A/RES/63/166
United Nations
Distr.: General
19 February 2009
General Assembly
Sixty-third session
Agenda item 64 (a)
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 2008
[on the report of the Third Committee (A/63/430/Add.1)]
63/166. Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment
The General Assembly,
Reaffirming that no one shall be subjected to torture or to other cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment,
Recalling that freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment is a non-derogable right that must be protected under all
circumstances, including in times of international or internal armed conflict or
disturbance, and that the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment is affirmed in relevant international instruments,
Recalling also that the prohibition of torture is a peremptory norm of
international law and that international, regional and domestic courts have held the
prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment to be customary
international law,
Recalling further the definition of torture contained in article 1 of the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, 1 without prejudice to any international instrument or national
legislation which contains or may contain provisions of wider application,
0F
Emphasizing the importance of properly interpreting and implementing the
obligations of States with respect to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment, and of abiding strictly by the definition of torture
contained in article 1 of the Convention,
Noting that under the Geneva Conventions of 1949 2 torture and inhuman
treatment are a grave breach and that under the statute of the International Tribunal
for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International
Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991,
the statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons
Responsible for Genocide and Other Serious Violations of International Humanitarian
1F
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1
2
08-48075
United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1465, No. 24841.
Ibid., vol. 75, Nos. 970–973.