CAT: Submission to UN Committee Against Torture in response to Draft General Comment No 2
On 24 August 2007, the Centre made a Submission to the UN Committee against Torture in response to Draft General Comment No 2. The Draft General Comment is of significant importance to the normative development of international human rights law.
Although the prohibition against torture is a non-derogable human right and a peremptory norm of customary international law, it continues to be flagrantly violated. For example, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment reports that during the period from 16 December 2005 to 15 December 2006, he sent 79 letters of allegations of torture to 35 governments and 157 urgent appeals to 60 governments on behalf of persons who might be at risk of torture or other forms of ill-treatment. These statistics highlight the urgent need for state parties to receive practical instruction in respect of the Convention and in particular, article 2, which underpins the Convention's absolute prohibition against torture.