123
342.
In its Report on Terrorism and Human Rights, the IACHR provides a list of
examples of the forms of torture that it has observed in cases examined by it, both in the
Inter‐American human rights system, as well as by other international protection
mechanisms. These examples include: 389 prolonged incommunicado detention; keeping
detainees hooded and naked in cells and interrogating them under the drug pentothal;
applying electric shocks to a person; holding a person’s head in water until just before the
point of drowning; standing or walking on top of individuals; beating; burning a person’s
skin with lighted cigarettes; rape; deprivation of food and water; threats of torture or
death; threats of assaults on family members; exposure to the torture of other victims;
simulated executions; extraction of nails or teeth; suspending the person by the feet;
suffocation; exposure to excessive light or noise; sleep deprivation; total isolation and
sensory deprivation; forcing detainees to remain standing for prolonged periods of time.
343.
The Commission finds that even though every person in any circumstance
is entitled to the right to humane treatment, the absolute prohibition of torture and cruel,
inhuman and degrading treatment is especially relevant in order to protect individuals in
the custody of or under the power of authorities of the State. This means that this
prohibition must always be based on the element of defenselessness of the victim. 390
Hence—as has been emphasized above in this report—the State has the special duty to
guarantee the lives and individual integrity of the persons in its custody, which entails
taking concrete measures to effectively ensure full enjoyment of this right. On the subject,
the IACHR has established that:
The State’s responsibility as far as the integrity of people in its custody is
considered, is not restricted to the negative obligation to refrain from
torturing or mistreating those people. Since prison is a place where the
State has total control over the life of inmates, its obligations towards
them, among others, include the security and control measures necessary
to preserve the life and physical integrity of people deprived of their
freedom. 391
Consequently, the State must take all necessary measures to protect inmates from any
assaults that may come from third parties, even from other inmates. This involves
preventing patterns of prison violence and inmate‐to‐inmate assaults and, particularly,
…continuation
mandatory political gatherings. IACHR, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Republic of Nicaragua,
OEA/Ser.L/V/II.53 doc. 25, adopted on June 30, 1981, Cap. V, section D, para. 3.
389
IACHR, Report on Terrorism and Human Rights, paras. 161‐163.
390
See also, United Nations, Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, Report submitted to the (former) Commission on Human Rights, E/CN.4/2006/6,
adopted on December 23, 2005, para. 40.
391
IACHR, Annual Report 2009, Chapter IV, Cuba, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 51, rev. 1, adopted on December
30, 2009, para. 274. IACHR, Annual Report 2008, Chapter IV, Cuba, OEA/SerL/V/II.134, Doc. 5, rev. 1, adopted on
February 25, 2009, para. 193. IACHR, Annual Report 2007, Chapter IV, Cuba, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.130, Doc. 22, rev.1,
adopted on December 29, 2007, para. 108.
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