General Introduction 1
1. The Development of an International Law of Human Rights Applicable to Prisoners 1
2. The Nature and Scope of the Problem 8
2.1 Torture and other ill-treatment 8
2.2 Executions 12
2.3 Enforced disappearances 13
2.4 Prison conditions 14
3. The Inherent Dignity of the Enemy 15
4. The Approach 16
1. The Response of the United Nations General Assembly to the Challenge of Torture 18
1. Introduction 18
2. Discussion of Torture at the UN General Assembly 1973-1975 20
2.1 Resolution 3059 (XXVIII) of 2 November 1973 20
2.2 Resolution 3218 (XXIX) of 6 November 1974 23
2.3 The Fifth UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (1975) 28
2.3.1 Changes in definition 29
2.3.2 International prohibition of torture 31
2.3.3 Effective measures by states 31
2.3.4 Implementation 33
2.4 Resolution 3452 (XXX) of 9 December 1975—The Declaration against Torture 35
3. Developments Following the Adoption of the Declaration against Torture 36
3.1 Resolution 3453 (XXX) of 9 December 1975 37
3.1.1 Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment 37
3.1.2 Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials 38
3.1.3 Principles of Medical Ethics 38
3.1.4 Implementation 38
3.2 Resolutions 32/62, 32/63, and 32/64 of 8 December 1977 39
3.2.1 A convention against torture 40
3.2.2 Questionnaire on the Declaration against Torture 41
3.2.3 Unilateral declarations against torture 42
4. Summary 43
2. Hhe Legal Prohibition of Torture and Other Ill-treatment 45
1. Introduction 45
2. Treaties Prohibiting Torture and Other Ill-treatment 46
2.1 The UN Convention against Torture 47
2.2 The OAS Convention against Torture 50
2.3 The human rights treaties 53
2.3.1 The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 53
2.3.2 Specific human rights treaties of universal applicability 56
2.3.3 Regional human rights treaties 58
2.4 The humanitarian law treaties 59
2.4.1 Common article 3 and Protocol II 60
2.4.2 The Geneva Conventions and Protocol I 62
3. Unilateral Declarations against Torture 64
4. General International Law and Torture 64
4.1 The Charter of the United Nations and General Assembly resolutions 66
4.2 Customary international law 69
4.3 General principles of law 70
4.4 Judicial decisions 71
4.5 Teachings of publicists 77
4.6 Treaty bodies and other UN experts 79
5. Summary 80
3. What Constitutes Torture and Other Ill-treatment? 82
1. Introduction 82
2. Defining and Distinguishing Torture 85
2.1 The status of the perpetrator 88
2.1.1 International human rights law 88
2.1.2 International criminal law 89
2.2 Degree of pain or suffering 91
2.2.1 The cumulative approach 92
2.2.2 Acts recognised as torture in and of themselves 95
2.2.3 Psychological torture 97
2.2.4 Does torture involve aggravated pain or suffering? 98
2.2.4.1 International human rights law 100
2.2.4.2 International criminal law 115
2.3 Purpose 117
2.3.1 International human rights law 117
2.3.2 International criminal law 120
2.4 Conclusion: torture distinguished from other ill-treatment 122
3. The Scope of 'Other Prohibited Ill-treatment' 125
3.1 General elements of'other prohibited ill-treatment'? 126
3.2 Intentional use of physical force 131
3.3 Handcuffs and other means of physical restraint 136
3.4 Strip searches and other potentially humiliating treatment 137
3.5 Fear and other forms of mental distress 140
3.6 Conclusion: a definition of'other ill-treatment'? 143
4. Summary 143
4. The Legal Consequences of Torture and Other Ill-treatment 145
1. The Legal Consequences of Torture 145
1.1 State responsibility for torture 145
1.1.1 Investigation 147
1.1.2 Bringing to justice 150
1.1.3 Remedy and reparation 155
1.1.3.1 Rehabilitation 156
1.1.3.2 Compensation 157
1.1.3.3 Satisfaction 159
1.1.4 Guarantees of non-repetition 161
1.1.5 Non-use of information obtained by torture 162
1.1.6 Non-refoulement 166
1.1.7 Responsibility of other states 179
1.2 Individual responsibility for torture 180
2. The Legal Consequences of Other Prohibited Ill-treatment 190
3. Summary 194
5. International Mechanisms against Torture and Other Ill-treatment 195
1. Introduction 195
2. Historical Efforts 198
2.1 General Assembly questionnaire on torture 198
2.2 Sub-Commission annual review of prisoners'rights 199
3. Special Rapporteur on Torture 202
3.1 Nature and function of the Special Rapporteur 204
4. UN Convention against Torture 208
4.1 Committee against Torture 210
4.1.1 Review of periodic reports 210
4.1.2 Interstate complaints 214
4.1.3 Individual complaints 214
4.1.4 Inquiry into systematic practices of torture 216
5. Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture 219
5.1 Origins of the Fund 220
5.2 Beneficiaries of the Fund 224
5.3 Intermediaries 225
5.4 Country priorities 225
5.5 Nature of aid 226
6. Mechanisms for Preventing Torture and Other Ill-treatment 228
6.1 General obligation to prevent torture and other ill-treatment 229
6.2 European Convention for the Prevention of Torture 231
6.2.1 History 231
6.2.2 The Committee 233
6.2.3 Visits 233
6.2.4 Publication 235
6.3 Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture 239
6.3.1 History 239
6.3.2 Subcommittee on Prevention 240
6.3.3 National preventive mechanisms 241
6.3.4 Visits 241
6.3.5 Publication 244
7. Summary 244
6. Extra-legal Executions 246
1. General Prohibition of Murder by Government 246
1.1 Racially motivated killing and genocide 251
2. Extra-legal Executions as Arbitrary Deprivations of Life 252
2.1 Killings as necessary measures of law enforcement 253
2.2 Killings in non-international armed conflict 260
2.3 Killings in international armed conflicts 264
3. Legal Consequences of Extra-legal Executions 266
3.1 State responsibility 266
3.2 Individual responsibility 271
4. International Remedies 275
4.1 Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions 275
5. Summary 277
7. The Death Penalty 279
1. Introduction: The Objective of Abolition 279
1.1 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 283
1.2 Other UN initiatives 284
1.2.1 Developments in political bodies 284
1.2.2 Optional Protocol to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 287
1.2.3 Statutes of international criminal tribunals 289
1.3 European regional developments 289
1.4 Developments in other regions 294
2. Limits to Capitally Punishable Offences 297
2.1 Lawful sanction 298
2.2 Only the 'most serious crimes' 298
2.3 No other human rights violations should be involved 300
2.4 Non-retroactivity 301
2.5 Political offences 302
2.6 Offences committed by persons under military occupation 303
2.7 Non-reintroduction 304
3. Procedural Restrictions on the Imposition of the Death Penalty 306
3.1 Fair trial 306
3.1.1 Degree of proof 312
3.2 Appeals 313
3.3 Clemency 315
3.4 Non-execution pending appeal and clemency procedures 316
3.5 Transparency 317
3.6 Humane treatment 318
4. Persons Who may not be Executed 321
4.1 Persons under 18 years old 322
4.2 Pregnant women and mothers 324
4.3 Persons over 70 years old (Americas region) 325
4.4 Insane persons 325
5. International Remedies 325
5.1 Secretary-General's'best endeavours' 326
5.2 Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions 326
6. Summary 328
8. Enforced Disappearance of Prisoners: Unacknowledged Detention 329
1. Enforced Disappearance 329
1.1 The problem of defining'enforced disappearance' 332
2. The UN Response to Enforced Disappearances 337
3. The International Law Prohibition of Enforced Disappearances 342
3.1 The right to liberty and security of person 344
3.2 The right to humane conditions of detention and freedom from torture and ill-treatment 348
3.3 The right to life 353
4. Legal Consequences of Enforced Disappearances 358
4.1 State responsibility 358
4.2 Individual responsibility 362
5. International Remedies 366
5.1 Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances 367
5.1.1 The scope of the Working Groups concern 367
5.1.2 General approach 368
5.1.3 Gases and countries considered 369
5.1.4 Sources of information 369
5.1.5 Screening of information received/admissibility 371
5.1.6 Transmittal of information 371
5.1.7 Gountry visits 372
5.1.8 Urgent action 373
5.1.9 Annual report 374
5.2 Committee on Enforced Disappearances 374
6. Summary 376
9. Conditions of Imprisonment or Detention 379
1. The Legal Rules 380
2. Institutional Ill-treatment 382
2.1 Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners 382
2.2 Practice of the Human Rights Committee 385
2.2.1 Prison conditions which violate human dignity 387
2.3 Prison conditions in the work of European regional bodies 393
2.3.1 The Greek Case at the European Commission of Human Rights 393
2.3.2 European Court of Human Rights 394
2.3.3 Practice of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture 396
2.4 Prison conditions in the work of American regional bodies 397
2.5 Prison conditions in the work of the African Commission 398
2.6 Practice of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment 400
3. Solitary Confinement 402
4. Denial or Misuse of Medical Treatment or Other Basic Necessities 407
5. Medical or Scientific Experimentation on Human Beings 412
6. Other Areas of Possible Abuse of Prisoners 415
6.1 Persons detained on mental health grounds 415
6.2 Forcible feeding 419
6.3 Separation of categories of prisoner 421
7. Legal Consequences of Unlawful Conditions of Imprisonment or Detention 422
8. International Remedies 423
9. Summary 425
10. Corporal Punishment 427
1. The Geography of Corporal Punishment 427
2. United Nations Activities Concerning Corporal Punishment 429
3. International Humanitarian Law 433
4. International Human Rights Law 435
5. Summary 446
1. United Nations Body of Principles 452
1.1 Legal assistance 453
1.2 Notification of and communication with families 454
1.3 Length of interrogation 455
1.4 Pre-and post-interrogation medical examinations 456
1.5 Record-keeping 457
1.6 Appearance before a judge and judicial supervision 457
1.7 Challenging the legality of detention and treatment 458
1.8 Other aspects of the Body of Principles 459
2.Incommunicado Detention and Habeas Corpus under Treaty and Customary Law 460
2.1 Incommunicado detention under the Covenant 461
2.1.1 Requirement of promptness in article 9(3) 462
2.1.2 Nature and independence of the authority in article 9(3) 462
2.1.3 Application of article 9(3) to criminal matters only 463
2.1.4 Other rights implicated by incommunicado detention 464
2.2 Habeas corpus under the Covenant 465
2.3 Incommunicado detention and habeas corpus under other universal human rights reaties 468
2.4 Incommunicado detention and habeas corpus under the regional conventions 470
2.4.1 Incommunicado detention 470
2.4.2 Habeas corpus 474
2.5 General international law 477
3.States of Emergency 481
4. Summary 492
12. International Codes of Ethics for Professionals 494
1. Introduction 494
2. UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials 495
2.1 Background 495
2.2 Addressees of the Code 498
2.3 The scope of the Code 498
2.4 Expected response to non-compliance with the Code 502
2.5 Implementation 505
2.6 Training and dissemination 507
3. Council of Europe Ethical Instruments on the Police 508
4. Code(s) of Military Ethics? 511
5. UN Principles of Medical Ethics 512
5.1 Background 512
5.2 Addressees of the Principles 513
5.3 The scope of the Principles 514
5.4 Expected response to non-compliance with the Principles 519
5.5 Implementation 520
5.6 Training and dissemination 523
6. Ethical Principles for Lawyers? 523
Concluding Reflections 528
Annex 1.Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 535
Annex 2a.Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment [excerpts] 538
Annex 2b.Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture [excerpts] 548
Annex 2c.European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment [excerpts] 552
Annex 2d.Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment [excerpts] 556
Annex 3.Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners 562
Annex 4.Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment 578
Annex 5a. Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials 587
Annex 5b.Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials 591
Annex 5c.Declaration on the Police—Part A 596
Annex 5d.European Code of Police Ethics [excerpts] 598
Annex 6a.Principles of Medical Ethics relevant to the Role of Health Personnel, particularly Physicians, in the Protection of Prisoners and Detainees against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 600
Annex 6b.Principles on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Principles) 602
Annex 7.Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary, and Summary Executions 605
Annex 8a.Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance 609
Annex 8b.Inter-American Convention on the Forced Disappearance of Persons [excerpts] 616
Annex 8c.International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance [excerpts] 621
Annex 9a.Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 [excerpt] 634
Annex 9b.International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [excerpts] 635
Annex 9c.European Convention on Human Rights [excerpts] 637
Annex 9d.American Convention on Human Rights [excerpts] 639
Annex 9e.African Charter on Human and Peoples'Rights [excerpts] 641
Annex 9f.Arab Charter on Human Rights [excerpts] 642
Bibliography 645
Index 663