On November 25, the UnMode team took part in the second virtual webinar with Ms. Andrea Casamento, member of the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Issues we discussed during the meeting:
- What is a Subcommittee and what is its function within the structure of the UN human rights system?
- What is the best way to use the Subcommittee?
- How to present information and advocate for specific issues?
- How can the Subcommittee be used as a tool for building coalitions against torture at the national and international levels?
Ms. Casamento works in Argentina and is the President of the Civil Association of Prisoners’ Relatives (Asociación Civil de Familiares de Detenidos – ACIFAD). She is also Director of the Department for the Rights of Prisoners and Their Families (DADEDYF) of the Ministry of Social Development of the Municipality of Morón, Province of Buenos Aires. As the head of the organization, Ms. Andrea Casamento has extensive and successful experience in fundraising for her NGO.
As we expected, the experience and knowledge of Ms. Casamento on the possibilities of financing organizations, including from international sources, was of particular interest to the participants of the webinar.
“We received information about what the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture is doing and learned how to directly contact the Office of the UN High Commissioner, special rapporteurs or other relevant committees. Now I am sure that our subsequent appeals to these institutions will not go unanswered. We also learned about the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, which provides grants to combat the consequences of torture. This can become a promising direction in the development of our Organization,” says Ludmila Vins, UnMode human rights specialist.