“TORTURE” is defined as 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 of the instigation of or
with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or
other person acting in an official capacity.
“No one shall be subjected to torture or to
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment. In particular, no one shall be
subjected without his free consent to medical
or scientific experimentation.”
 Each State Party shall ensure that any
statement which is established to have been
made as a result of torture shall not be
invoked as evidence in any proceedings,
except against a person accused of
torture as evidence that the statement
was made.
“No torture, force, violence, threat,
intimidation, or any other means which
vitiate the free will shall be used
against him. Secret detention places,
solitary, incommunicado, or other similar
forms of detention are prohibited.”
• Commonly known as the United Nations
Convention against Torture (UNCAT)
• - an international human rights treaty, under the
review of the United Nations, that aims to
prevent torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman,
or degrading treatment or punishment around
the world.
• The text of the Convention was adopted by the United
Nations on December 10, 1984.
• It came into force on June 26, 1987.
• June 26 is now recognized as the International Day
in Support of Victims of Torture, in honor of the
Convention.
• The Covenant follows the structure of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and
the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and
Cultural Rights (ICESCR), with a preamble and 33
articles, divided into three parts.
• (Articles 1–16) contains a definition of torture (Article 1),
and commits parties to taking effective measures to prevent
any act of torture in any territory under their jurisdiction
(Article 2).
• These include ensuring that torture is a criminal offense
under a party's municipal law (Article 4), establishing
jurisdiction over acts of torture committed by or against a
party's nationals (Article 5), ensuring that torture is
an extraditable offense (Article 8), and
establishing universal jurisdiction to try cases of torture
where an alleged torturer cannot be extradited (Article 5).
• Parties must promptly investigate any allegation of
torture (Articles 12 and 13), and victims of torture, or
their dependents in case victims died as a result of
torture, must have an enforceable right to
compensation (Article 14).
• Parties must also ban the use of evidence produced by
torture in their courts (Article 15), and are barred
from deporting, extraditing, or refouling people where
there are substantial grounds for believing they will be
tortured (Article 3).
• Parties are required to train and educate their law
enforcement personnel, civilian or military personnel, medical
personnel, pub. officials, and other persons involved in
the custody, interrogation, or treatment of any individual
subjected to any form of arrest, detention, or imprisonment,
regarding the prohibition against torture (Article 10). Parties
also must keep interrogation rules, instructions, methods, and
practices under systematic review regarding individuals who
are under custody or physical control in any territory under
their jurisdiction, in order to prevent all acts of torture (Article
11).
• Parties are also obliged to prevent all acts of cruel, inhuman,
or degrading treatment or punishment in any territory under
their jurisdiction, and to investigate any allegation of such
treatment. (Article 16).
• (Articles 17–24) governs reporting and monitoring of the
Convention and the steps taken by the parties to implement
it.
• It establishes the Committee against Torture (Article 17),
and empowers it to investigate allegations of systematic
torture (Article 20).
• It also establishes an optional dispute-resolution mechanism
between parties (Article 21) and allows parties to
recognize the competence of the Committee to hear
complaints from individuals about violations of the
Convention by a party (Article 22).
• (Articles 25–33) governs ratification, entry into force,
and amendment of the Convention. It also includes an
optional arbitration mechanism for disputes between
parties (Article 30).