– ICCPR Article 2(2) of the ICCPR provides: UN TREATY BODIES 1 “Where not already provided for by existing legislative or other measures, each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to take the necessary steps, in accordance with its constitutional processes and with the provisions of the present Covenant, to adopt such laws or other measures as may be necessary to give effect to the rights recognized in the present Covenant.” This is broader than the requirement in Article 4 of the UNCAT, both in terms of the wider range of measures to be taken and the broader scope of treatment potentially covered. For present purposes, however, as Article 7 prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Article 2(2) specifically requires States to adopt laws or take other measures against all of these forms of ill-treatment. The HRC clearly considers that the necessary steps to prevent violations of Article 7 will include criminalising acts of torture and other ill-treatment, and, in its General Comment on Article 7, stated that “States Parties should indicate when presenting their reports the provisions of their criminal law which penalise torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, specifying the penalties applicable to such acts, whether committed by public officials or other persons acting on behalf of the State, or by private persons.”78 The Committee will consider not only the adequacy of such laws in addressing torture and other forms of ill-treatment, but also their enforcement in practice.79 Furthermore, the HRC has stated that “[t]hose who violate Article 7, whether by encouraging, ordering, tolerating or perpetrating prohibited acts, must be held responsible.”80 As discussed above, the general obligation to provide redress for victims and to punish perpetrators effectively prohibits amnesties for acts of torture, but as this particular statement by the Committee indicates, the prohibition may also extend to other forms of ill-treatment. However, while the State is under an obligation to punish offenders, the Covenant does not give particular individuals the right to require that the State party criminally prosecute another person.81 HRC General Comment No. 20, §13. See, for example, HRC, Concluding Observations on Sri Lanka, UN Doc. CCPR/CO/79/LKA, 2003, §9. 80 HRC General Comment No. 20, §13. 81 See, for example, H.C.M.A. v the Netherlands, HRC Communication No. 213/1986, 30 March 1989, §11.6; S.E. v Argentina, HRC Communication No. 275/1988, 26 March 1990, §5.5; Rodríguez v Uruguay (1994), op. cit., §6.4. 78 79 20