Publication

This paper presents a summary of proceedings of a November 2001 APT expert seminar on defining torture. Panels discuss the distinction between acts of torture and other forms of ill-treatment; ambiguities arising from the exclusion of suffering as a result of lawful sanctions from the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT); and to what extent State obligations under UNCAT mandate a duty to protect, thereby incurring possible violations of an individual's private sphere.