Extra-custodial use of force and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 2017, para. 47
Paragraph- Paragraph text
- The legal equation changes fundamentally when it comes to intentional and purposeful infliction of pain or suffering on a powerless person. Intentionality and purposefulness involve the deliberate instrumentalization of the pain or suffering inflicted on a powerless person as a vehicle for achieving a particular purpose (for example, coercion, intimidation, punishment, discrimination or sadistic gratification), as opposed to the infliction of pain and suffering as an inevitable side effect of an act pursuing a different purpose (for example, a medical intervention, effecting an arrest or repelling an attack). Powerlessness means that the victim is under the direct physical or equivalent control of the perpetrator and has lost the capacity to resist or escape the infliction of pain or suffering. In such circumstances, there can be no justification for the intentional and purposeful infliction of pain or suffering, regardless of whether, under the relevant treaty definition, it qualifies as torture or “other” cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In the view of the Special Rapporteur, the deliberate instrumentalization of pain or suffering, in conjunction with the powerlessness of the victim, are the very essence of torture and of the fundamental attack on human dignity it represents. Thus, notwithstanding any additional elements that may be required for a formal qualification as “torture” under the applicable treaty definition, any extra-custodial use of force that involves the intentional and purposeful infliction of pain or suffering on a powerless person as a vehicle for achieving a particular purpose will always amount to an aggravated form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, irrespective of considerations of lawful purpose, necessity or proportionality and irrespective of its qualification as torture under the applicable treaty definition.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Paragraph focus
- Application of the prohibition to the extra-custodial use of force
- Paragraph number
- 47
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