# United Nations Convention Against Torture

The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (commonly known as the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT)) is an international human rights treaty under the review of the United Nations that aims to prevent torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment around the world.
The Convention requires member states to take effective measures to prevent torture in any territory under their jurisdiction, and forbids member states to transport people to any country where there is reason to believe they will be tortured.
The text of the convention was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1984 and, following ratification by the 20th state party, it came into force on 26 June 1987. 26 June is now recognized as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, in honor of the convention. Since the convention's entry was enforced, the absolute prohibition against torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment has become accepted as a principle of customary international law. As of April 2024, the convention has 174 state parties.

## Summary

The Convention follows the structure of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), with a preamble and 33 articles, divided into three parts:
Part I (Articles 1–16) contains a definition of torture (Article 1), and commits parties to taking effective measures to prevent any act of torture in any territory under their jurisdiction (Article 2). These include ensuring that torture is a criminal offense under a party's municipal law (Article 4), establishing jurisdiction over acts of torture committed by or against a party's nationals (Article 5), ensuring that torture is an extraditable offense (Article 8), and establishing universal jurisdiction to bring cases of torture to trial where an alleged torturer cannot be extradited (Article 5). Parties must promptly investigate any allegation of torture (Articles 12 and 13), and victims of torture, or their dependents in case victims died as a result of torture, must have an enforceable right to compensation (Article 14). Parties must also ban the use of evidence produced by torture in their courts (Article 15), and are barred from deporting, extraditing, or refouling people where there are substantial grounds for believing they will be tortured (Article 3). Parties are required to train and educate their public servants and private citizens involved in the custody, interrogation, or treatment of any individual subjected to any form of arrest, detention, or imprisonment, regarding the prohibition against torture (Article 10). Parties also must keep interrogation rules, instructions, methods, and practices under systematic review regarding individuals who are under custody or physical control in any territory under their jurisdiction, in order to prevent all acts of torture (Article 11). Parties are also obliged to prevent all acts of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment in any territory under their jurisdiction, and to investigate any allegation of such treatment. (Article 16).
Part II (Articles 17–24) governs reporting and monitoring of the convention and the steps taken by the parties to implement it. It establishes the Committee Against Torture (Article 17), and empowers it to investigate allegations of systematic torture (Article 20). It also establishes an optional dispute-resolution mechanism between parties (Article 21) and allows parties to recognize the competence of the committee to hear complaints from individuals about violations of the convention by a party (Article 22).
Part III (Articles 25–33) governs ratification, entry into force, and amendment of the convention. It also includes an optional arbitration mechanism for disputes between parties (Article 30).

## Main provisions
### Definition of torture

Article 1.1 of the Convention defines torture as:
   For the purpose of this Convention, the term "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to, lawful sanctions.
The words "inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions" remain vague and very broad. It is extremely difficult to determine what sanctions are "inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions" in a particular legal system and what are not. The drafters of the Convention neither provided any criteria for making such determination nor did it define the terms. The nature of the findings would so differ from one legal system to another that they would give rise to serious disputes among the parties to the convention. It was suggested that the reference to such rules would make the issue more complicated, for it would endow the rules with a semblance of legal binding force. This allows state parties to pass domestic laws that permit acts of torture that they believe are within the lawful sanctions clause. However, the most widely adopted interpretation of the lawful sanctions clause is that it refers to sanctions authorized by international law. Pursuant to this interpretation, only sanctions that are authorized by international law will fall within this exclusion. The interpretation of the lawful sanctions clause leaves no scope of application and is widely debated by authors, historians, and scholars alike.

### Ban on torture

Article 2 prohibits torture, and requires parties to take effective measures to prevent it in any territory under their jurisdiction. This prohibition is absolute and non-derogable. "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever" may be invoked to justify torture, including war, threat of war, internal political instability, public emergency, terrorist acts, violent crime, or any form of armed conflict. In other words, torture cannot be justified as a means to protect public safety or prevent emergencies. Subordinates who commit acts of torture cannot abstain themselves from legal responsibility on the grounds that they were just following orders from their superiors.
The prohibition on torture applies to anywhere under a party's effective jurisdiction inside or outside of its borders, whether on board its ships or aircraft or in its military occupations, military bases, peacekeeping operations, health care industries, schools, day care centers, detention centers, embassies, or any other of its areas, and protects all people under its effective control, regardless of nationality or how that control is exercised.
The other articles of part I lay out specific obligations intended to implement this absolute prohibition by preventing, investigating, and punishing acts of torture.

### Ban on refoulement

Article 3 prohibits parties from returning, extraditing, or refouling any person to a state "where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture." The Committee Against Torture has held that this danger must be assessed not just for the initial receiving state, but also to states to which the person may be subsequently expelled, returned or extradited.

### Obligation to prosecute or extradite

Article 7 obligates the government of the state in which the alleged offense occurred to either prosecute the accused party, or extradite them to a state that will, under the principle of aut dedere aut judicare.

### Ban on cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment

Article 16 requires parties to prevent "other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture as defined in article 1" in any territory under their jurisdiction. Because it is often difficult to distinguish between cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment and torture, the Committee regards Article 16's prohibition of such act as similarly absolute and non-derogable.

## Signatories and ratifications

| Participant | Signature | Ratification, accession (a), succession (d) |
| Afghanistan | 4 February 1985 | 1 April 1987 |
| Albania | | 11 May 1994 a |
| Algeria | 26 November 1985 | 12 September 1989 |
| Angola | 24 September 2013 | 2 October 2019 |
| Andorra | 5 August 2002 | 22 September 2006 |
| Antigua and Barbuda | | 19 July 1993 a |
| Argentina | 4 February 1985 | 24 September 1986 |
| Armenia | | 13 September 1993 a |
| Australia | 10 December 1985 | 8 August 1989 |
| Austria | 14 March 1985 | 29 July 1987 |
| Azerbaijan | | 16 August 1996 a |
| Bahamas | 16 December 2008 | 31 May 2018 |
| Bahrain | | 6 March 1998 a |
| Bangladesh | | 5 October 1998 a |
| Belarus | 19 December 1985 | 13 March 1987 (as the Byelorussian SSR) |
| Belgium | 4 February 1985 | 25 June 1999 |
| Belize | | 17 March 1986 a |
| Benin | | 12 March 1992 a |
| Bolivia (Plurinational State of) | 4 February 1985 | 12 April 1999 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | | 1 September 1993 d |
| Botswana | 8 September 2000 | 8 September 2000 |
| Brazil | 23 September 1985 | 28 September 1989 |
| Brunei Darussalam | 22 September 2015 | |
| Bulgaria | 10 June 1986 | 16 December 1986 |
| Burkina Faso | | 4 January 1999 a |
| Burundi | | 18 February 1993 a |
| Cabo Verde | | 4 June 1992 a |
| Cambodia | | 15 October 1992 a |
| Cameroon | | 19 December 1986 a |
| Canada | 23 August 1985 | 24 June 1987 |
| Central African Republic | | 11 October 2016 a |
| Chad | | 9 June 1995 a |
| Chile | 23 September 1987 | 30 September 1988 |
| China | 12 December 1986 | 4 October 1988 |
| Colombia | 10 April 1985 | 8 December 1987 |
| Comoros | 22 September 2000 | |
| Congo | | 30 July 2003 a |
| Costa Rica | 4 February 1985 | 11 November 1993 |
| Côte d'Ivoire | | 18 December 1995 a |
| Croatia | | 12 October 1992 d |
| Cuba | 27 January 1986 | 17 May 1995 |
| Cyprus | 9 October 1985 | 18 July 1991 |
| Czech Republic | | 22 February 1993 d (previously ratified by Czechoslovakia on 7 July 1988) |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | | 18 March 1996 a (as Zaire) |
| Denmark | 4 February 1985 | 27 May 1987 |
| Djibouti | | 5 November 2002 a |
| Dominican Republic | 4 February 1985 | 24 January 2012 |
| Ecuador | 4 February 1985 | 30 March 1988 |
| Egypt | | 25 June 1986 a |
| El Salvador | | 17 June 1996 a |
| Equatorial Guinea | | 8 October 2002 a |
| Eritrea | | 25 September 2014 a |
| Estonia | | 21 October 1991 a |
| Ethiopia | | 14 March 1994 a |
| Fiji | 1 March 2016 | 16 March 2016 |
| Finland | 4 February 1985 | 30 August 1989 |
| France | 4 February 1985 | 18 February 1986 |
| Gabon | 21 January 1986 | 8 September 2000 |
| Gambia | 23 October 1985 | 28 September 2018 |
| Georgia | | 26 October 1994 a |
| Germany | 13 October 1986 | 1 October 1990 (Signed as the Federal Republic of Germany. The German Democratic Republic also ratified on 9 September 1987) |
| Ghana | 7 September 2000 | 7 September 2000 |
| Greece | 4 February 1985 | 6 October 1988 |
| Grenada | | 26 September 2019 a |
| Guatemala | | 5 January 1990 a |
| Guinea | 30 May 1986 | 10 October 1989 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 12 September 2000 | 24 September 2013 |
| Guyana | 25 January 1988 | 19 May 1988 |
| Holy See | | 26 June 2002 a |
| Honduras | | 5 December 1996 a |
| Hungary | 28 November 1986 | 15 April 1987 |
| Iceland | 4 February 1985 | 23 October 1996 |
| India | 14 October 1997 | |
| Indonesia | 23 October 1985 | 28 October 1998 |
| Iraq | | 7 July 2011 a |
| Ireland | 28 September 1992 | 11 April 2002 |
| Israel | 22 October 1986 | 3 October 1991 |
| Italy | 4 February 1985 | 12 January 1989, 5 July 2017 a |
| Japan | | 29 June 1999 a |
| Jordan | | 13 November 1991 a |
| Kazakhstan | | 26 August 1998 a |
| Kenya | | 21 February 1997 a |
| Kiribati | | 22 July 2019 a |
| Kuwait | | 8 March 1996 a |
| Kyrgyzstan | | 5 September 1997 a |
| Lao People's Democratic Republic | 21 September 2010 | 26 September 2012 |
| Latvia | | 14 April 1992 a |
| Lebanon | | 5 October 2000 a |
| Lesotho | | 12 November 2001 a |
| Liberia | | 22 September 2004 a |
| Libya | | 16 May 1989 a (then Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) |
| Liechtenstein | 27 June 1985 | 2 November 1990 |
| Lithuania | | 1 February 1996 a |
| Luxembourg | 22 February 1985 | 29 September 1987 |
| Madagascar | 1 October 2001 | 13 December 2005 |
| Malawi | | 11 June 1996 a |
| Maldives | | 20 April 2004 a |
| Mali | | 26 February 1999 a |
| Malta | | 13 September 1990 a |
| Marshall Islands | | 12 March 2018 a |
| Mauritania | | 17 November 2004 a |
| Mauritius | | 9 December 1992 a |
| Mexico | 18 March 1985 | 23 January 1986 |
| Monaco | | 6 December 1991 a |
| Mongolia | | 24 January 2002 a |
| Montenegro | | 23 October 2006 d |
| Morocco | 8 January 1986 | 21 June 1993 |
| Mozambique | | 14 September 1999 a |
| Namibia | | 28 November 1994 a |
| Nauru | 12 November 2001 | 26 September 2012 |
| Nepal | | 14 May 1991 a |
| Netherlands | 4 February 1985 | 21 December 1988 |
| New Zealand | 14 January 1986 | 10 December 1989 |
| Nicaragua | 15 April 1985 | 5 July 2005 |
| Niger | | 5 October 1998 a |
| Nigeria | 28 July 1988 | 28 June 2001 |
| Norway | 4 February 1985 | 9 July 1986 |
| Pakistan | 17 April 2008 | 3 June 2010 |
| Palau | 20 September 2011 | |
| State of Palestine | | 2 April 2014 a |
| Oman | | 9 June 2020 a |
| Panama | 22 February 1985 | 24 August 1987 |
| Paraguay | 23 October 1989 | 12 March 1990 |
| Peru | 29 May 1985 | 7 July 1988 |
| Philippines | | 18 June 1986 a |
| Poland | 13 January 1986 | 26 July 1989 |
| Portugal | 4 February 1985 | 9 February 1989 |
| Qatar | | 11 January 2000 a |
| Republic of Korea [South] | | 9 January 1995 a |
| Republic of Moldova | | 28 November 1995 a |
| Romania | | 18 December 1990 a |
| Russian Federation | 10 December 1985 | 3 March 1987 (ratified as the Soviet Union) |
| Rwanda | | 15 December 2008 a |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | | 21 September 2020 a |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | | 1 August 2001 a |
| Samoa | | 28 March 2019 a |
| San Marino | 18 September 2002 | 27 November 2006 |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | 6 September 2000 | 10 January 2017 |
| Saudi Arabia | | 23 September 1997 a |
| Senegal | 4 February 1985 | 21 August 1986 |
| Serbia | | 12 March 2001 d (ratified as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; SFR Yugoslavia had previously ratified on 10 September 1991) |
| Seychelles | | 5 May 1992 a |
| Sierra Leone | 18 March 1985 | 25 April 2001 |
| Slovakia | | 28 May 1993 d (previously ratified by Czechoslovakia on 7 July 1988) |
| Slovenia | | 16 July 1993 a |
| Somalia | | 24 January 1990 a |
| South Africa | 29 January 1993 | 10 December 1998 |
| South Sudan | | 30 April 2015 a |
| Spain | 4 February 1985 | 21 October 1987 |
| Sri Lanka | | 3 January 1994 a |
| Sudan | 4 June 1986 | 10 August 2021 |
| Suriname | | 16 November 2021 a |
| Swaziland | | 26 March 2004 a |
| Sweden | 4 February 1985 | 8 January 1986 |
| Switzerland | 4 February 1985 | 2 December 1986 |
| Syrian Arab Republic | | 19 August 2004 a |
| Tajikistan | | 11 January 1995 a |
| Thailand | | 2 October 2007 a |
| North Macedonia | | 12 December 1994 d |
| Timor-Leste | | 16 April 2003 a |
| Togo | 25 March 1987 | 18 November 1987 |
| Tunisia | 26 August 1987 | 23 September 1988 |
| Turkey | 25 January 1988 | 2 August 1988 |
| Turkmenistan | | 25 June 1999 a |
| Tuvalu | | 24 March 2024 a |
| Uganda | | 3 November 1986 a |
| Ukraine | 27 February 1986 | 24 February 1987 (ratified as the Ukrainian SSR) |
| United Arab Emirates | | 19 July 2012 a |
| United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 15 March 1985 | 8 December 1988 (British Indian Ocean Territory not included) |
| United States of America | 18 April 1988 | 21 October 1994 (With specific reservations detailed here.) |
| Uruguay | 4 February 1985 | 24 October 1986 |
| Uzbekistan | | 28 September 1995 a |
| Vanuatu | | 12 July 2011 a |
| Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) | 15 February 1985 | 29 July 1991 |
| Viet Nam | 7 November 2013 | 5 February 2015 |
| Yemen | | 5 November 1991 a |
| Zambia | | 7 October 1998 a |
As of 17 November 2021, there are 173 States parties. 22 UN Member States are not yet party to the convention.

## Optional Protocol

The Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 2002 and in force since 22 June 2006, provides for the establishment of "a system of regular visits undertaken by independent international and national bodies to places where people are deprived of their liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," to be overseen by a Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
As of April 2022, the Protocol has 76 signatories and 91 parties.

## Committee Against Torture

The Committee Against Torture (CAT) is a body of human rights experts that monitors implementation of the convention by State parties. The committee is one of eight UN-linked human rights treaty bodies. All state parties are obliged under the convention to submit regular reports to the CAT on how rights are being implemented. Upon ratifying the convention, states must submit a report within one year, after which they are obliged to report every four years. The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the form of "concluding observations". Under certain circumstances, the CAT may consider complaints or communications from individuals claiming that their rights under the Convention have been violated.
The CAT usually meets in April/May and November each year in Geneva. Members are elected to four-year terms by State parties and can be re-elected if nominated. The current membership of the CAT, as of June 2023:
| Name | State | Term Expires |
| Abderrazak Rouwane | Morocco | 31 December 2025 |
| Ilvija Puce | Latvia | 31 December 2023 |
| Todd F. Buchwald | United States | 31 December 2025 |
| Maeda Naoko | Japan | 31 December 2025 |
| Claude Heller (chairperson) | Mexico | 31 December 2023 |
| Erdogan Iscan (Rapporteur) | Turkey | 31 December 2023 |
| Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov (Vice-chairperson) | Russia | 31 December 2025 |
| Ana Racu (Vice-chairperson) | Moldova | 31 December 2023 |
| Sébastien Touze (Vice-chairperson) | France | 31 December 2023 |
| Liu Huawen | China | 31 December 2025 |

## Effects

A 2021 study in the American Journal of Political Science found that countries that adopt national laws that prohibit torture (defining it in line with the standards codified in the UN Convention against Torture) subsequently experience reductions in police torture.