Chapter 3 Conditions of Detention | 63 differentiated from torture. Nevertheless, the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Commission offers certain guiding principles to evaluate whether specific conduct may fall within these categories. The IACHR has taken into account European jurisprudence according to which “inhuman treatment is that which deliberately causes severe mental or psychological suffering, which, given the particular situation, is unjustifiable” and that “treatment or punishment of an individual may be degrading if he is severely humiliated in front of others or he is compelled to act against his wishes or conscience.” 146 The essential criterion to distinguish between the concept of “torture” and “inhuman or degrading treatment,” relates primarily to the intensity of the suffering inflicted. 147 132. Given that the State acts as a guarantor vis-à-vis the persons in its custody, it has a special duty to guarantee the fundamental rights of persons deprived of liberty and to ensure that the conditions of their detention are consistent with the dignity inherent to all human beings. 148 Further, the international humanitarian law of non-international armed conflict –as reflected in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions where applicable, and customary international humanitarian law– provide for rights of detainees in relation to treatment and conditions of detention, and may in some circumstances amount to torture. 149 133. The IACHR’s Principles and Best Practices on the Protection of Persons Deprived of Liberty in the Americas establish that “the prolonged, inappropriate or unnecessary use [of solitary confinement] would amount to acts of torture, or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.” 150 In this regard, according to constant interAmerican jurisprudence, prolonged isolation and being held incommunicado constitute, in themselves, forms of cruel and inhuman treatment, harmful to the mental and moral integrity of the person and to the right of all detainees to have their inherent dignity respected. 151 134. The IACHR has stressed that even in extraordinary circumstances, the indefinite detention of individuals, most of whom have not been charged, constitutes a flagrant violation of international human rights law and in itself constitutes a form of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. During its 147 sessions, the IACHR received specialized information on the severe and lasting physiological and psychological damage caused by the detainees’ high degree of uncertainty over 146 147 148 149 150 151 IACHR, Report Nº 35/96, Case 10.832, Luis Lizardo Cabrera, Dominican Republic, February 19, 1998, para. 77, citing Eur. Com. H.R., The Greek Case, 1969, 12 Y. B. Eur. Conv. on H.R. 12. IACHR, Report Nº 35/96, Case 10.832, Luis Lizardo Cabrera, Dominican Republic, February 19, 1998, para. 80, citing the European Human Rights Court case of Ireland against the United Kingdom, Series A No. 25. IACHR, Report on the Human Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty in the Americas, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.Doc.64, December 31, 2011, para 241. ICRC, Resource Center, The relevance of IHL in the context of terrorism, January 1, 2011. Available at: https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/terrorism-ihl-210705.htm IACHR, Principles and Best Practices on the Protection of Persons Deprived of Liberty in the Americas, Principle XXII, March, 2008. I/A Court H.R., Case of Cantoral Benavides v. Peru. Merits. Judgment of August 18, 2000. Series C No. 69, para. 83. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights | IACHR