A/75/179 settlements imposing sanctions, compensation, restitution and other measures of redress. Where distorted through excessive victim mentality, pathological dysfunction or traumatic experience of victimization, the basic drive for self -justification can trigger compensatory efforts to restore justice through collective, disproportionate or otherwise cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment, or through escalatory self -help and revenge. 12 5. Self-gratification 24. The basic drive of self-gratification pursues the innate human need for reward through activities promising physical, emotional and financial benefits, such as pleasure, profit and gratification. Depending on personal socialization, experience and maturity, access to gratification can be a strong or even addictive motivator, whereas the denial of gratification can be experienced as extremely frustrating, unjust or, in the case of addiction, even as a serious threat triggering survival instincts. Pathological or an otherwise extreme lack of empathy, self-restraint or emotional maturity, or traumatic experiences of lack and deprivation, can trigger compensatory, abusive or compulsive behavioural patterns prioritizing one’s own desires and needs over the dignity and legitimate interests of others, in a wide variety of contexts ranging from financial and economic exploitation, human trafficking and greed, to sexual, voyeuristic and sadistic gratification. 13 IV. Predominant patterns of moral disengagement 25. Where self-interested decisions contradict predominant moral values, for example when resorting to torture in an attempt to counter a perceived security threat, both perpetrators and bystanders tend to suppress the resulting moral dilemma through behavioural and perceptual strategies known as “moral disengagement”. Given the universal, absolute and non-derogable prohibition of torture and illtreatment, as well as the inability of the human psyche to sustain persistent moral dilemmas without harmful effects on mental health and emotional stability, it would be impossible for torture and ill-treatment to take place on any significant scale without the enabling effect of moral disengagement. Therefore, any governance system that is serious about eradicating torture and ill -treatment must find ways to mitigate moral disengagement strategies so as to prevent them from undermining, circumventing or paralysing the prevention, investigation, prosecution and redress of torture and ill-treatment. 14 __________________ 12 13 14 20-09728 Kevin Carlsmith and Avani Mehta Sood, “The fine line between interrogation and retribution”, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 45, No. 1 (January 2009), pp. 191–196; Caroline Drolet, Larry Heuer and Carolyn Hafer, “The role of perceived deservingness in the toleration of human rights violations”, Social Justice Research, vol. 29, No. 4 (2016), pp. 429–455; Peter Liberman, “War and torture as ‘just deserts’”, Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 78, No. 1 (2014), pp. 47–70. Tobias Hecker and others, “Treating traumatized offenders and veterans by means of narrative exposure therapy” Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 6, No. 80 (June 2015); Ewa Stefanska and others, “Sadism among sexual homicide offenders: validation of the sexual sadism scale”, Psychological Assessment, vol. 31, No. 1 (January 2019), pp. 132–137; Roland Weierstall and others, “The thrill of being violent as an antidote to posttraumatic stress disorder in Rwandese genocide perpetrators”, European Journal of Psychotraumatology, vol. 2, No. 1 (2011). Kathleen Malley-Morrison and others, “Engaging moral agency for human rights: outlooks f rom the global South”, Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, vol. 21, No. 1 (February 2015), pp. 68–88. 9/25