On 13 July, 2020, the UN Committee against Torture held its brief sixty-ninth session, its first-ever remote and unusual session due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prof. Liu Huawen,Deputy Director of the Institute of International Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), participated in this session as new member of the Committee against Torture, the treaty body under the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Antti Korkeakivi, Chief of the Anti-Torture, Coordination and Funds Section, Human Rights Treaties Branch, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Representative of the UN Secretary-General, made an opening speech. He welcomed the 3 newly elected members, and said that the pandemic and the current lack of resources represented a major challenge for the UN treaty body system when it was needed most.

Prof. Liu discussed the challenges to discharge the Committee’s mandates and proposed the joint, concrete and innovative efforts to carry out the duties of the human rights treaty body during the time of crisis.