26 United Nations Convention Against Torture and its Optional Protocol Commission in 1978.5 States were also presented with a draft text submitted by the International Association of Penal Law6 whose definition only included acts of torture. There was very little debate on the IAPL draft concerning Article I. 9  Discussions began within the Informal Working Group in 1978 and later during the session of the Working Group in 1979 without any agreement being reached as to the scope of Article 1. It emerged that certain delegates rejected the reference in Article 1(2) of the draft Swedish Convention to torture as an ‘aggravated and deliberate form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’ on the basis that the concept was too vague to be included in a Convention which was to form the basis for criminal legislation in the contracting States.7 The opposing opinion was that both concepts should be included in the Convention given that it was not deemed possible to draw a strict line between acts of torture and other lesser forms of acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, reasoning that torture is merely the most extreme of such acts. 10  In written comments in 1978 the United States made clear their position that the Convention should be focused primarily on the prevention and suppression of acts clearly identifiable as torture, arguing that this was necessary in light of the severe penalties, broad jurisdictional provisions, and definitional difficulties embodied in the Convention along with the need for broad international acceptance. The United States further stated that it was not their intention to denigrate the fact that acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment not clearly amounting to torture are serious offences. At the same time, they sought to emphasize that torture is the most extreme form of acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and that unfortunately it was not possible to draw a sharp line between other lesser forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and torture. 11  Several Governments suggested that the definition of torture should be modified and that the concept of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment should be clarified. Spain argued that the difficulties inherent in arriving at a legal definition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment made it advisable to limit the scope of the Convention exclusively to torture which, they argued, was the main concern of the Convention according to Articles 7 and 8. The German Democratic Republic was of the same opinion, stating that there was no clear definition of the criteria by which other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment was to be judged and that these defects could not be remedied by listing certain actions described as torture and that therefore it would be appropriate to limit the draft Convention to torture. The USSR were also of the opinion that the concepts of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment should be regarded as legally distinct in order to avoid imprecision and ambiguity as to the specific meaning of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment since the institution of punishment is legally applicable to persons who have committed an offence.8 The Federal Republic of Germany argued that since the draft Convention establishes legal obligations for States, the term torture should be defined and distinguished as precisely as possible from the ‘marginally different’ term of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.9 6   E/​CN.4/​1285  (n  3).   E/​CN.4/​NGO/​213  (n  2).   Report of the Working Group of the Commission on Human Rights (1979) UN Doc E/​CN.4/​L.1470, para 22. 8  Summary by the Secretary-​General in Accordance with Commission Resolution 18 (XXXIV) of the Commission on Human Rights (1978) UN Doc E/​CN.4/​1314. 9  Summary Prepared by the Secretary-​ General in Accordance with Resolution 18 (XXXIV) of the Commission on Human Rights (1979) UN Doc E/​CN.4/​1314/​Add.2. 5 7 Zach