A/HRC/RES/16/23
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
12 April 2011
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Sixteenth session
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council*
16/23
Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment: mandate of the Special Rapporteur
The Human Rights Council,
Reaffirming 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 that must be respected and
protected under all circumstances, including in times of international and internal armed
conflict or internal disturbance or any other public emergency; that the absolute prohibition
of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is affirmed in the
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, 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, without
prejudice to any international instrument or national legislation that contains or may contain
provisions of wider application,
Noting that, under the Geneva Conventions of 1949, torture and inhuman treatment
are a grave breach and that, under the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia, the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the
* The resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council will be contained in the report of
the Council on its sixteenth session (A/HRC/16/2), chap. I.
GE.11-12741