FOREWORD ‘Nothing can justify torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment under any circumstances’. International law could not be clearer on this point. Yet implementation remains the primary challenge around the world; and torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment remains sadly a reality in most regions of the world. This is true also for Europe and the member states to the Council of Europe. Every year hundreds of cases are submitted invoking a violation of Article 3 of the Convention dealing with a broad range of torture and ill-treatment in custody, the failures to investigate and to hold account perpetrators, ill-treatment of migrants and complicity in torture as we have seen in the context of the global responses to terrorism over the last decade. It is difficult in all this to overstate the importance of the European Court of Human Rights to bring justice to victims and to maintain and develop effective international law against torture, cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment. This updated practitioner’s handbook is intended to provide a practical tool to enable, encourage, and support civil society as well as litigators to use regional human rights remedies effectively to protect victims of torture and ensure accountability, remedies, and reparations. It is fair to say that the European Court of Human Rights has developed until today a rich body of jurisprudence on the absolute prohibition of torture, cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment and has evolved in its working procedures, for example by developing follow-up measures and providing effective interim measures. The progressive development of law is another factor marking the importance of the court as it allows human rights organisations and lawyers to use the European Court of Human Rights for the purposes of strategic litigation, seeking to redress systemic and institutional problems in their home countries across the region. This is needed because torture is often not redressed domestically despite its universal repudiation and criminalization. Practiced outside the public eye, torture allegations raise serious evidentiary challenges for victims and their defenders. Whether practiced by State officials in an isolated case or worse as part of a systemic policy, litigators often find themselves confronted with a culture of silence. This is a significant barrier to accessing justice. State institutions often chose to protect their law enforcement authorities supporting a false corps spirit within. Instead states should see torture as it is, namely as a crime under international law. The fact that it is committed in the name of the state should make our response not more lenient but more vigilant. Fighting torture raises additional challenges. 6