6 Shedding light on a dark practice Foreword The success of the Istanbul Protocol after its first ten years of existence is a matter of deep satisfaction to me. First, as a matter of process, it is an example of the vital role played by non-governmental organisations in advancing the national and international protection of human rights. The draft of what was to become the Istanbul Protocol was initiated by a number of forensic doctors working in and with Physicians for Human Rights. It was they who, together with the all-tooexperienced Turkish Human Rights Foundation, convened the meeting in Istanbul that finalised the text. The meeting also approved the text of general principles on investigation of torture allegations, drafted by a team of international lawyers and forensic medical specialists. The text was inspired by similar principles for investigating extra-legal killings that accompanied the Minnesota Protocol for the medical documentation of such killings, produced by the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights (now The Advocates for Human Rights), who also contributed to the Istanbul Principles. It is notable that the sixth and longest of the Istanbul Principles summarises the key requirements for effective medical examination of possible torture. For me, it was a privilege to have been a part of this process, both before and at the Istanbul meeting. Second, in my then capacity of UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, I was in a position to bring the Principles on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to the attention of the UN General Assembly and UN Commission on Human Rights (replaced in 2006 by the Human Rights Council). Both bodies took cognizance of the Principles, annexing them to regular resolutions on the general subject of torture and other ill-treatment. The new Human Rights Council, in its first resolution on the topic in 2008, repeated the call on governments to attend to the Principles. Just yesterday, in a groundbreaking resolution on torture and the role and responsibility of medical and other health personnel, the Council again invoked the Prin-