Introduction 3 unprecedented step that was still widely regarded as an undue interference with the domestic jurisdiction of States under Article 2(7) of the UN Charter. A year later the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Declaration’.6 This non-​binding Declaration, based on a draft prepared during the Fifth UN Congress on Crime Prevention, already contained the use of criminal law for the prevention of torture.7 The adoption of the Declaration was the first step in the process of drafting a binding Convention against Torture and its text served as a model. 2.  Drafting History, Entry into Force, and Status of Ratification of the Convention and Protocol In December 1977, the General Assembly formally requested the Commission on Human Rights to draft the text of a binding Convention against Torture on the basis of the 1975 Declaration.8 When the Commission in February 1978 entrusted this task to an informal, inter-​sessional Working Group,9 the International Association of Penal Law (IAPL) and the Swedish Government had already prepared draft texts with innovative ideas regarding international human rights law. The IAPL Draft of 15 January 1978 put the focus on the obligation of States to criminalize torture and to bring the perpetrators to justice.10 Similar to the Genocide Convention of 1948 and the Apartheid Convention of 1973, it aimed at declaring torture a crime under international law. With respect to international monitoring, it envisaged a State reporting procedure before the Human Rights Committee, assisted by a Special Committee on the Prevention of Torture, and the possibility to bring disputes before the ICJ. The draft was only concerned with torture but not with cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The original Swedish Draft of 18 January 1978 closely followed the 1975 Declaration. It also focused on the criminalization of torture but proposed the principle of universal jurisdiction, in combination with the principle ‘aut dedere aut iudicare’, similar to earlier   GA Res 3452 (XXX) of 9 December 1975.   cf J Herman Burgers and Hans Danelius, The United Nations Convention against Torture: A Handbook on the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Martinus Nijhoff 1988) 13–​ 18; Chris Ingelse, The UN Committee against Torture:  An Assessment (Kluwer Law International 2001) 68–​72. 8   GA Res 32/​62 of 8 December 1977. For the travaux préparatoires of the CAT see, in particular, Burgers and Danelius (n 7); Alois Riklin (ed), Internationale Konventionen gegen die Folter—​St Galler Expertengespräch 1978 (Bern 1979); Stefan Trechsel, ‘Probleme und aktueller Stand der Bemühungen um eine UN-​Konvention gegen die Folter’ (1982) 33 ÖZÖR 245; Christine Chanet, ‘La Convention des Nations Unies contre la torture et autres peines ou traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants’ (1984) 30 AFDI 625; Carlos Villan Duran, ‘La Convención contra la tortura y su contribución a la definición del derecho a la integridad fisica y moral en el derecho internacional’ (1985) 27 REDI 377; Nowak, Die UNO-​Konvention (n 3); Manfred Nowak, ‘Recent Developments in Combating Torture’ (1987) 19 SIM Newsletter 24; Maxime E Tardu, ‘The United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’ (1987) 56 NJIL 303; Peter R Baehr, ‘Nederland en de totstandkoming van de VN-​conventie tegen martelingen’ (1987) 41 International Spectator 549; Ingelse (n 7); Ahcene Boulesbaa, The UN Convention on Torture and the Prospects for Enforcement (Martinus Nijhoff 1999). 9   CHR Res 18 (XXXIV) of 7 March 1978. 10   See E/​CN4/​NGO/​213 of 15 January 1978 and [1977] Revue Internationale de Droit Pénal Vols 3 and 4. See also Thoolen in Riklin (n 8) 41. 6 7