A/RES/72/163
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
19 January 2018
Seventy-second session
Agenda item 72 (a)
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
on 19 December 2017
[on the report of the Third Committee (A/72/439/Add.1)]
72/163.
Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment
The General Assembly,
Reaffirming its previous resolutions on torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment,
Reaffirming also that no one shall be subjected to torture or 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 under international law, including
international human rights law and international humanitarian law, which must be
respected and protected under all circumstances, including in times of international
or internal armed conflict or disturbance or any other public emergency, that the
absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment is affirmed in relevant international instruments and that legal and
procedural safeguards against such acts must not be subject to measures that would
circumvent this right,
Recalling also that the prohibition of torture is a peremptory norm of
international law without territorial limitation and that international, regional and
domestic courts have recognized the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment as 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 and the obligation of States to abide strictly by the definition of torture
contained in article 1, without prejudice to any international instrument or national
legislation which contains or may contain provisions of wider application, and
emphasizing the importance of properly interpreting and implementing the
__________________
1
17-22972 (E)
United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1465, No. 24841.
240118
*1722972*