Shining Light into Dark Corners barracks, child and youth placement agencies, the publication of annual NPM reports. Article 3 of became a transit country for immigrants heading long-term care facilities, special needs schools, OPCAT states that “Each State Party shall set up, towards Western and Northern Europe. While alien detention centers, etc. It is clear that we are designate or maintain at the domestic level one or some immigrants successfully passed through not out of the darkness yet as torture and other several visiting bodies for the prevention of torture Czech’s national border without being noticed, mistreatments are still taking place in our society. and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or others were caught and detained by the police. punishment.” Czech police officers did not take the differences in various immigration cases into consideration, The following are some of the cases the Control Yuan has investigated: The Draft Act to Implement the UN Convention and which caused families with children to be detained • In 2016, an inmate of Lyudao Prison was held Optional Protocol against Torture and Other Cruel, as well. in solitary confinement for over 14 years. Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment • In 2018, a special needs teacher in Chiayi was passed by the Executive Yuan on December During a raid conducted by the NPM investigation threatened to chop off students’ hands and 10, 2020, and sent to the Legislative Yuan for team, they were shocked to discover the number forced students to consume hot chili peppers. review. The draft called for a dedicated NPM of children at the facilities; the police in charge • In 2017, a Taipei Juvenile Detention House to be established by the NHRC. An NPM pilot of the shelter thought only thirty children were fettered the ankles of a teenage boy with mental program will therefore be launched by the NHRC accepted into the shelter, but the number was five and physical disabilities and held him, alone, in in 2021, a first in Taiwan. The NRHC has made times that. In addition, the overall environment was the pacification ward for 101 days. the following preparations for the launch of the unacceptable and far below the required human NPM: rights standard. The shelter’s maximum capacity was 270 beds, but the team found a total of Torture preventive measures are important for Taiwan since torture and other mistreatments still exist. Nowadays, many developed countries have Preparation 1 established the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) to prevent torture, protect, and promote Human Rights Lawyer Pavel Doubek from 659 individuals, and many of them were not Czech Was Invited to Give a Speech That provided with clothes or shoes and hadn’t eaten Reveals the Dark Side of Immigration a hot meal for eleven days straight. In addition, Shelters the environment was not only like a prison. It was human rights. Unlike supervision and auditing On November 23, 2020, the NHRC invited Dr. also unkempt and dirty, causing an outbreak of powers that are usually exercised in the aftermath Pavel Doubek, a Czech human rights lawyer, to salmonella infection – it was no place for children of such events, the NPM authorizes prevention in give a speech on the Czech Republic’s National to be in. advance without the need for petitions, appeals, or Preventive Mechanism (NPM) for Anti-Torture victims. Convention Consenting Countries. Dr. Doubek Is researcher at Academica Sinica's Institutum The UN Optional Protocol of the Convention and his area of specialization includes the UN’s Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) came Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment into force on June 22, 2006. OPCAT called for (CAT), national preventive mechanisms, and he signatory nations to establish a National Preventive also participated in the Czech Republic’s NPM Mechanism (NPM) to prevent torture and other ill- project. 28 OPCAT signatories to date. NPM activities As an example, Dr. Doubek used B lá Jezová, an include regular inspection of detention institutions immigration shelter exposed by the Czech’s NPM and facilities, issuing of recommendations and in 2015; meanwhile, the NHRC has translated opinions, the gathering of all related information, this NPM report into Chinese*. An overview of engaging with relevant domestic institutions, and this report: the Czech Republic, in Central Europe, B lá Jezová and found that the number of female immigrants had dropped to nine and the living conditions improved. While these improvements flow of immigrants, it is undeniable that if the NPM did not raid the shelter when it did, the truth about the degrading treatment of these immigrants who Iurisprudentiae. Doubek has a wealth of experience treatment effectively. 91 countries have become In 2016, the Czech NPM team revisited might be credited to the overall decrease in the a Czech human rights lawyer and postdoctoral National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) Bring Light to the Dark Corners of Human Rights In 2015, the Czech NPM visited the facility for the detention of foreigners. The photo is provided by the official website of the Office of the Public Defender of Rights of the Czech Republic. were kept deep in the woods might never see the light of day. Preparation 2 CAT Conference Lets Grievances from Disadvantaged Groups be Heard The Criminal Investigation Bureau of On November 23, 2020, the Czech human rights lawyer Dr. Pavel Doubek gave a speech on the Czech Republic’s NPM for Anti-Torture Convention Consenting Countries. the National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior, invited the NHRC to take part in a conference on prevention of torture and ill-treatment ＊ The “Report on Visit to the Facility for Detention of Foreigners in B lá-Jezová” was published by the Czech Office of the Public Defender of Rights on September 9, 2015. 29