COMMUNITY

On 1 October 2025, States Parties will elect five new members to the UN Committee against Torture (CAT). On 4 September, together with Amnesty International, Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), Geneva Human Rights Platform, FIACAT, IRCT International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, Omega Research Foundation REDRESS International Service for Human Rights, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) , we convened a public virtual dialogue with the candidates to highlight the upcoming elections and foster transparency and equality in the election process.

Currently, only two out of ten CAT members are women, making it one of the Treaty Bodies with the lowest gender balance. Furthermore, with the upcoming vacancies, only one female member will remain among those not up for election or re-election. For the five seats now open, States have nominated six men and four women. Improving gender balance on the Committee will require States to actively consider the election of qualified women candidates.

Electing members with the necessary expertise, independence, and diversity is vital to ensure the effective fulfillment of the Committee’s mandate. Ensuring gender and geographical balance are also crucial to the legitimacy, effectiveness, and inclusivity of the CAT.

This requires knowing each candidate’s vision for the mandate, evaluating their competence, and assessing their commitment to fulfilling the mandate with a gender perspective. Civil society and victims who frequently engage with the CAT should also have the opportunity to participate in this process, and spaces such as this public dialogue are key to advancing this goal.

All candidates were invited to participate in the dialogue and respond to a written public questionnaire, developed in consultation with civil society, which covered their qualifications, experience, and priorities. All candidates responded, and their responses are now available on the OMCT and IRCTwebsites, offering an additional tool to promote transparency and inform States Parties and stakeholders ahead of the election.

Read the public questionnaire here: https://www.omct.org/en/resources/news/presentation-of-the-candidates-to-the-committee-against-torture-cat-2025-elections

Eight candidates were able to join the public dialogue, responding to questions submitted by civil society. During the exchange, candidates shared their views on critical issues, including the challenges to the absolute prohibition of torture; strategies for engaging with States that fail to comply with CAT’s findings; the inclusion of survivors’ voices; ways to increase the visibility and impact of the Committee’s recommendations; the UN human rights system’s financial crisis; promoting the participation of grassroots and marginalized groups; and ensuring gender balance and the integration of a gender perspective in the Committee’s work.

We extend our gratitude to all candidates for participating and engaging in the dialogue and to our partner organizations who made this event possible.

Public dialogues like this one, and the active participation of civil society, are indispensable for promoting accountability, strengthening the legitimacy of the election process, and building human rights bodies that are representative, transparent, and effective. It is now the responsibility of States Parties to uphold these principles by electing members who meet the highest standards of expertise and independence and contribute to achieving gender parity and equitable geographic balance within the CAT.

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*This event is part of an initiative led by the Geneva Human Rights Platform (GHRP) of the Geneva Academy and supported by GQUAL, aimed at promoting greater transparency around the UN Treaty Bodies’ election processes. In 2024, similar events were organized around the elections to CEDAW, CRPD, and the Human Rights Committee, together with partner organizations working on these issues.