4.2 Definition of Torture

This Research Handbook is of great importance in an era where torture, whilst universally condemned, remains endemic. It explores the nature of the international prohibition of torture and the various means and mechanisms which have been put in place by the international community in an attempt to make that prohibition a reality.

"This Handbook presents...information about the inter-American system generally and, in particular, as it relates to the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment."--

This landmark practical guide assists all those involved in monitoring detention conditions and investigating and preventing torture. The prestigious global author team identify the medical, legal and professional frameworks and international instruments applicable to those detained, and highlight how torture or other cruel and inhuman degrading treatments or punishments are identified, investigated and should be prevented. · A comprehensive and wide range of detention settings and circumstances are covered including police stations, prisons, mental health, and social care civil conditions to prisoner of war, detention camps, military, and armed conflict. · Advice, monitoring, and assessment is given for special groups, including the custody of women, children, vulnerable adults, and individuals on hunger strike · Practical guidelines are given for the assessment of ill-treatment of individuals in custody including sexual abuse · Online links to the latest legal, ethical, and medical guidelines for key countries help to make this book appropriate for all. Challenging, thought-provoking yet thoroughly practical, this book is essential reading for anyone involved in the monitoring of detention conditions and the treatment and investigation of individuals in any form of custody. The content is aimed primarily at healthcare professionals but it also highly relevant for anyone who may form part of a visiting team, including lay individuals, lawyers and law enforcement professionals, as well as for academics.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1890 edition. Excerpt: ...said Mr. Fogg. "Well, your honor," replied the pilot, " I can risk neither my men, nor myself, nor yourself, in so long a voyage on a boat of scarcely twenty tons, at this time of the year. Besides, we would not arrive in time, for it is sixteen hundred and fifty miles from Hong Kong to Yokohama." "Only sixteen hundred," said Mr. Fogg. "It is the same thing." Fix took a good long breath. " But," added the pilot, " there might perhaps be a means to arrange it otherwise." Fix did not breathe any more. "How?" asked Phileas Fogg. " By going to Nagasaki, the southern extremity of Japan, eleven hundred miles, or only to Shanghai, eight Imndred miles from Hong Kong. In this last journey, we wold not be at any distance from the Chinese coast, which v uld be a great advantage, all the more so that the currents run to the north." "Pilot," replied Phileas Fogg, "I must lake the American mail steamer at Yokohama, and not at Shanghai or Nagasaki." "Why not? "replied the pilot " The San Francisco stewnet does not start from Yokohama. She stops there and at Nagasaki, but her port of departure is Shanghai." You are certain of what you are saying? " "Certain." "And when does the steamer leave Shanghai? "On the llth, atseven oclock in the evening. We have then four days before us. Four days, that is ninety-six hours, and with an average of eight knots an hour, if we have good luck, if the wind keeps to the southeast, if the sea is calm, we can make the eight hundred miles which separate us from Shanghai." "And you can leave--" " la an hour, time enough to buy my provisions and hoist sail." " It is a bargain--you are the master of the boat? " " Yes, John Bunsby, master of the Tankadere." " Do you wish some earnest money? " " If it does not inconvenience...

This paper explores the international jurisprudence related to effective investigation of torture and other forms of ill-treatment. Effective investigation is a positive obligation that states have towards victims of human rights violations. Failing to fulfil it means denying protection to the victims, which impairs their right to obtain redress. However, investigating torture and ill-treatment is not an obligation of results, but of means – the state must take all necessary and reasonable steps that may lead to identifying the perpetrator and establishing the relevant facts. For the investigation to be regarded as effective, it should in principle be capable of leading to identification of those responsible and to the establishment of the facts. The paper covers the standards of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the UN treaty bodies: the Committee against Torture (CAT) and the Human Rights Committee (HRC). It contains selected highlights of the jurisprudence on effective investigations developed by these bodies. In addition, this note also briefly describes the admissibility criteria for individual complaints on torture and other ill-treatment submitted to the ECtHR and the UN treaty bodies. It contains practical recommendations on how to raise the chances to get a complaint on ineffective investigation of torture admitted by the ECtHR. These recommendations were collected through personal interviews with lawyers practicing before the ECtHR. The purpose of this publication is to provide a summary of key international standards on effective investigation of torture and ill-treatment from a practical point of view. To this end, it provides specific examples of what shortcomings in investigations would be considered in violation of the standard of effective investigation. These examples can be used by lawyers and civil society activists to build cases in the international jurisdictions that consider complaints on torture and ill-treatment, in particular the UN and European Court of Human Rights. The paper was inspired by the discussions on key challenges in building successful litigations on effective investigation of torture and other ill-treatment faced by DIGNITY’s civil society partners working in Ukraine. However, it is may also be relevant for the use in other countries under the jurisdiction of the ECtHR and/or the UN Committee Against Torture and the UN Human Rights Committee.