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In this episode of the Transforming Society podcast, Jess Miles speaks with Malcolm Evans, former Chair of the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture and author of Tackling Torture: Prevention in Practice.They discuss the traps we fall into when talking about torture, including the disturbing normalisation of torture in television and film, why the distinction between torture and inhuman treatment is a sensitive area, and what could be done to help prevent torture more effectively.Tackling Torture by Malcolm D. Evans is available on the Bristol University Press website. Order here for £19.99.Bristol University Press/Policy Press newsletter subscribers receive a 25% discount – sign up here.
How big a problem is torture? Are the right things being done to prevent it? Why does the UN appear at times to be so impotent in the face of it? Tackling Torture: Prevention in Practice (Bristol University Press, 2023) by Malcolm D. Evans tells the story of torture prevention under international law, setting out what is really happening around the world. Challenging assumptions about torture's root causes, he calls for what is needed to enable us to bring about change. The author draws on over ten years' experience as Chair of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture to give a frank account of the remarkable capacities of this system, what it has achieved in practice, or not been able to achieve – and most importantly, why. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
How big a problem is torture? Are the right things being done to prevent it? Why does the UN appear at times to be so impotent in the face of it? Tackling Torture: Prevention in Practice (Bristol University Press, 2023) by Malcolm D. Evans tells the story of torture prevention under international law, setting out what is really happening around the world. Challenging assumptions about torture's root causes, he calls for what is needed to enable us to bring about change. The author draws on over ten years' experience as Chair of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture to give a frank account of the remarkable capacities of this system, what it has achieved in practice, or not been able to achieve – and most importantly, why. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science
How big a problem is torture? Are the right things being done to prevent it? Why does the UN appear at times to be so impotent in the face of it? Tackling Torture: Prevention in Practice (Bristol University Press, 2023) by Malcolm D. Evans tells the story of torture prevention under international law, setting out what is really happening around the world. Challenging assumptions about torture's root causes, he calls for what is needed to enable us to bring about change. The author draws on over ten years' experience as Chair of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture to give a frank account of the remarkable capacities of this system, what it has achieved in practice, or not been able to achieve – and most importantly, why. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs
How big a problem is torture? Are the right things being done to prevent it? Why does the UN appear at times to be so impotent in the face of it? Tackling Torture: Prevention in Practice (Bristol University Press, 2023) by Malcolm D. Evans tells the story of torture prevention under international law, setting out what is really happening around the world. Challenging assumptions about torture's root causes, he calls for what is needed to enable us to bring about change. The author draws on over ten years' experience as Chair of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture to give a frank account of the remarkable capacities of this system, what it has achieved in practice, or not been able to achieve – and most importantly, why. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/national-security
How big a problem is torture? Are the right things being done to prevent it? Why does the UN appear at times to be so impotent in the face of it? Tackling Torture: Prevention in Practice (Bristol University Press, 2023) by Malcolm D. Evans tells the story of torture prevention under international law, setting out what is really happening around the world. Challenging assumptions about torture's root causes, he calls for what is needed to enable us to bring about change. The author draws on over ten years' experience as Chair of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture to give a frank account of the remarkable capacities of this system, what it has achieved in practice, or not been able to achieve – and most importantly, why. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law
How big a problem is torture? Are the right things being done to prevent it? Why does the UN appear at times to be so impotent in the face of it? Tackling Torture: Prevention in Practice (Bristol University Press, 2023) by Malcolm D. Evans tells the story of torture prevention under international law, setting out what is really happening around the world. Challenging assumptions about torture's root causes, he calls for what is needed to enable us to bring about change. The author draws on over ten years' experience as Chair of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture to give a frank account of the remarkable capacities of this system, what it has achieved in practice, or not been able to achieve – and most importantly, why. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How big a problem is torture? Are the right things being done to prevent it? Why does the UN appear at times to be so impotent in the face of it? Tackling Torture: Prevention in Practice (Bristol University Press, 2023) by Malcolm D. Evans tells the story of torture prevention under international law, setting out what is really happening around the world. Challenging assumptions about torture's root causes, he calls for what is needed to enable us to bring about change. The author draws on over ten years' experience as Chair of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture to give a frank account of the remarkable capacities of this system, what it has achieved in practice, or not been able to achieve – and most importantly, why. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How big a problem is torture? Are the right things being done to prevent it? Why does the UN appear at times to be so impotent in the face of it? Tackling Torture: Prevention in Practice (Bristol University Press, 2023) by Malcolm D. Evans tells the story of torture prevention under international law, setting out what is really happening around the world. Challenging assumptions about torture's root causes, he calls for what is needed to enable us to bring about change. The author draws on over ten years' experience as Chair of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture to give a frank account of the remarkable capacities of this system, what it has achieved in practice, or not been able to achieve – and most importantly, why. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day
Globally, there appears to be a rise in hatred threatening to destroy societal harmony and the foundations of peace. Against this backdrop, this panel discussion, held last year to commemorate International Tolerance Day, features leading practitioners who are working on identifying ways to promote societal cohesion and democracy using human rights as a beacon. Panellists speak to a broad range of issues related to tolerance and intolerance, especially on the intersections between freedom of expression, freedom of religion or belief and the rights of minorities, and consider conceptual challenges in addressing ‘hate speech’ and concrete examples of good practice. Professor Sir Malcolm Evans outlines the relationship between freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief, focusing on the challenges imposed by the spread of ‘hate speech’, and highlights the core elements of a human rights-based approach. Malcolm is Professor of Public International Law at the University of Bristol. He is a member and Chair of the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture and is also currently a member of the Commission on Religious Education established by the Religious Education Council. Simona Cruciani highlights the role of the United Nations in addressing hate speech and preventing incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence, focusing on the recent launch of the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech. Simona is Political Affairs Officer at the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect (OSAPG) where she runs the Global Program with Religious Leaders on Preventing Incitement to Violence that could lead to Atrocity Crimes. Promoting tolerance is an aim many teachers cite for Holocaust education, but the subject is challenging for both teachers and students. Dr Ruth-Anne Lenga will discuss these challenges and how those at UCL's Centre for Holocaust Education are working to respond to them. Ruth-Anne is Programme Director at the Centre for Holocaust Education at the University College of London and provides strategic leadership and management to the Centre. She is a UK delegate to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and advises many organisations including the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation. Andrew Copson of Humanists UK speaks on the right to freedom of religion or belief and the non-religious, surveying the global situation for nonreligious people’s enjoyment of this right and discussing why the rhetoric of ‘religious freedom’ needs to be replaced with renewed focus on the human right to freedom of religion or belief. Andrew has been Chief Executive of Humanists UK since 2010 and President of Humanists International since 2015. His most recent book, Secularism: A Very Short Introduction, was published in July 2019 by Oxford University Press. Professor Paul Hunt responds to the mosque massacres of 15th March 2019 in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacks have forced New Zealanders to confront Islamophobia, racism and antisemitism. Paul considers the role of national human rights institutions in responding to such events and, more broadly, in promoting social cohesion. Paul has lived and undertaken human rights work, in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Aotearoa; he became the New Zealand Chief Human Rights Commissioner in January 2019. In 2000, he was appointed professor at Essex University School of Law and Human Rights Centre. Paul also served as an independent expert on the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1999-2002) and as UN Special Rapporteur on the right to the highest attainable standard of health (2002-2008). This discussion was moderated by Dr Ahmed Shaheed, who is Senior Lecturer in the School of Law and co-Deputy Director of the Human Rights Centre. He is also currently the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief.
US Congressional tax writers concerned over unilateral digital taxation proposals – IRS publishes revised 2019 Tax Treaty Table 1 – No delay in Section 965 final regulations effective date – IRS LB&I announces new compliance campaigns on transfer pricing and information reporting – IRS may use APMA FCD Model in some exams – GAO issues report on FATCA implementation – OECD FTA publishes 7 reports on tax administration – OECD FTA announces ICAP 2.0 – UN Subcommittee issues paper on digital taxation
Following a difficult and protracted process, in 2014 the UNGA adopted Resolution 68/268 which set out to strengthen the UN human rights treaty body system. It mandated a further review in 2020. The proposals which are emerging for that review have the potential to radically change the nature of the UN human rights system - but whether for better or worse is keenly contested. In his talk, Malcolm Evans, who has been a participant in these developments, will outline the background to the proposals and offer a personal assessment, from a treaty body perspective, of their significance for the future of the machinery of international human rights protection. Malcolm Evans is Professor of Public International Law at the University of Bristol, UK where he has taught since 1988. His areas of legal specialism include both international human rights protection and the international law of the sea. In the field of human rights his particular interests concern torture and torture prevention and the protection of religious liberty under international law, on both of which he was written extensively. He became a member of the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture (the SPT) in 2009 and since 2011 has been serving as its Chair. From 2014-2015 he was the Chairperson of the Meeting of Chairs of UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies. From 2002 – 2013 he was a member of the OSCE ODIHR Advisory Council on the Freedom of Religion or Belief. He is also a member of the UK Foreign Secretary’s Human Rights Advisory Group. He has acted as an independent advisor and consultant for numerous international organisations over many years. From 2003-5 he was Head of the School of Law and from 2005-2009 Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law at the University of Bristol. From 2016-2018 he was a member of the Commission on Religious Education established by the Religious Education Council. Since 2015 he has been a Member of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales (IICSA). He is General Editor of the International and Comparative Law Quarterly and Co-Editor in Chief of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion. Major published works include: Religious Liberty and International Law in Europe (CUP, 1997), Preventing Torture (OUP, 1998), Combating Torture in Europe (Council of Europe, 2002), Manual on the Wearing of Religious Symbols in Public Areas (Council of Europe/Brill, 2009), The Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OUP, 2011), The Changing Nature of Religious Rights under International Law (ed) (OUP, 2015), Preventing Torture in Europe (Council of Europe, 2018). He is Editor of International Law (OUP, 5th ed, 2018) and Blackstone’s International Law Documents (OUP, 13th ed, 2017).
We chatted to Professor Malcolm Evans on how we can prevent torture in South Africa. He works for the United Nations as the Chair of the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, he helped write... Free the innocent.