Submitted by crinadmin on
The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak, visited Uruguay between 22-27 March 2009. The South American country hit the headlines last year following allegations of torture, physical and psychological punishment of detainees held in a youth detention centre made by child rights NGOs. The UN expert's report includes the paragraph below on the detention of adolescents: "Deprivation of liberty is used as a first, rather than last resort when dealing with adolescents. Juveniles detained in maximum security are living in extremely poor conditions. Mostly, there are no opportunities for education, work or rehabilitation, and the boys are locked up for up to 22 hours a day. The sanitary conditions in the centres I visited were terrible. The juveniles do not have toilets in their cells, and sometimes have to wait for hours for an official to let them go to the toilet. Thus, they relieve themselves in bottles and plastic bags, which they throw out of the window, resulting in a repulsive odour all around the facility. A large number of juveniles in detention are either drug users or drug addicts. Many boys receive sedatives to substitute the drugs. During riots and rebellions, beatings and collective punishments are allegedly fairly common." The juvenile justice system in Uruguay has, along with that of other countries in the region, been the subject of a recent hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Read the hearing report here (in Spanish).