GUIDE ON ANTI-TORTURE LEGISLATION determine what amounts to CIDTP (see examples below). Penalties for the crime of CIDTP should usually bear a lighter sentence than torture. In the Maldives’ Act on the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture, the provision on CIDTP provides that cruel, inhumane, degrading actions shall be considered, as any action or incident that does not fall under the acts of torture. CIDTP inflict extreme pain or actions that may kill the persons spirit of survival, or actions to convince a person that the person is below the limits of human dignity, inflicted upon a person under the care of a State official, or upon the orders of such an official, or with the consent of such an official, or upon the notification of such an official or with the knowledge of such an official. 52 In the Philippines, the Anti-Torture Act defines CIDTP as follows: “Other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment refers to a deliberate and aggravated treatment or punishment not enumerated under Section 4 of this Act, inflicted by a person under his/her custody, which attains a level of severity causing suffering, gross humiliation or debasement to the latter. The assessment of the level of severity shall depend on all the circumstances of the case, including the duration of the treatment or punishment, its physical and mental effects and, in some cases, the sex, religion, age and state of health of the victim.”53 In Uganda, the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Act criminalises CIDTP and left it to judges to determine what CIDTP can amount to: “for the purposes of determining what amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the court or any other body considering the matter shall have regards to the definition of torture as set out in section 2 and the circumstances of the case (…)”. 54 Penalties are foreseen up to seven years. 55 52 53 54 55 6. The Convention requires State parties to penalise torture with punishments commensurate to the gravity of the crime. The Committee recommends that States parties penalise torture with punishments ranging from a minimum of six years of imprisonment Article 1, dealing with the definition of the crime of torture, enshrines the gravity of the crime. Article 2 creates the obligation upon States to, inter alia, pass legislative measures to prevent the occurrence of this crime in their territories. More specifically, article 4 of the Convention creates the obligation upon States to “make these offences punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature.”56 Indeed, the penalties provided for in national legislation are to reflect the extreme gravity of the crime in question, and discourage any practice of torture. The Committee has clarified that “serious discrepancies between the Convention’s definition and that incorporated into domestic law create actual or potential loopholes for impunity.”57 While making important points on the necessity of 20 52 Maldives, Act on the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture 2013, op. cit. 3, article 11. 53 Philippines’ Anti-Torture Act of 2009, op. cit. 4, section 3(b). 54 Uganda, the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Act, op. cit. 28, section 7. 55 Ibid. 56 See also CAT, General Comment N°2, op. cit. 1, § 8. 57 Ibid, § 9.