Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
A/RES/70/146
treatment or punishment nor allow pleas of respondeat superior as a criminal
defence in cases in which such orders were obeyed;
4.
Emphasizes that acts of torture in armed conflict are serious violations of
international humanitarian law and in this regard constitute war crimes, that acts of
torture can constitute crimes against humanity and that the perpetrators of all acts of
torture must be prosecuted and punished, and in this regard notes the efforts of the
International Criminal Court to end impunity by seeking to ensure accountability
and punishment of perpetrators of such acts, in accordance with the Rome Statute, 3
bearing in mind its principle of complementarity, and encourages States that have
not yet done so to consider ratifying or acceding to the Rome Statute;
5.
Also emphasizes that States must take persistent, determined and
effective measures to prevent and combat all acts of torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, stresses that all acts of torture must
be made offences under national criminal law punishable by appropriate penalties
that take into account their grave nature, and calls upon States to prohibit under
national law acts constituting cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
6.
Stresses that States must ensure that no statement that is established to
have been made as a result of torture is invoked as evidence in any proceedings,
except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made,
urges States to extend that prohibition to statements made as a result of cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and recognizes that adequate
corroboration of statements, including confessions, used as evidence in any
proceedings constitutes one safeguard for the prevention of torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
7.
Urges States not to expel, return (“refouler”), extradite or in any other
way transfer a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for
believing that the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture, stresses
the importance of effective legal and procedural safeguards in this regard, and
recognizes that diplomatic assurances, where given, do not release States from their
obligations under international human rights, humanitarian and refugee law, in
particular the principle of non-refoulement;
8.
Recalls that, for the purpose of determining whether there are such
grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant
considerations, including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of
a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights;
9.
Urges States to ensure that border control operations and reception
centres fully comply with international human rights obligations and comm itments,
including the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment;
10. Calls upon all States to implement effective measures to prevent torture
and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, partic ularly in
places of detention and other places where persons are deprived of their liberty,
including legal and procedural safeguards, as well as education and training of
personnel who may be involved in the custody, interrogation or treatment of any
individual subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment;
11. Recalls its resolution 43/173 of 9 December 1988 on the Body of
Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or
Imprisonment, and in this context stresses that ensuring that any individual arrested
or detained is promptly brought before a judge or other independent judicial officer
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