The Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) and its relationship to the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture (ECPT)

Abstract

The Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) is a nongovernmental organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland. Its mission of international scope addresses the prevention of torture and ill-treatment, as these are prohibited by a number of international norms. APT and its predecessor-organisation, the Swiss Comittee against Torture (CSCT) began to operate in 1977. The founder, the Genevan banker and humanist Jean-Jacques Gautier decided that it was not sufficient to feel deep disgust for the plague of torture, but that something had to be done against it, something to prevent it through an officially acknowledged system of visits to all places of detention. The idea that one could not be limited to condemnation and repression of already perpetrated torture, but that it was necessary to go further, to disclose the mechanisms that may lead to torture and ill treatment and intervene there, obviously was too appallingly simple. It took quite an amount of perseverance to persuade the right people to do the right thing. [excerpt]