THE PROHIBITION OF TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT IN THE INTER-AMERICAN HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM: A HANDBOOK FOR VICTIMS AND THEIR ADVOCATES

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) coordinates the activities of the SOS-Torture Network, which is the world’s largest coalition of non-governmental organisations fi ghting against torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary detention, extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, and other serious human rights violations. OMCT’s growing global network currently includes 311 local, national, and regional organisations in 92 countries spanning all regions of the world. An important aspect of OMCT’s mandate is to respond to the advocacy and capacity-building needs of its network members, including the need to develop effective international litigation strategies to assist victims of torture and ill-treatment in obtaining legal remedies where none are available domestically, and to support them in their struggle to end impunity in states where torture and ill-treatment remain endemic or tolerated practices. In furtherance of these objectives, OMCT publishes an updated edition of the Handbook for victims and their advocates, which was fi rst published in 2006. This Handbook is the second of a series of four volumes, each one providing a guide to the practice, procedure, and jurisprudence of the regional and international mechanisms that are competent to examine individual complaints concerning th