In its “2023 Report” published on Friday 25 April, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) unveils a set of standards and recommendations designed to guarantee dignified treatment for transgender people held in European prisons.
The text also contains a specific reference to the impact of climate change on the living conditions of prisoners.
“[T]he treatment of transgender people in prisons mirrors broader societal attitudes toward persons who do not fall into historical understandings of gender”, said Alan Mitchell, President of the CPT, who points out that in the cramped prison “microcosm” of society, the risk of intimidation and abuse increases.
He points out that some States continue to deny the existence of transgender people and make no provision to protect them, which contradicts the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.
We therefore call for guarantees to be put in place to ensure that they are treated with dignity, based on an interdisciplinary approach that takes into account the legal, medical and social aspects.
The issue of the impact of climate change on the maintenance of satisfactory living conditions in places where there is a deprivation of liberty does not fall within the CPT’s mandate, but it has already been noted and the CPT considers that it “must be effectively addressed”.
The Committee has therefore decided to look into this matter.
The report details the 18 visits carried out in 2023 to monitor detention conditions and the treatment of prisoners in several European countries.
It returns to the subject of prison overcrowding, which they have been “grappling for over 30 years” despite a temporary drop due to the management of the pandemic.
The issue of migration (and with it the treatment of foreign nationals in prison) remains a priority for the CPT, as does that of informal removals at borders, “often accompanied by violence ”.
Regarding these issues, the CPT has announced that it will be paying particular attention to how the European Union implements the “New Pact on Migration and Asylum”.
Link to the CPT’s Annual Report: https://aeur.eu/f/byi (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)