In July 2022, Dr Alice Edwards was appointed the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Based in Italy, she is the first woman to hold this position, which is considered the most important, and most daunting, in the sector. Edwards came to the role after a career working on behalf of victims of human rights violations and developing related standards in international law.
Most recently, Edwards was Head of the Secretariat of the Convention against Torture Initiative. During her tenure, 15 new States joined the Convention and started their journeys to implement it. Previously, she was Chief of Section, Protection Policy and Legal Advice at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Geneva, after years in UNHCR field operations.
A lawyer by training, Edwards’ breakthrough legal argument that rape and sexual violence are forms of torture and persecution is now accepted as doctrine globally, enabling hundreds of thousands of victims to claim refugee protection. Her fieldwork in the late 1990s in Bosnia and Herzegovina and elsewhere informed her award-winning book, Violence against Women under International Human Rights Law.
During Edwards’ Rapporteurship she plans to put the rights of survivors and their families centre-stage, including their right to speak and to be heard, to participate in decisions affecting them, to rehabilitation and to remedy.
Can you please tell us what your role as UN Special Rapporteur on Torture involves, day to day?
There are three main functions of this independent expert position:
- daily raising my voice – for example, through diplomatic cables to governments, or through the press and public platforms – for victim-survivors and their families who have been subjected to torture or other cruel treatment or punishment
- providing research reports to inform debates at the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly when they discuss allegations of torture, and recommending action
- carrying out fact-finding country visits, which involve investigating allegations of torture, inspecting places where persons are deprived of their liberty, and supporting governments to do better by recommending reforms.
The role requires a lot of persistence to find justice for victim-survivors. It involves trawling through evidence, as well as phone calls, meetings, research, analysis, travel, and sleepless nights.
Do you have observations and thoughts for governments that stem from your time working with refugees?
These days we could say that refugees and asylum seekers find themselves in a double bind.
On the one hand, 30-40 per cent of refugees are estimated to be victims of torture, while others have suffered comparable treatment and life-altering experiences. They seek asylum because they are at risk of harm at the hands of their own governments. States have obligations to them as torture victims and as refugees.
And on the other hand, as solidarity towards refugees has waned and is actually becoming more hostile, refugees and asylum seekers are being treated in some countries very poorly. Some of that treatment is so cruel or inhuman it means that hosting countries are violating the UN Convention against Torture.
Regarding Australia’s record on this issue, I’ve raised my disapproval of the fact that Australia detains asylum seekers automatically – and without time limits.
Do you have memories of your time studying in Tasmania that you would like to share?
Although Tasmania is an island floating off the southern end of the Earth, UTAS is remarkably connected to the global stage, and I appreciated that outward orientation during my studies in law and political science. It made me feel as though “the world” was within reach and accessible.
That connection was made through the broad range of subjects on offer, the world-class expertise of academic staff as well as the contributions of local, interstate and international students.
What do you like to do when you’re not working, to balance the very important, but confronting, work?
I try to close down my laptop, put away my papers, and shut the door to my office at the end of each day, and do something totally different – like yoga or a long walk or a meal out with non-UN friends! I know I have to pace myself. They have a great saying here in Italy, where I now live: “piano, piano”, which means “slowly, slowly”. While much of what I do requires urgent attention, more structural changes require persistence over time.
If you want to make a difference in this world, sometimes there are breakthroughs but most of the time, it’s “piano, piano”.
Written by Katherine Johnston for Alumni Magazine Issue 54, 2023.
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Top of page: Dr Alice Edwards (BA/LLB Hons 1997) | Photo: Cordula Tremi