Switzerland Unveils 18-Point Plan to Prevent Torture

Media-Society.com // Presented in Warsaw, the OSCE chairpersonship’s plan turns established human rights obligations into practical measures for detention, investigation and survivor support

Switzerland presented an 18-point roadmap for preventing and eradicating torture at the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference on Tuesday, setting out practical measures for police stations, prisons, courts and independent monitoring bodies across the OSCE region. The initiative offers a credible route from legal commitments to operational safeguards, although implementation remains voluntary.

The roadmap was launched as part of Switzerland’s 2026 chairpersonship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. It addresses a persistent contradiction: all 57 OSCE participating states have accepted the absolute prohibition of torture, yet torture and other forms of ill-treatment continue in armed conflicts, detention facilities and ordinary criminal investigations.

Rather than proposing another international treaty, the 24-page Swiss roadmap consolidates obligations, OSCE commitments and recognised practices into a framework that national authorities can use to review their laws and procedures.

Protection from the moment of arrest

The roadmap concentrates heavily on the period when a person first loses their liberty. The initial hours after arrest are often when the risk of coercion is greatest and when access to the outside world is most restricted.

States are urged to eliminate secret and incommunicado detention, record arrests accurately and ensure that detainees can promptly contact a lawyer, family member and independent doctor. Authorities should provide information about rights in a language and format the person understands.

These safeguards are important for anyone in custody, but the document identifies heightened risks for women, migrants, minorities, people with disabilities and others in vulnerable situations.

It also calls for force during arrest or detention to be lawful, necessary and proportionate. Law-enforcement agencies should establish clear rules for restraints and less-lethal weapons, investigate deaths or serious injuries and train personnel in de-escalation.

Replacing coercive interrogation

One of the roadmap’s most significant recommendations is the introduction of non-coercive interviewing methods. These approaches seek accurate and reliable information through preparation, open questions and professional evaluation rather than intimidation, threats or pressure to confess.

The document draws on the Méndez Principles, international guidance designed to replace confession-driven interrogation with evidence-based interviewing. It recommends recording interviews, providing access to legal counsel and ensuring that questioning methods are independently supervised.

This is both a human rights safeguard and a matter of effective policing. Coercion can produce false information, distort an investigation and contribute to wrongful convictions. The roadmap therefore calls on courts to exclude evidence obtained through torture or ill-treatment, except when it is used to prove that the abuse occurred.

These questions were also examined at a Warsaw side event involving UN experts, police practitioners and civil-society representatives. ODIHR said the discussion considered how training, supervision and quality assurance can improve criminal investigations without sacrificing human dignity.

From complaints to accountability

Several action points address the institutional conditions that allow abuse to go unpunished. States should define torture as a specific criminal offence in accordance with international standards and provide safe, accessible complaint mechanisms for people in custody.

Investigations should be prompt, impartial and independent of the institutions implicated in the allegation. Complainants, witnesses, lawyers and monitoring organisations must also be protected from intimidation or retaliation.

The roadmap recommends prosecution and disciplinary action when evidence supports an allegation. It also calls for accountability to extend to superiors who order, encourage, accept or knowingly disregard torture.

Authorities are encouraged to publish anonymised information about complaints, prosecutions and penalties. Better data would make it harder for governments to treat documented cases as isolated incidents while withholding the evidence needed to assess systemic abuse.

Opening detention facilities to scrutiny

Independent monitoring is another central element. The roadmap recommends giving national preventive mechanisms the legal authority, resources and specialist expertise needed to inspect all places where people are deprived of liberty.

Inspectors should be able to make unannounced visits, select facilities without interference, examine relevant records and speak privately with detainees. Governments should respond to their recommendations and report publicly on follow-up measures.

All 57 OSCE states are parties to the UN Convention against Torture, but only 44 have joined its Optional Protocol, which establishes a system of independent visits to detention facilities. Switzerland’s plan encourages the remaining states to ratify and implement that protocol.

The roadmap arrives at a sensitive moment for regional oversight. Russia’s denunciation of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture is due to take effect on 1 November 2026, further narrowing access for an important international monitoring mechanism.

Survivors placed within the framework

The final substantive measures concern redress and rehabilitation. Victims should be able to seek compensation and other remedies even when no criminal conviction has been secured. They should receive free legal advice and be able to participate in decisions concerning reparations.

Rehabilitation should include medical, psychological, social and legal support. Access should be prompt, confidential and adapted to the individual. Crucially, the roadmap says treatment must not depend on a survivor pursuing a judicial case.

This recognises that many survivors cannot safely lodge complaints. Others face evidential barriers, displacement or continuing dependence on the institutions responsible for their detention.

A practical plan without enforcement power

The roadmap’s strength is its specificity. Its action points cover arrest, detention, interrogation, evidence, complaints, investigations, prosecution, monitoring, training and rehabilitation. The Swiss announcement describes it as an implementation tool rather than a new set of standards.

That distinction is also its main limitation. The roadmap creates no new legal or political obligations. Participating states are invited to use it when reviewing national systems, exchange good practices and report voluntarily at OSCE meetings. There is no compulsory timetable, monitoring mechanism or sanction for inaction.

Implementation will consequently depend on political will, independent institutions and sustained civil-society scrutiny. Governments that permit secret detention or obstruct investigations are unlikely to change merely because a new reference document exists.

Even so, the initiative gives reformers a common and detailed benchmark. Lawyers can use it when challenging coerced evidence. Monitoring bodies can apply it during prison inspections. Parliaments can compare domestic legislation with its recommendations, while civil-society organisations can measure government practice against commitments already accepted.

The wider Warsaw human rights conference cannot enforce those commitments either. Its value lies partly in keeping them visible and allowing governments, practitioners and independent organisations to examine the distance between law and reality.

Switzerland’s roadmap does not close that distance by itself. It does, however, define the steps required: protect people from the first moment of detention, remove incentives for coercion, investigate abuse independently, open institutions to scrutiny and support survivors after violations occur. Its credibility will now depend on whether participating states put those steps into practice.