FN skærper linjen mod tortur

The General Assembly,

Reaffirming that no one shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,

Recalling that freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is a non-derogable right under international law, including international human rights law and international humanitarian law, that must be respected and protected under all circumstances, including in times of international or internal armed conflict or disturbance or any other public emergency, that the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is affirmed in relevant international instruments and that legal and procedural safeguards against such acts must not be subject to measures that would circumvent this right,

Recalling also that the prohibition of torture is a peremptory norm of international law and that international, regional and domestic courts have held the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment to be customary international law,

Recalling further the definition of torture contained in article 1 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,1 without prejudice to any international instrument or national legislation which contains or may contain provisions of wider application,

Emphasizing the importance of properly interpreting and implementing the obligations of States with respect to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and of abiding strictly by the definition of torture contained in article 1 of the Convention,

Noting that, under the Geneva Conventions of 1949,2 torture and inhuman treatment are a grave breach and that, under the statute of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, the statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Genocide and Other Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of Rwanda and Rwandan Citizens Responsible for Genocide and Other Such Violations Committed in the Territory of Neighbouring States between 1 January and 31 December 1994 and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,3 acts of torture can constitute crimes against humanity and, when committed in a situation of armed conflict, constitute war crimes,

Welcoming the entry into force of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance,4 the implementation of which will make a significant contribution to the prevention and prohibition of torture, including by prohibiting secret places of detention, and encouraging all States that have not done so to consider signing, ratifying or acceding to the Convention,

Commending the persistent efforts of civil society organizations, including non-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions and national preventive mechanisms, and the considerable network of centres for the rehabilitation of victims of torture, to prevent and combat torture and to alleviate the suffering of victims of torture,

Deeply concerned with all acts which can amount to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment committed against persons exercising their rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression in all regions of the world,

1. Condemns all forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including through intimidation, which are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever and can thus never be justified, and calls upon all States to implement fully the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

2. Emphasizes that States must take persistent, determined and effective measures to prevent and combat all acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, stresses that all acts of torture must be made offences under domestic criminal law, and encourages States to prohibit under domestic law acts constituting cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

3. Welcomes the establishment of national preventive mechanisms to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, urges States to consider establishing, appointing, maintaining or enhancing independent and effective mechanisms with qualified expertise to undertake monitoring visits to places of detention, inter alia with a view to preventing acts of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and calls upon States parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment5 to fulfil their obligation to designate or establish truly independent and effective national preventive mechanisms;

4. Emphasizes the importance of States ensuring proper follow-up to the recommendations and conclusions of the relevant treaty bodies and mechanisms, including the Committee against Torture, the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

5. Condemns any action or attempt by States or public officials to legalize, authorize or acquiesce in torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under any circumstances, including on grounds of national security or through judicial decisions, and urges States to ensure accountability of those responsible for all such acts;

6. Encourages States to consider establishing or maintaining appropriate national processes to record allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

7. Stresses that an independent, competent domestic authority must promptly, effectively and impartially investigate all allegations of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as well as wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that such an act has been committed, and that those who encourage, order, tolerate or perpetrate such acts must be held responsible, brought to justice and punished in a manner commensurate with the severity of the offence, including the officials in charge of any place of detention, or other place where persons are deprived of their liberty, where the prohibited act is found to have been committed;

8. Recalls, in this respect, the Principles on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the Istanbul Principles) as a useful tool in efforts to prevent and combat torture and the updated set of principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity;

9. Calls upon all States to implement effective measures to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, particularly in places of detention and other places where persons are deprived of their liberty, including legal and procedural safeguards, as well as education and training of personnel who may be involved in the custody, interrogation or treatment of any individual subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment;

10. Urges States, as an important element in preventing and combating torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, to ensure that no authority or official orders, applies, permits or tolerates any sanction or other prejudice against any person or organization for having been in contact with any national or international monitoring or preventive body active in the prevention and combating of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

11. Calls upon all States to adopt a gender-sensitive approach in the fight against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, paying special attention to gender-based violence;

12. Calls upon States to ensure that the rights of persons with disabilities, bearing in mind the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,8 are fully integrated into torture prevention and protection, and welcomes the efforts of the Special Rapporteur in this regard;

13. Encourages all States to ensure that persons convicted of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment have no subsequent involvement in the custody, interrogation or treatment of any person under arrest, detention, imprisonment or other deprivation of liberty and that persons charged with torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment have no involvement in the custody, interrogation or treatment of any person under arrest, detention, imprisonment or other deprivation of liberty while such charges are pending;

14. Emphasizes that acts of torture in armed conflict are serious violations of international humanitarian law and in this regard constitute war crimes, that acts of torture can constitute crimes against humanity and that the perpetrators of all acts of torture must be prosecuted and punished, and in this regard notes the efforts of the International Criminal Court to end impunity by seeking to ensure accountability and punishment of perpetrators of such acts, in accordance with the Rome Statute,3 bearing in mind its principle of complementarity, and encourages States that have not yet done so to consider ratifying or acceding to the Rome Statute;

15. Strongly urges States to ensure that no statement that is established to have been made as a result of torture is invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made, encourages States to extend that prohibition to statements made as a result of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and recognizes that adequate corroboration of statements, including confessions, used as evidence in any proceedings constitutes one safeguard for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

16. Stresses that States must not punish personnel for not obeying orders to commit or conceal acts amounting to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

17. Urges States not to expel, return (“refouler”), extradite or in any other way transfer a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture, stresses the importance of effective legal and procedural safeguards in this regard, and recognizes that diplomatic assurances, where used, do not release States from their obligations under international human rights, humanitarian and refugee law, in particular the principle of non-refoulement;

18. Recalls that, 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;

19. Calls upon States parties to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment1 to fulfil their obligation to submit for prosecution or extradite those alleged to have committed acts of torture, and encourages other States to do likewise, bearing in mind the need to fight impunity;

20. Stresses that national legal systems must ensure that victims of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment obtain redress without suffering any retribution for bringing complaints or giving evidence, have access to justice, are awarded fair and adequate compensation and receive appropriate social, psychological, medical and other relevant specialized rehabilitation, and urges States to establish, maintain, facilitate or support rehabilitation centres or facilities where victims of torture can receive such treatment and where effective measures for ensuring the safety of their staff and patients are taken;

21. Recalls its resolution 43/173 of 9 December 1988 on the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, and in this context stresses that ensuring that any individual arrested or detained is promptly brought before a judge or other independent judicial officer in person and permitting prompt and regular medical care and legal counsel as well as visits by family members and independent monitoring mechanisms are effective measures for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

22. Reminds all States that prolonged incommunicado detention or detention in secret places can facilitate the perpetration of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and can in itself constitute a form of such treatment, and urges all States to respect the safeguards concerning the liberty, security and dignity of the person and to ensure that secret places of detention and interrogation are abolished;

23. Emphasizes that conditions of detention must respect the dignity and human rights of detainees, highlights the importance of reflecting on this in efforts to promote respect for and protection of the rights of detainees, and notes in this regard concerns about solitary confinement when it amounts to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

24. Calls upon all States to take appropriate effective legislative, administrative, judicial and other measures to prevent and prohibit the production, trade, export, import and use of equipment that have no practical use other than for the purpose of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

25. Urges all States that have not yet done so to become parties to the Convention as a matter of priority, and calls upon States parties to give early consideration to signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention;

26. Urges all States parties to the Convention that have not yet done so to make the declarations provided for in articles 21 and 22 concerning inter-State and individual communications, to consider the possibility of withdrawing their reservations to article 20 and to notify the Secretary-General of their acceptance of the amendments to articles 17 and 18 with a view to enhancing the effectiveness of the Committee as soon as possible;

27. Urges States parties to comply strictly with their obligations under the Convention, including, in view of the high number of reports not submitted in time, their obligation to submit reports in accordance with article 19 of the Convention, and invites States parties to incorporate a gender perspective and information concerning children and juveniles and persons with disabilities when submitting reports to the Committee;

28. Welcomes the work of the Committee and its report submitted in accordance with article 24 of the Convention,9 recommends that the Committee continue to include information on the follow-up by States to its recommendations, and supports the Committee in its intention to further improve the effectiveness of its working methods;

29. Invites the Chairs of the Committee and of the Subcommittee to present oral reports on the work of the committees and to engage in an interactive dialogue with the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session under the sub-item entitled “Implementation of human rights instruments”;

30. Calls upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in conformity with her mandate established by the General Assembly in its resolution 48/141 of 20 December 1993, to continue to provide, at the request of States, advisory services for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including for the preparation of national reports to the Committee and for the establishment and operation of national preventive mechanisms, as well as technical assistance for the development, production and distribution of teaching material for this purpose;

31. Takes note with appreciation of the interim report of the Special Rapporteur,10 and encourages the Special Rapporteur to continue to include in his recommendations proposals on the prevention and investigation of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including its gender-based manifestations;

32. Requests the Special Rapporteur to continue to consider including in his report information on the follow-up by States to his recommendations, visits and communications, including progress made and problems encountered, and on other official contacts;

33. Calls upon all States to cooperate with and assist the Special Rapporteur in the performance of his task, to supply all necessary information requested by the Special Rapporteur, to fully and expeditiously respond to and follow up on his urgent appeals, to give serious consideration to responding favourably to requests by the Special Rapporteur to visit their countries and to enter into a constructive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on requested visits to their countries as well as with respect to the follow-up to his recommendations;

34. Stresses the need for the continued regular exchange of views among the Committee, the Subcommittee, the Special Rapporteur and other relevant United Nations mechanisms and bodies, as well as for the pursuance of cooperation with relevant United Nations programmes, notably the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme, with regional organizations and mechanisms, as appropriate, and with civil society organizations, including non-governmental organizations, with a view to enhancing further their effectiveness and cooperation on issues relating to the prevention and eradication of torture, inter alia, by improving their coordination;

35. Recognizes the global need for international assistance to victims of torture, stresses the importance of the work of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, appeals to all States and organizations to contribute annually to the Fund, preferably with a substantial increase in the level of contributions, and encourages contributions to the Special Fund established by the Optional Protocol to help finance the implementation of the recommendations made by the Subcommittee as well as education programmes of the national preventive mechanisms;

36. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to transmit to all States the appeals of the General Assembly for contributions to the Funds and to include the Funds on an annual basis among the programmes for which funds are pledged at the United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities;

37. Also requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Human Rights Council and to the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session a report on the operations of the Funds;

38. Further requests the Secretary-General to ensure, within the overall budgetary framework of the United Nations, the provision of adequate staff and facilities for the bodies and mechanisms involved in preventing and combating torture and assisting victims of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including, in particular, the Committee, the Subcommittee and the Special Rapporteur, commensurate with the strong support expressed by Member States for preventing and combating torture and assisting victims of torture, in order to enable them to discharge their mandates in a comprehensive, sustained and effective manner and taking fully into account the specific nature of their mandates;

39. Calls upon all States, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and other United Nations bodies and agencies, as well as relevant intergovernmental and civil society organizations, including non-governmental organizations, to commemorate, on 26 June, the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture;

40. Decides to consider at its sixty-seventh session the reports of the Secretary-General, including the report on the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture and the Special Fund established by the Optional Protocol, the report of the Committee against Torture and the interim report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
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