Australia is set to ratify the international treaty against torture that was snubbed by the former Howard government.
The Rudd government is also reportedly considering introducing laws to make torture an offence for the first time under the Commonwealth Criminal Code.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland has told Fairfax newspapers the government intended to ratify the UN's Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
"Labor is committed to ratifying the optional protocol on torture, and we will soon be consulting the states and territories as to how that can be achieved," Mr McClelland said.
The protocol aims to prevent torture by setting up a system of visits to international and national places of detention such as prisons and immigration detention facilities.
The Howard government refused to ratify the protocol in 2004 despite being a party to the 1984 UN Convention against Torture.
~ from The Age ~
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