PART 1: Overview of the Human Rights Committee and the Committee Against Torture The jurisprudence of the HRC under the ICCPR also serves functions beyond enforcement. It provides important indicators of the meaning of the various rights in the ICCPR. For example, that jurisprudence helps us to identify practices that constitute torture, or cruel inhuman or degrading treatment, and those which do not. The jurisprudence helps to determine the human rights status of certain phenomena, such as amnesty laws or corporal punishment. Such interpretations are of use to all States, rather than only the State and the individual concerned in a particular case. It is, of course, crucial to understand and recognize the contexts in which torture occurs in order to combat it. In this respect, the decisions of the HRC and the CAT Committee influence national courts and governments all over the world. Finally, the ICCPR, CAT, and the jurisprudence developed under those treaties reinforce the crucial message that all acts of torture and cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment and punishment are simply unacceptable in all circumstances. Indeed, States rarely attempt to argue otherwise. Rather, a State will deny that such practices take place. Though such denials may constitute lies and cover-ups, they are evidence of a virtually uniform recognition by States that torture is in fact intolerable under international law, which is an important step forward for human rights recognition and enforcement. Table 1 Ratifications of the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR and Declarations under Article 22 of CAT (Countries by Region)i Country (by region) AFRICA i ii iii Optional Protocol to the ICCPRii Article 22 of the CATiii Algeria 12 September 1989 12 September 1989 Angola 10 January 1992 – Benin 12 March 1992 – Burkina Faso 4 January 1999 – Table compiled using information available on the UN Treaty Collection Database (see https:// treaties.un.org/Pages/ParticipationStatus.aspx and tbinternet.ohchr.org/SitePages/Home.aspx); information in table current as of 1 October 2013. For States which ratified the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR before its entry into force on 23 March 1976, the present Protocol entered into force three months from this date. For each State ratifying the present Protocol or acceding to it after its entry into force, the present Protocol shall enter into force three months after the date of the deposit of its own instrument of ratification or accession (Article 9, Optional Protocol to the ICCPR). For States which ratified the CAT before it entered into force on 26 June 1987, the present Convention entered into force thirty days after this date. For each State ratifying the Convention or acceding to it after its entry into force, the present Convention entered into force thirty days after the date of the deposit of its own instrument of ratification or accession (Article 27, CAT). 41