Notes
57
NOTES
1.
Available
at
pdf/8istprot.pdf.
http://www.unhchr.ch/
40/020/2001) for reports of torture and racial discrimination.
2.
UNGA Resolution 55/89 Annex, 4 December
2000.
3.
Commission on Human Rights Resolution
2003/33, 57th meeting, 23 April 2003 [E/
CN.4/2003/L.11/Add.4].t
10. See Counter-Terrorism and Torture, A Primer, available at http://www.irct.org/Default.aspx?ID=2678
4. Article 1, Convention against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; UNGA resolution
39/46 of 10 December 1984, entry into force
26 June 1987.
5.
6.
The infliction of pain or suffering that is
not sufficiently severe or is not done intentionally or not for a particular purpose
may constitute cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, which is also
prohibited under the Convention against
Torture and other international law instruments.
See REDRESS, Not only the State: Torture
by Non-State Actors, Towards Enhanced
Protection, Accountability and Effective
Remedies, 2006 and Non-State Actors and
Torture, A Primer, available at http://
www.irct.org/Default.aspx?ID=2678
7.
In its General Comment on Article 7 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee considered that it is not desirable
to draw up a list of prohibited acts or a
precise distinction between them. Furthermore, Sir Nigel Rodley, former UN Special
Rapporteur on Torture, considered that it
is extremely difficult and indeed dangerous to establish a threshold to distinguish
acts of torture from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
8.
See Hidden Scandal, Secret Shame (AI Index ACT 40/38/00) for reports of torture
perpetrated against children.
9.
See Crimes of Hate, Conspiracy of Silence
(AI Index ACT 40/016/2001) for reports
of torture perpetrated against sexual minorities; Broken Bodies, Shattered Minds
(AI Index: ACT 40/001/2001) for reports
of the torture of women; Racism and the
Administration of Justice (AI Index: ACT
11. See UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, adopted by the Eighth UN Congress
on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, 27 August-7 September
1990.
12. The UN Principles of Medical Ethics Relevant to the Role of Health Personnel, Particularly Physicians, in the Protection of
Prisoners and Detainees Against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment were adopted by
the UN General Assembly on 18 December
1982.
13. The Resolution on the Responsibility of
Physicians in the Denunciation of Acts of
Torture or Cruel or Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment was adopted by the World Medical Association, 2003.
14. The Commission on Human Rights, in its
resolution 2000/43, and the General Assembly, in its resolution 55/89, drew the
attention of Governments to the Principles
contained in Annex I (the Istanbul Principles) and strongly encouraged Governments to reflect upon the Principles as a
useful tool in efforts to combat torture.
The Special Rapporteur on Torture recommended in his General Recommendations,
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2003/68, 17 December
2002, para.26 (k) that: “countries should
be guided by the Principles on the effective
investigation and documentation of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (the Istanbul
Principles) as a useful tool in the effort to
combat torture.”
15. Ana, Beatriz and Celia Gonzalez Perez v.
Mexico (Report No. 53/01), Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights, 4 April
2001.
16. See the Resolution on Guidelines and Measures for the Prohibition and Prevention
of Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or degrading
Treatment or Punishment in Africa, adopt-
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