Archived page: may contain outdated information!

Senegal: National workshop on situation in prisons

16-12-2013 News Release 13/227

Dakar (ICRC) – A two-day national workshop on the prison situation in Senegal is opening today in Dakar. The meeting, which will take place under the auspices of the Senegalese justice ministry, has been organized by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the National Observatory of Places of Detention, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

"The workshop will provide an opportunity to accurately assess and consider the situation in Senegalese prisons," said Philippe Guinand, head of the ICRC's regional delegation in Dakar. "The authorities will then be able to propose specific measures to be taken to ease the difficulties encountered by detainees and by the detaining authorities."

The event will bring together members of parliament, representatives of the supreme court and of several divisions within the justice ministry, attorneys general, law officers of appellate courts, members of the prison administration and officers in the armed and security forces.

The activities carried out by the ICRC in behalf of detainees are purely humanitarian in nature. The aim is to ensure that the physical and mental well-being of detainees is preserved, and that the treatment detainees receive and the conditions in which they are held meet international standards.
 

For further information, please contact:
Dénes Benczédi, ICRC Dakar, tel: +221 77 529 71 45 or +221 33 869 14 40