Pinoy elected to UN committee on torture

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino expert on psychological trauma has been elected member of the United Nation’s Committee on Torture in Geneva, Switzerland.

Dr. June Caridad Pagaduan-Lopez, of the University of the Philippines-Faculty of Medicine, will be among the 12 new members of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment (SPT), a new treaty body in the UN’s human rights system.

In its website, the Denmark-based International Rehabilitation Council for Torture (IRCT) said Lopez and her fellow new members would “serve as experts in monitoring conditions of detentions in more than 60 countries worldwide.”

SPT was formed by the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) to focus on innovative, sustained and proactive approach in preventing torture and ill-treatment.

Member states are mandated to form independent domestic bodies to prevent torture and other forms of maltreatment.

Lopez was nominated to the UN by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

The website also showed that the Filipino doctor had conducted ”trainings on detection, management and rehabilitation of torture victims and other survivors of political violence in the Philippines, East Timor, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Burma, Cambodia and Kosovo.”

Her candidacy flier showed she is an expert in psychosocial trauma management; a founding member of the IRCT where she served as a member of the board and regional vice president for Asia and founder of Medical Action Group.

She also served as a technical expert on mental health and sexual violence and a member of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Sexual Violence Research Initiative.

In 2005, Lopez was one of 1,000 peace women nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.