The right to freedom from torture

Everyone has the right to freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. According to the international human rights mechanisms, this right can be violated in a variety of ways, including:

• the deliberate infliction of severe physical or psychological pain by state agents with the intention of causing suffering;

• expelling or returning a person to a country in which they face a real risk of being tortured or subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

• keeping persons in very poor conditions of detention, even if there is no intention to inflict suffering;

• corporal (physical) punishment of children in schools.

International human rights mechanisms which protect the right to be free from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment

The right to be free from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is protected by the following international human rights mechanisms (click on the links to find out more about how to use these mechanisms):

United Nations Human Rights Committee

United Nations Committee Against Torture

Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders

Special Rapporteur on Torture

Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women

1503 Procedure

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

African Commission on Human and People's Rights

European Court of Human Rights

European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment