PART II 5 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS plus the Optional Protocol to the Convention,22 and the Geneva Conventions. Most OSCE participating States have ratified one or more of these treaties. Also of importance is the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment under which the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) is mandated to conduct prison visits in the Contracting States. Through its Protocol No. 1, it is also possible for non-members of the Council of Europe to accede to the Convention after an invitation by the Committee of Ministers. Torture is defined in the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and Punishment23 as any act:  That is intentionally inflicted;  By, or on the orders of, or with the agreement of a public official, or person acting in an official capacity;  Causing severe pain or suffering, physical or mental, on a person, in order to:     Obtain information or a confession; Punish; Intimidate or coerce; Or for any other reason based on discrimination. Acts of sexual violence committed by state agents, including rape, sexual slavery, and sexual mutilation, amount to torture and are thus prohibited under both international human rights law and humanitarian law. Individual complaints of sexual violence by state agents such as the acts listed above would represent a legitimate case for follow-up by an OSCE field operation. When sexual violence does not involve agents of the state but is rather an individual criminal act, the state nevertheless has the responsibility to protect victims and punish perpetrators. If a state fails to take such action – and particularly if a pattern of state inaction in such cases is apparent – this would also constitute a reason for an OSCE mission to pursue a case. 22 The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment creates a mechanism for international and national monitoring of places of detention. It was opened for signature on 18 December 2002 and has not yet come into force. The full text of the Convention and Optional Protocol is available at http://www.unhchr.ch. 23 Article 1. 46