PART II  Commitments Relating to Human Rights that are Applicable to All 111 Istanbul 1999 (Charter for European Security: III. Our Common Response) 21. We are committed to eradicating torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment throughout the OSCE area. To this end, we will promote legislation to provide procedural and substantive safeguards and remedies to combat these practices. We will assist victims and co-operate with relevant international organizations and non-governmental organizations, as appropriate. Ljubljana 2005 (Decisions: Decision No. 12/05 on Upholding Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Criminal Justice Systems) The Ministerial Council, (…) Underlining the need to speak out publicly against torture, and recalling that all forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever and can thus never be justified, and stressing the need to strengthen procedural safeguards to prevent torture as well as to prosecute its perpetrators, thereby preventing impunity for acts of torture, and calling upon participating States to give early consideration to signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, (…) Helsinki 2008 (Ministerial Declaration on the Occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) We stress that everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person; no one shall be held in slavery, and no one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Athens 2009 (Ministeral Declaration on the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment) 1. We, the members of the Ministerial Council of the OSCE, reaffirm our strong commitment to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1984, to which all OSCE participating States have become parties. 2. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the adoption of this Convention we reaffirm that, as also set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 3. We recognize that torture is a most serious crime and affirm that freedom from torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is a non-derogable right, which protects the inherent dignity and integrity of the human person. 4. We strongly condemn all forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever and can never be justified.