Freedom from Torture welcomes Labour Party commitment to torture survivors
In response to Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott’s commitments to torture survivors laid out at the Labour Party Conference today, Sonya Sceats, Chief Executive of Freedom from Torture said:
“We are delighted that the Labour Party has listened to organisations like ours and has committed to a full-scale review of immigration detention with a particular focus on the treatment of survivors of torture. As we have stated time and again, detaining torture survivors only compounds their trauma and they should never be detained. We hope other parties will make similar commitments.
“We also very much welcome Labour’s vow to uphold the torture ban. The slow creep of authoritarianism globally and support for torture from some of the world’s key leaders mean this is more important than ever. Here on home soil, we are seeing the undermining of the rule of law and a refusal to investigate our own complicity in torture. The torture ban is the ultimate litmus test of a fair, decent and tolerant society. A commitment to upholding it should be in every political party’s manifesto.”
Ends
The Shadow Home Secretary's remarks were as follows:
- We will welcome refugees, including child refugees;
- We will proudly uphold the torture ban;
- We will treat the victims of torture with humanity, not detentions and deportations;
- Labour in government will end indefinite detention;
- And we will limit it to the 28 days MPS were promised;
- And we will close Yarl's Wood and Brook House detention centres;
- And further to that we will review the entire detention estate.
