The status of the prohibition on State torture as a rule of jus cogens has the consequence that at the inter-State level, any legislative, administrative or judicial act authorising torture is illegitimate. Furthermore, the prohibition on State torture imposes obligations owed by States erga omnes, to all other States which have a corresponding right and interest in compliance.
(International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia The Hague) The jus cogens character of the prohibition on torture means that it enjoys a higher rank in the international hierarchy than treaty law and even ‘ordinary’ customary rules with the consequence that no derogation from the rule by States can be permitted, whether through international treaties or local or special customs or even general customary rules not endowed with the same normative force. The prohibition of torture is an absolute value from which nobody must deviate.
‘Furthermore, the prohibition of torture imposes upon states obligations erga omnes, that is, obligations owed towards all the other members of the international community, each of which then has a correlative right. In addition, the violation of such an obligation simultaneously constitutes a breach of the correlative right of all members of the international community and gives rise to a claim for compliance accruing to each and every member, which then has the right to insist on fulfilment of the obligation or in any case to call for the breach to be discontinued.’
Citations:
Case No. IT – 95- 17/T 10, (1998) 38 ILM 317
Links:
Cited by:
Cited – Mohamed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 1) Admn 21-Aug-2008
The claimant had been detained by the US in Guantanamo Bay suspected of terrorist involvement. He sought to support his defence documents from the respondent which showed that the evidence to be relied on in the US courts had been obtained by . .
See Also – Prosecutor v Furundzija 1-Apr-1999
(International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia) The court described the main features of the law against torture: ‘There exists today universal revulsion against torture: as a USA Court put it in Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, ‘the torturer . .
Cited – Youssef v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs SC 27-Jan-2016
An Egyptian national, had lived here since 1994. He challenged a decision by the Secretary of State,as a member of the committee of the United Nations Security Council, known as the Resolution 1267 Committee or Sanctions Committee. The committee . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
International, Human Rights
Updated: 15 May 2022; Ref: scu.272824