United Nations Convention Against Torture Totally Explained

Everything about The United Nations Convention Against Torture totally explained

The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment is an international human rights instrument, under the purview of the United Nations, that aims to prevent torture around the world.
The Convention advises states to take effective measures to prevent torture within their borders, and forbids states to return people to their home country if there's reason to believe that'll be tortured.
The text of the Convention was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1984 and, following ratification by the 20th state party, it came into force on 26 June 1987; 26 June is now recognised as the International Day in Support of Torture Victims, in honour of the Convention. To date, 145 nations are parties to it, with another nine having signed but not yet ratified.

Convention provisions

The Convention Against Torture is one of a series of UN agreements that seek to protect human rights. The most relevant articles on torture are articles 1, 2, 3 and the first paragraph of article 16. ť Article 1

   1. Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It doesn't include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions. ť 2. This article is without prejudice to any international instrument or national legislation which does or may contain provisions of wider application.

ť Article 2

   1. Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction. ť 2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.

   3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture. ť Article 3

   1. No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he'd be in danger of being subjected to torture. ť 2. For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.

ť Article 16

   1. Each State Party shall undertake to prevent in any territory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which don't amount to torture as defined in article I, when such acts are committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. In particular, the obligations contained in articles 10, 11, 12 and 13 shall apply with the substitution for references to torture of references to other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. There are several points which need highlighting:

Section 1: torture is defined as severe pain or suffering, which means there must be levels of pain and suffering which are not severe enough to be called torture (often termed "cruel, degrading or inhumane treatment"). However, "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" is independently proscribed by Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Discussions on this area of international law are influenced by a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on sensory deprivation.

Section 2: If a state has signed the treaty without reservations, then there are no exceptional circumstances whatsoever where a state can use torture and not break its treaty obligations. However the worst sanction which can be applied to a powerful country is the publishing of the information that they've broken their treaty obligations. In certain exceptional cases the authorities in those countries may consider that with plausible deniability that this is an acceptable risk to take as the definition of severe is open to flexible interpretation.

Section 16: contains the phrase territory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, so if the government of a state authorises its personnel to use sensory deprivation on a detainee in territory not under its jurisdiction then it's suggested that that government hasn't broken its treaty obligations.

Optional Protocol

The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 2002 and in force since 22 June 2006, provides for the establishment of "a system of regular visits undertaken by independent international and national bodies to places where people are deprived of their liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," to be overseen by a Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment ("Subcommittee on Prevention").

Committee against Torture

The Committee against Torture (CAT) is a body of human rights experts that monitors implementation of the Convention by State parties. The Committee is one of seven UN-linked human rights treaty bodies.
   All State parties are obliged under the Convention to submit regular reports to the CAT on how the rights are being implemented. Upon ratifying the Convention, States must submit a report within one year, after which they're obliged to report every four years. The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the form of “concluding observations”.
   Under certain circumstances, the CAT may consider complaints or communications from individuals claiming that their rights under the Convention have been violated.
   The CAT usually meets in May and November each year in Geneva.
   The current membership of the CAT is:

Chairman - Myrna Kleopas - term expires in 2011

Vice Chairman - Abdoulaye Gaye - term expires in 2011

Vice Chairman - Claudio Grossman - term expires in 2011

Vice Chairman - Alexander Kovalev - term expires in 2009

Rapporteur - Felice Gaer - term expires in 2011

Luis Gallegos Chiriboga - term expires in 2011

Nora Sveass - term expires in 2009

Xuexian Wang - term expires in 2009

Essadia Belmir - term expires in 2009

Fernando Mariño Menéndez - term expires in 2009

Recent history

The European Convention on Human Rights (signed by the participating member states of the Council of Europe) recognized that the use of the five techniques of sensory deprivation and even the beatings of prisoners are not torture. Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights it was ruled makes such actions the lesser offense of "inhuman or degrading treatment". The European Court of Human Rights ruling that sensory deprivations and beatings don't rise to the level of torture is the present relevant law in Europe.
Since 2004, the Convention has received new attention in the world press because of the stress and duress interrogation techniques used on detainees by United States military personnel, most notably at the Abu Ghraib prison and Bagram prison. The United States ratified the Convention, but lodged a declaration that "... nothing in this Convention requires or authorizes legislation, or other action, by the United States of America prohibited by the Constitution of the United States as interpreted by the United States." The reason for this is that the United States Government lacks constitutional authority to enter into any treaty that violates any civil rights or other provisions within the Constitution of the United States. Torture is illegal within the United States and is illegal if practised by American military personnel anywhere at any time. "Human rights have been a cornerstone of American values since the country's birth and the United States is committed to support the work of the UN Commission in promoting the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

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