E/CN.4/2004/56/Add.2 page 6 I. LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND SAFEGUARDS FOR THE PROTECTION OF DETAINEES FROM TORTURE International and regional level 9. Spain is a party to six of the seven major United Nations human rights treaties and their protocols. In particular, in the field of preventing, combating and eradicating torture, Spain is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its first Optional Protocol, and to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). Spain has made a declaration under article 22 of CAT, recognizing the competence of the Committee against Torture to receive and consider communications from or on behalf of individuals claiming to be victims of a violation of one or more provisions of the Convention. 10. At the regional level, Spain is party to the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which Spain ratified in 1989. The Convention establishes a Committee mandated to undertake on-site visits to any place of detention or deprivation of liberty by a public authority. The Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has visited Spain on a number of occasions and most recently in 2003. National level 11. At the national level, article 10, paragraph 2, of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 stipulates that “[P]rovisions relating to the fundamental rights and liberties recognized by the Constitution shall be construed in conformity with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international treaties and agreements thereon ratified by Spain”. Article 15 prohibits torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment. As stipulated in article 96 of the Constitution, international treaties that have been ratified by Spain form part of the Spanish legal order once they have been officially published. These treaties include human rights instruments such as the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the (European) Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Article 54 of the Constitution created the Office of the Ombudsman. Prohibition of torture 12. The definition of torture in article 174 of SPC3 contains similar wording to that of article 1 of the Convention. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the recent amendment of this provision,4 which completes the existing definition of torture with a reference to reasons “based on discrimination of any kind”, in accordance with the Convention. Article 174 of SPC as well as Organic Law 15/2003 omit “intimidation” as one of the purposes for which torture is inflicted and do not foresee that torture “may be at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity”. However, the Special Rapporteur understands that article 174 must be read in conjunction with article 28 of the Criminal Code, which expressly punishes instigation of crimes. The prohibition of degrading treatment is enshrined in article 173 of SPC.