Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 91 Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, published in 1982.

What other versions does this mandate have?

30 versions · 1977–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/198

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/198	Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment	5,204	90%Compare
2023	A/RES/77/209	Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment	4,963	87%Compare
2020	A/RES/74/143	Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment	4,499	88%Compare
2018	A/RES/72/163	Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment	4,244	85%Compare
2016	A/RES/70/146	Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment	3,870	41%Compare

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

35 reports · 2003–2026

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2026	A/HRC/61/27	United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/77/209
2026	A/HRC/61/28	Special Fund Established by the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/77/209
2025	A/80/269	United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/77/209
2024	A/HRC/58/32	Special Fund Established by the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/77/209
2024	A/HRC/58/31	United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/74/143

What subjects does this mandate have?

3 subjects

Torture and Other Cruel Treatment Treaties Working Groups

What’s in this document?

3 operative paragraphs

Welcomes Economic and Social Council resolution 1981/37 of 8 May 1981, by which tht: Council authorized an open-ended working group of the Commission on Human Rights to meet for a period of one week prior to the thirtyeighth session of the Commission to complete the work on a draft convention;

Requests the Commission on Human Rights to complete as a matter of highest priority, at its thirty-eighth session, the drafting of a convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, with a view to submitting a draft, including provisions for the effective implementation of the future convention, to the General Assembly at its thirty-seventh session;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its thirty-seventh session the item entitled "Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".

"' A/36/441 and Add. I and 2.

new,. agenda item 65, document A/351742. para. 20. · "' Resolution 2200 A I XXI). annex.

Prisoners and detainees have the same rights to the protection of physical or mental health and the treatment of disease as those who are not in prison or detained.

It is a gross contravention of medical ethics for health personnel. in particular physicians, having clinical responsibility for prisoners or detainees, to engage, actively or passively, in acts which constitute participation in, complicity in, incitement to or attempts to commit. torture or other cruel. inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 74 3 It is a contravention of medical ethics for health personnel, in particular physicians. to be involved in any relationship with prisoners or detainees that is not a medical relationship in the sense that its purpose is the protection or improvement of the physical or mental health of the prisoner or detainee.

It is also a contravention of medical ethics for health personnel. in particular physicians:

(al To apply their knowledge and skills in order to assist in methods of interrogation:

(/,)

To certify prisoners or detainees tit for any form of punishment that may adversely affect physical or mental health.

Participation of health personnel. in particular physicians, in any ~ procedure for restraining prisoners or detainees, is not in conformity with medical ethics unless it is detem1ined by purely medical criteria in a manner which presents no hazarJ to the health of prisoners or detainee, and is necessary for the physical or mental health and safety of the prisoner himself and/or of his fellow prisoners or detainees or of his guardians 6 There may be no derogation from the foregoing principles nn an1 ground whatsoever. including public emergency.

"See A/35/372 and Add.1--1. A/36/140 and Add.1-4.

'" For the purpose of the present Declaration, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering. whether physical or mental. is intentionally inflicted by. or at the instigation of. a publi,· official on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or confession, punishing him for an act he has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating him or other persons: it does not include pain or suffering arising only from. inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions to the extent consistent with the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment prepared by the Secretariat (United Nations publication. Sales No. of Prisoners. Torture con,titutes an aggravated and deliberate form ol cruel. E.81.IV.4), chap. I, sect. B. inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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