Istanbul Protocol: Investigating Torture

Simply put, the IP – as it is known to practitioners – tells you everything you need to know about the legal foundations for the absolute prohibition of torture, the relevant professional ethical codes for working with survivors, the practical steps required to be taken by States, and by doctors, psychologists and lawyers when interviewing torture survivors, and the different considerations when documenting the physicaland psychological evidence of torture.

As such, the Istanbul Protocol is one of the bedrocks on which the IRCT’s global network operates.

As part of the Istanbul Protocol Update Editorial Committee, the IRCT led work on updates and revisions to the Istanbul Protocol, in coordination with the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). With contributions from some 200 experts across 51 countries, the updated IP, published in June 2022, incorporates 20 years of advances in torture documentation as well as lessons learned, and includes new sections on medico-legal evaluations of children, LGBTQ+ people, and asylum seekers. In order to train as many stakeholders as possible on its contents in an accessible and resource-efficient manner, the IRCT has designed an online curriculum to teach the IP 2022, with the first modules to be launched by end 2022.

Want to know how IRCT members use the Istanbul Protocol in their everyday work? Watch, Ending Impunity: Using the Istanbul Protocol to Document Torture in Mexico, an interview with Cristian Urbalejo Luna, General Coordinator of the Collective Against Torture and Impunity (CCTI, Mexico)

Mexico’s ongoing 15-year ‘War on Drugs’ has unleashed terrifying police violence. Tens of thousands of Mexican citizens have been tortured with impunity. As well as providing rehabilitation to survivors, IRCT member CCTI trains independent experts to document torture using the Istanbul Protocol.

Every year, the Secretariat works with our Independent Forensic Expert Group and member centres to provide training on the Istanbul Protocol to other members of our network, as well as civil society and State authorities. This is an essential part of our mission to increase capacity in the anti-torture sector. Recent examples of IP training include: Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, with our member in Mexico CCTI; members of Nigeria’s Independent Investigative Panels investigating crimes committed by the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad, working with our member PRAWA; the Kosovo Judicial Academy, with our member Kosova Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims; Rwanda’s new National Preventative Mechanism (NPM); participating States agencies of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE); the Asia Alliance Against Torture network of NGOs. If you believe your organisation could benefit from such training please email us at IRCT@IRCT.ORG