Definitions

1. Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states:

'No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment .'

2. The UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984) used the following definition:

'For the purpose of this Convention, the term 'torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purpose  as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed, or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by, or at the instigation of, or with the consent or acquiescence of, a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to lawful sanctions.'
(United Nations. 1984. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. U.N. Doc. A/39/51.)

3. Organized violence was added to include practices which would come within the remit of torture but were approved and used by a state as punishment, and torture by gangs or groups united by hate:  

'The inter-human infliction of significant, avoidable pain and suffering by an organized group according to a declared or implied strategy and/or system of ideas and attitudes. It comprises any violent action that is unacceptable by general human standards, and relates to the victims' feelings. Organized violence includes "torture, cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" as in Article 5 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1984). Imprisonment without trial, mock executions, hostage-taking, or any other form of violent deprivation of liberty, also fall under the heading of organized violence.'
( World Health Organization (WHO). 1986. The Health Hazards of Organized Violence. Report on a WHO Meeting. Veldhoven 22-25 April 1986.)

Amnesty International has adopted a simple and broad definition of torture:

Torture is the systematic and deliberate infliction of acute pain by one person on another, or on a third person, in order to accomplish the purpose of the former against the will of the latter .
( Amnesty International (1973) Torture in the Eighties. USA Edition. A.I. Publication.)

This page last modified 12 March, 2010 by Will Fitzmaurice