15 |
P age b
agreed that the meaning of torture encompasses both physical and mental torture.
59
The second paragraph of Article 7 above specifically prohibits medical or scientific experimentation against individual without his/her free consent. Art. 7 of ICCPR is, thus, formulated in such away as to assure its widest possible application.
60
There are also many international instruments protecting individuals who are found in special categories, most of them are member of groups who are in need of special attention due to their vulnerability to violence. Accordingly convention on the rights of child (CRC)
61
, convention on elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (CERD)
62
, refugee convention RC, convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families (CRMW)
64
, and convention on the rights of person with disabilities (CRPD)
65
directly ban torture against the individual members of the group who are the respective beneficiary of the conventions. It is since 1975 that international community began to make an effort to come up with special international laws that particularly govern torture at international level. Accordingly,
UNGA adopted Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or punishment (DAT. The Declaration defines torture under its first paragraph of Art. 1, as follow For the purpose of this 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 public 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, M. Bossuyt,
Guide to the „Travaux Préparatoires‟ of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1987) 150; see also WA. Schabas, The Death Penalty as Cruel Treatment
and Torture Capital P
unishment Challenged in the Worlds Courts (Northeastern University Press 1996) 28. B. Klayman, The Definition of Torture in International Law (1978) 51 Temple Law Quarterly 449, 466.
61
CRC, Art. 37 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (adopted in 21 Dec. 1965, entered into force Jan 4, 1969) 660 U.N.T.S. 195, Art. 5. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (adopted in 28 July 1951, enter into force 22 April 1954)
189U.N.T.S.137, Art. 33 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families adopted in 18 Dec. 1990, entered into force 1 July 2003) 2220 U.N.T.S. 3, Art. 10. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (adopted in Dec. 2006, enter into force 3 May 2008)
2515U.N.T.S.3, Art. 15.
|
