GENEVA (26 June 2025) – UN torture prevention experts, at the close of a week-long visit to Peru, have expressed concern over severe prison overcrowding, the widespread use of pretrial detention, and a new law treating 16- and 17-year-olds as adults in the penal system.
The visit, carried out from 15 to 21 June, marked the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT)’s return to Peru more than a decade after its first mission in 2013. During their stay, the experts visited a range of detention and other facilities and held meetings with Government authorities, civil society actors, and the country’s independent monitoring body, the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM).
“We are grateful for the collaboration provided by the authorities before and during the visit,” said Marie Brasholt, head of the SPT delegation. “Unfortunately, we observed a punitive focus, which includes lengthy sentences and the extensive use of preventive detention, despite the grave overcrowding in Peru’s penitentiary system. After all, building more or mega prisons is not the solution for overcrowding, or to public security in general.”
During the mission, the SPT delegation visited men and women’s prisons, juvenile detention centres, police stations, judicial holding cells, and a religious educational institution. The experts conducted confidential interviews with detainees and personnel. In addition, the Subcommittee visited a detention center together with the NPM.
“We also want to express our special concern regarding the new law that incorporates adolescents ages 16 and 17 as punishable in the adult penal system, which, again, demonstrates a punitive focus in the administration of justice,” said Brasholt.
“The delegation welcomes the creation and functioning of the NPM, which conducts important work. However, it is essential that the mechanism be strengthened to ensure that it has the necessary resources to effectively carry out its functions throughout the entire territory of Peru, in accordance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT),” she added.
The SPT will share its report, including findings and recommendations, with Peru in due course. As always, the delegation urges the State to publish the visit report in order to enhance its obligations. The SPT considers that its reports provide useful guidance to all those engaged, directly or indirectly, in finding practical solutions. Additionally, the Subcommittee will prepare a separate and confidential report to share with the NPM.
Peru ratified the OPCAT in 2006 and established its NPM by law in 2015.
The delegation was composed of the following members: Marie Brasholt, head of the delegation (Denmark), Barbara Bernath (Switzerland), Luciano Mariz Maia (Brazil), and Maria Luisa Romero (Panama), together with two members of the Secretariat of the SPT and two UN security officials.
