Kathmandu, 21 November (2018) – Advocacy Forum – Nepal, with the support of Open Society Foundation, organized a two day regional workshop on “Strategic Litigation on Torture” in Kathmandu on 20th and 21st November. Thirty participants from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Nepal were present in the workshop.
Lawyers and human rights defenders were engaged on impacts of strategic litigation, evidential threshold, reparation, common challenges and experiences on victims and witness protection. In the workshop discussions were focused on real torture cases from various angles.
In the workshop it was discussed how a law and precedent set in one country can be used in another country.
Likewise, on the second day, Asian Alliance against Torture (A3T), a regional initiative in anti-torture work was launched in the presence of more than 60 participants including torture survivors, national and international human rights lawyers.
Launching the A3T website, Haris Azhar from Indonesia said, “It was the result of last four years of meetings and discussions between a group of leading human rights defenders, lawyers, and organizations from Asian countries that there is a need for a common platform in Asia to address deep-rooted problems and challenges in prevention and accountability for torture and ill-treatment in the region, and to find ways to address them by sharing experiences, knowledge and expertise.”
Queries on how to get membership, activities and strategies and sustainability of the alliance were discussed in the programme.
