of their nationality or statelessness. This includes any individual “within the power or effective control of the forces of a State party acting outside its territory”.293 185. Article 1 of the CAT defines torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.” 186. The severity of the pain does not need to amount to a level equal to that of a serious physical injury.294 Moreover, torture presupposes that the conduct is inflicted by state officials or otherwise “executed with their active or passive agreement” or occurs as a result of their lack of intervention in circumstances where intervention would have been possible.295 187. Cruel or inhuman treatment or punishment likewise entails severe mental or physical pain or suffering.296 Degrading treatment or punishment, on the other hand, involves the humiliation of the victim, even when the pain or suffering is not severe.297 The purpose of the conduct, the intention of the perpetrator and the powerlessness of the victim are decisive criteria distinguishing cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment from torture. 298 188. International and regional human rights bodies have identified certain interrogation and detention methods as amounting to torture and/or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. “Waterboarding”,299 prolonged incommunicado detention, exposure to extreme temperatures, deprivation of clothing, stripping detainees naked and threatening them with dogs, beatings, “restraining [detainees] in very painful conditions, (…) hooding under special conditions, (…) sounding of loud music for prolonged periods, (…) sleep deprivation for prolonged periods, (…) threats, including death threats, (…) violent shaking, and (…) using cold air to chill [detainees]” are examples of acts considered to constitute torture or ill-treatment, the effect of which will be intensified when used in combination.300 293 UN HRC, General Comment No. 31, op. cit., note 36, para. 10. UN Special Rapporteur on torture, “Study on the phenomena of torture”, op. cit., note 283, para. 32. 295 Ibid., para. 39. 296 Ibid., para. 187. 297 Ibid. 298 Ibid., para. 188. 299 Waterboarding is a torture technique whereby a suspect is immobilized and water is poured over his or her nose and mouth to simulate drowning. Human Rights in Counter-Terrorism Investigations, op. cit., note 120, p. 97. 300 UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Interim report to the General Assembly, A/59/324, op. cit., note 284, para. 17; UN CAT, Conclusions and recommendations of the Committee against Torture, United States of America, CAT/C/USA/CO/2, op. cit., note 107, para. 24; Resolution 2003/32, “Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”, UN Commission on Human Rights, E/CN.4/RES/2003/32, 23 April 2003, para.14, <http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/alldocs.aspx?doc_id=4980>; Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch, Case No. 001/18-07-2007/ECCC/TC, 26 July 2010, para. 241, <http://www.eccc.gov.kh/en/documents/court/judgement-case-001>. Useful guidance on the prohibited techniques can also be found in ECtHR, Ireland v. the United Kingdom, Application No 5310/71, 18 January 1978, 294 78