E/CN.4/2002/76 page 14 While time does not allow me to address in detail the relevance of the 11 September cataclysm to my mandate, I wish to state the following. However frustrating may be the search for those behind the abominable acts of terrorism and for evidence that would bring them to justice, I am convinced that any temptation to resort to torture or similar ill-treatment or to send suspects to countries where they would face such treatment must be firmly resisted. Not only would that be a violation of an absolute and peremptory rule of international law, it would be also responding to a crime against humanity with a further crime under international law. Moreover, it would be signalling to the terrorists that the values espoused by the international community are hollow and no more valid than the travesties of principle defended by the terrorists. On that note, I present my interim report to the General Assembly. -----