Abstract
The purpose of this article is to understand how the Mecanismo Nacional de Prevenção e Combate à Tortura (National Commission for Prevention of Torture), a Brazilian state agency operating since 2015, conceptualizes and analyzes torture practices detected in places of confinement visited in the country. Specifically, it intends to study under what circumstances the National Commission identifies a specific violation of rights as torture; how does it differentiate “torture” from “mistreatment”; and finally, if the agency establishes variations in torture practices, given the different types of establishments visited. To achieve these goals, a study of the reports produced by the agency between 2015 and 2018 was conducted, which allowed us to conclude that there was no standardization of the concept of torture. The organism’s perception of torture is fluid, appearing to be in dispute and still being defined. The article proposes that empirical analyzes of the National Commission’s performance contribute to the theoretical reflection on the phenomenon of torture, especially regarding the issue of prevention.
Keywords
Torture; Typification; Mecanismo Nacional de Prevenção e Combate à Tortura