Article 5

Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

''No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.''

The absolute prohibition of torture or any other inhuman or degrading treatment is a prohibition that does not tolerate any exception. It is argued that it is a supreme rule of international law, which cannot be ignored by any country in the world, regardless of whether or not it is a party to treaties that prohibit it.

Oceania

America

Africa

Europe

Asia

• Violence against civilians in the context of conflicts;
• Political immobility in resolving these crises.

• Torture is a "growing plague" used regularly and systematically to suppress "even the mildest form of dissent".

• No federal law provides for the crime of torture within the state.

• Amnesty International declares the Austrialian government responsible for "deliberate and systematic" torture.

• The European Union is strongly opposed to any kind od acts of torture;

• Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

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The crime of torture in the world

country without the crime of torture

country with the crime of torture

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Spreading the criminalisation of torture

Types of torture in the world

Torture is still practiced in 112 countries around the world. Men and women are beaten, burned, deprived of sleep, hit with sticks and electric shocks, once locked up in prison.

Final thoughts on torture in the world

Reality

Why

Laws

Torture is thriving because rather than respecting the law, many governments are either actively using torture or turning a blind eye.

Yet you only have to glance at the news to know that laws alone are not enough.

Today, laws against torture are in place almost everywhere.

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Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million people who campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all.

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Final thoughts on torture in the world

With who?

Why?

What can we do?

We have to do this hand in hand with civil society and especially the human rights defenders who courageously raise their voice against torture around the world.

Torture is against nature. This is why it is counted among the "fundamental crimes", that is, among the most heinous crimes of International law.

We all need to work together against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

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European protection

• The European Convention on Human Rights (1950) in art. 3 establishes the prohibition of torture and any degrading inhuman treatment;
• European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted by the Council of Europe States in Strasbourg in 1987 and ratified by all Member States;
• "European Anti-torture Regulation", adopted by the European Commission and the Council on 16 January 2019, regulates the Union’s rules regarding the exchange with third countries of instruments that could be used for torture.

Amnesty International

Repression of dissent

• In Sub-Saharan Africa violent repression of peaceful demonstrators and coordinated attacks on political opponents, human rights defenders and civil society organisations.
• Human rights violations and abuses in the course of conflicts, including crimes under international law, have consistently gone unpunished.
• The widespread repression of dissent has also been manifested through attacks against human rights defenders, civil society organisations, journalists and bloggers.

STOP TORTURE

The fight against torture is one of Amnesty International’s historic battles in the world. Here are the main stages of this long commitment:

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1977: the Stockholm Amnesty International Conference; Early eighties: contribution to the drafting of the UN Convention against Torture; Early nineties: request that a specific crime of torture be introduced.

A growing scourge

• Asia frequently makes use of the complaints made by the pro-human rights organizations, which puts on the index some countries - more or less authoritarian - in which the practice is widespread: North Korea and China above all, but there are references to India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines and Japan.
• Over the past two decades, thousands of people have been reported to have been arbitrarily arrested and tortured until they release forced confessions or pay money to jailers.

Anna Neistat, research director of Amnesty International

'In Nauru, the Australian government operates an open-air prison whose purpose is to inflict the suffering deemed necessary to deter some of the world’s most vulnerable people from seeking shelter in Australia'

• At the same time, it was Australia’s signature that brought the Refugee Convention into force.
• now instead it is a model that minimizes protection and maximizes physical damage

After the war on terror

Since the attacks of 11 September 2001, torture has become an integral part of the fight against terrorism. The debate on torture was carried on through two parallel actions:

• the wider use of practices definable in terms of torture;
• a public discourse that, although he condemned it, also presented it as a necessary practice to ensure the safety and protection of the American people, linked to exceptional conditions and in some ways justifiable.

Where torture is still practised?

• Turkey: in 2016 national human rights institution was abolished

• Iran: torture and other ill-treatment are a coomon practise in order to obtain confessions

• Russia: tortue is widespread and systematic practise during initial detention and in penal colonies

• Egypt: dozenes of death in custody due to torture and lack of access to appropriate care have been documented

• Palestine: torture and abuse are inflicted with impunity on Palestian detainees by Israeli army, police and security agents