yazidi and other minority communities in Iraq, alongside training for doctors, lawyers and judges. She also provided counselling and rehabilitation support to former detainees through Reprieve\u2019s \u201cLife After Guantanamo\u201d project.<\/p>\n In 2019, she received the Barbara Chester Award in the United States in recognition of her work with survivors of torture and trauma. This combination of clinical practice, documentation and capacity building provides a valuable foundation for her forthcoming role in the Subcommittee, particularly in understanding the psychological consequences of detention and identifying risks of torture and ill-treatment.<\/p>\n A Preventive Mandate to Protect People Deprived of Their Liberty<\/strong><\/p>\n The Subcommittee plays a central role in preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Its mandate includes visiting places of deprivation of liberty in States parties, making recommendations to improve treatment and detention conditions, and providing assistance and advice to States and national preventive mechanisms. Its work seeks to identify and address the conditions that allow abuse to occur or recur.<\/p>\n Members serve in their individual capacity and are required to act independently and impartially. Nomination by a State does not make an elected member a government representative; membership carries a responsibility to contribute independent expertise to the protection of people deprived of their liberty across the countries covered by the Subcommittee\u2019s mandate.<\/p>\n An Opportunity to Reinforce Prevention in Lebanon<\/strong><\/p>\n Dr. Hamzeh\u2019s election is an important achievement for Lebanon and an occasion to renew the commitment to translating international obligations into effective safeguards in places of detention. Meaningful prevention requires independent monitoring, regular visits, sustained follow-up on recommendations, and protection for detainees and those who report violations.<\/p>\n In Lebanon, this underscores the importance of supporting the National Human Rights Commission, including the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, and ensuring that the Committee has the independence, resources and practical capacity to fulfil its preventive mandate. The Subcommittee\u2019s guidelines emphasise that national preventive mechanisms must be able to visit all places of deprivation of liberty, at the frequency and in the manner they determine, with the safeguards necessary to exercise their functions independently.<\/p>\n The election deserves recognition. Its broader significance lies in reinforcing the protection of human dignity in prisons, police custody and all other places of deprivation of liberty. Lebanon\u2019s continued contribution to international prevention mechanisms should be accompanied by sustained national action to prevent torture and ill-treatment and ensure accountability when violations occur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lebanon\u2019s candidate, Dr. Sanaa Hamzeh, has been elected to the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) for the 2027\u20132030 term. The election took place on Thursday, 1 October 2026, at the United Nations Office at Geneva, during the eleventh meeting of States parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8709,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[154],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-en"],"yoast_head":"\n