AG/RES. 1897 (XXXII-O/02)
STUDY OF THE RIGHTS AND THE CARE OF PERSONS UNDER ANY
FORM OF DETENTION OR IMPRISONMENT
(Adopted at the fourth plenary session held on June 4,
2002)
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
CONSIDERING the provisions of the American Declaration of the Rights
and Duties of Man, signed in Bogotá in 1948; the provisions of the American
Convention on Human Rights, or Pact of San José, signed in San José, Costa
Rica, in 1969; and the provisions of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent
and Punish Torture, signed in Cartagena de Indias in 1985;
HAVING
SEEN:
Resolution AG/RES. 1816 (XXXI-O/01), which instructed the Permanent
Council to “consider the advisability of studying, in cooperation with the
competent organs and agencies of the inter-American system and taking into
account the conclusions and recommendations of the Meetings of Ministers of
Justice or of Ministers or Attorneys General of the Americas, the question of
the rights and the care of persons under any form of detention or imprisonment”;
and
The document presented by the delegation of Costa Rica
(CP/CAJP-1876/02) and its presentation to the Committee on Juridical and
Political Affairs on February 14, 2002, as well as the proposal for a draft
Inter-American Declaration on the Rights and the Care of Persons Deprived of
Liberty (AG/CP/doc.630/01);
BEARING
IN MIND:
That consultations with the member states on this subject have been
initiated within the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs and that a
number of them have replied to the questionnaire prepared for that purpose
(CP/CAJP-1853/01 rev. 1);
That for a number of years the OAS has served as a forum for discussion
of prison and detention conditions in the Americas, especially in the context
of the Meetings of Ministers of Justice or of Ministers or Attorneys General
of the Americas; and
That the Fourth Meeting of Ministers of Justice or of Ministers or
Attorneys General of the Americas heard proposals for drafting a document to
protect the fundamental rights of detained persons (REMJA-IV/doc.24/02 rev.
2); and
RECALLING that a number of texts on this subject have been adopted at
the United Nations, in particular the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment
of Prisoners [ECOSOC/RES/663C (XXIV)], adopted in 1957; the Body of Principles
for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment
(A/RES/43/173), of 1988; and the Basic Principles for the Treatment of
Prisoners (A/RES/45/111), of 1990,
RESOLVES:
1.
To instruct the Permanent Council to continue to study the question of
the rights and the care of persons under any form of detention or
imprisonment, in cooperation with the competent organs and agencies of the
inter-American system and taking into account the conclusions and
recommendations of the meeting of authorities responsible for penitentiary and
prison policies as expressed in the Recommendations and Conclusions of the
Fourth Meeting of Ministers of Justice or of Ministers or Attorneys General of
the Americas.
2.
To urge member states that have not already done so to reply as soon as
possible to the questionnaire: Study of the Rights and the Care of Persons
under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment (CP/CAJP-1853/01 rev. 1).
3.
To instruct the Permanent Council to consider, on the basis of the
discussions held and the studies conducted, the advisability of preparing in
due course an Inter-American Declaration on the rights and the care of persons
under any form of detention or imprisonment.
4.
To request the Permanent Council to present a report on implementation
of this resolution to the General Assembly at its thirty-third regular
session.
