Amnesty International's 12-Point Program for the Prevention of Torture by Agents of the State
[6-6-05]

Torture is a fundamental violation of human rights, condemned by the international community as an offence to human dignity and prohibited in all circumstances under international law.

Yet torture persists, daily and across the globe. Immediate steps are needed to confront torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment wherever they occur and to eradicate them totally. 
 
Amnesty International calls on all governments to implement the following 12-Point Program for the Prevention of Torture by Agents of the State. It invites concerned individuals and organizations to ensure that they do so. Amnesty International believes that the implementation of these measures is a positive indication of a government's commitment to end torture and to work for its eradication worldwide. 

1. Condemn torture. The highest authorities of every country should demonstrate their total opposition to torture.
2. Ensure access to prisoners. Torture often takes place while prisoners are held incommunicado — unable to contact people outside who could help them or find out what is happening to them. The practice of incommunicado detention should be ended.
3. No secret detention. Governments should ensure that prisoners are held only in officially recognized places of detention and that accurate information about their arrest and whereabouts is made available immediately to relatives, lawyers and the courts.
4. Provide safeguards during detention and interrogation. All prisoners should be immediately informed of their rights. These include the right to lodge complaints about their treatment and to have a judge rule without delay on the lawfulness of their detention. There should be regular, independent, unannounced and unrestricted visits of inspection to all places of detention. 
5. Prohibit torture in law. Governments should adopt laws for the prohibition and prevention of torture incorporating the main elements of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention against Torture) and other relevant international standards.
6. Investigate. All complaints and reports of torture should be promptly, impartially and effectively investigated by a body independent of the alleged perpetrators.
7. Prosecute. Those responsible for torture must be brought to justice.
8. No use of statements extracted under torture. Governments should ensure that statements and other evidence obtained through torture may not be invoked in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture. 
9. Provide effective training. It should be made clear during the training of all officials involved in the custody, interrogation or medical care of prisoners that torture is a criminal act. Officials should be instructed that they have the right and duty to refuse to obey any order to torture. 
10. Provide reparation. Victims of torture and their dependants should be entitled to obtain prompt reparation from the state including restitution, fair and adequate financial compensation and appropriate medical care and rehabilitation. 
11. Ratify international treaties. All governments should ratify without reservations international treaties containing safeguards against torture, including the UN Convention against Torture with declarations providing for individual and inter-state complaints. Governments should comply with the recommendations of international bodies and experts on the prevention of torture. 
12. Exercise international responsibility. Governments should use all available channels to intercede with the governments of countries where torture is reported. They should ensure that transfers of training and equipment for military, security or police use do not facilitate torture. Governments must not forcibly return a person to a country where he or she risks being tortured.

For this document on the Amnesty International website >>