Why Torture Is Wrong

Torture is the action or practice of someone in authority intentionally inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment, whether it be physical or psychological in order to force them to do or say something. Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 5 states that, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Torture corrodes the rule of law and undermines the criminal justice system, it is barbaric and inhumane. However, over the last five years, amnesty has reported torture in at least three quarters of the world (141 countries). The widespread dilemma must be dealt with effectively in order to eradicate torture once and for all. It requests both legal and non-legal methods
The crimes legislation Amendment (torture prohibition and death penalty abolition) Act 2010 is to ratify the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment(UNCAT). As a party to UNCAT, it requires states to take effective measures to prevent torture within their borders, and forbids states to return people to their home country if there is reason to believe they will be tortured. The UNCAT is supplementary to Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which provides that no one may be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. By incorporating conventions signed by Australia into our domestic law, it states that torture is criminalised in Australia covered by a range of offences in existing Commonwealth, state and territory legislation, therefore becoming binding, enhancing legislation to become more effective in terms of
The convention is an international human rights treaty which mandates a global prohibition on torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which creates an instrument to monitor governments and hold them to account. UNCAT is effective in that it provides a guideline as a foundation for the international community to ensure that this right is met. It pressures states to become a signatory to the document in order to meet the standards set by the international community to be a “Good international citizen.” Once signed and ratified it creates a commitment for governments to take action and to enact relevant legislation into their domestic law, and hence, enforce this human right within their own country. This was seen to be effective in the Chahal v United Kingdom 1996 case where Chahal was pending deportation to India where it claimed that he would face torture but was overturned by the European court of human rights under article 3 of the treaty that the United Kingdom had integrated into their domestic law establishes that a person may not be deported to a country where they will face a real risk of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment. However, UNCAT