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World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)

Website:

www.omct.org/
Type:

Humanitarian Advocacy Group
Secretary General:

Gerald Staberock

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The World Organisation Against Torture (shortened to OMCT after its French title, Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture) is a European non-governmental organization that aims to combat the practice of torture throughout the world through advocacy efforts and activism. It claims to work with about 200 partner organizations to assist victims and lobby governments to pass laws and policies it believes will bring about the end of torture. 1

The OMCT works extensively to “protect migrants,” produce research reports on the plight and “marginalisation” of migrants, and craft policy recommendations for governments. 2

Background

The World Organisation Against Torture is a European non-governmental organization that aims to combat the practice of torture throughout the world with both advocacy efforts and activism. 3 It defines torture as the “intentional destruction of a human being by another,” but also includes conditions such as inhuman detention facilities, crowded spaces, “total lack of hygiene,” “denial of medical care,” and various forms of psychological abuse alongside physical beatings as examples of torture. 4

OMCT has three physical locations: Geneva, Switzerland; Brussels, Belgium; and Tunis, Tunisia. 5

Activities

The World Organisation Against Torture purports to work with about 200 partner organizations to assist victims of torture across 90 countries. It also lobbies governments to pass laws and policies it believes will bring about the end of torture and aims to find ways to “hold perpetrators to account.” 6

The OMCT works extensively to “protect migrants,” produce research reports on the plight and “marginalisation” of migrants, and craft policy recommendations for governments. Its “SOS-Torture Network,” which it describes as lying at the “heart” of its work, is comprised of over 200 member organizations. 7 From these, the OMCT selected 12 experts to oversee a migrant watchdog group that examines evidence of migrants being subjected to torture in Africa and Southern Europe, especially along the prominent routes by which migrants travel into Europe. Based on its observations, the network presents documented trends to both governments and NGOs to effect change. 8

The OMCT has a dedicated network to protect women around the world who suffer from “torture and other ill-treatment.” It claims that women are “at risk of torture” regardless of their geographical location and their country’s level of economic development “as a result of patriarchal social norms.” It singles out “sexualised torture” as the “most visible aspect of torture against women” and, due to its stigmatizing nature, many women are hesitant to report this form of torture, necessitating extensive investigative efforts from groups like OMCT. 9

It runs a similar network dedicated to protecting indigenous populations from “attacks, killings, forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, criminalisation, abuse of counterterrorism laws, militarisation and emergency frameworks, and forced evictions and land dispossession.” It is primarily dedicated to Indigenous people in South America who they say have been discriminated against due to “deep racism since colonial times.” 10

The leadership of the OMCT are board members of ProtectDefenders.eu, an organization that provides aid and support to “human rights defenders,” or activists working around the world to protect populations facing displacement, genocide, and the suppression of freedoms. The board chair of ProtectDefenders is assigned to one of its four board members every six months. 11

Leadership

Lawyer Gerald Staberock has served as the secretary general of the World Organisation Against Torture since 2011. The OMCT has dedicated “desks” or directors responsible for the various regions of the world in which it operates, including “Africa,” “Southeast Asia,” “Pacific,” “Afghanistan,” and “Americas.” 12

References

  1. “Who We Are.” OMCT. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.omct.org/en/who-we-are.
  2. “Migration.” OMCT. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.omct.org/en/what-we-do/migration.
  3. “Who We Are.” OMCT. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.omct.org/en/who-we-are.
  4. “What is Torture.” OMCT. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.omct.org/en/who-we-are/what-is-torture.
  5. “Offices.” OMCT. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.omct.org/en/who-we-are/offices.
  6. “Who We Are.” OMCT. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.omct.org/en/who-we-are.
  7. “Our Network.” OMCT. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.omct.org/en/our-network.
  8. “Migration.” OMCT. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.omct.org/en/what-we-do/migration
  9. “Women.” OMCT. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.omct.org/en/what-we-do/women.
  10. “Indigenous Peoples.” OMCT. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.omct.org/en/what-we-do/indigenous-peoples.
  11. “About Us.” ProtectDefenders.eu. Accessed July 19, 2024. https://protectdefenders.eu/about-us/.
  12. “Team.” OMCT. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.omct.org/en/who-we-are/team.
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