Trends and developments in the global struggle to end torture

In line with paragraph 1 (g) of Human Rights Council resolution 52/7, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Alice Jill Edwards, presents her annual overview of trends and development in the global struggle to eradicate torture and other ill-treatment. The present report has a particular focus on new developments and positive progress covering the period from June 2024 to the end of June 2025. Updates are also provided to previous thematic reports.

The reporting period was defined by war, including the eruption of new wars and the bitter continuation of ongoing conflicts. They were all, to some degree, marked by the commission of torture and other inhumane acts. Grotesque levels of physical, psychological and sexual torture were present in almost all armed conflicts studied by the Special Rapporteur.

Some political leaders are recklessly and intentionally inciting and spreading hate and intolerance, creating climates of impunity, fear and unchecked power. Particularly abusive trends during the reporting period included the use of torture as a tool of repression and fearmongering by authorities, with thousands of people detained and abused because of their political or religious views. Poor training, lack of discipline, violent ideologies and group mentality and pressure are undermining the world’s progress to eradicate torture and ill-treatment both by State and non-State actors. At the same time, new technologies and weaponry that inflict pain and suffering are being developed.

There have been numerous examples of excessive use of force and the mismanagement of less lethal weapons during security agency or police crowd-control operations, leading to deaths and serious injuries. The Special Rapporteur reminds States of the need to regulate and control transparently the use, manufacture and trade in weapons and equipment that can be misused to torture.

Most progress was observed in States’ efforts to reform criminal justice and prison systems. Greater investments in infrastructure, conditions and independent oversight are needed.

The use of experimental concoctions of drugs to enforce the death penalty, the amputation of fingers as criminal penalties and the violent repression and exclusion of women and girls were also serious violations. These and so many other violations show disregard for humanity and the dignity of every human being. This is why the absolute prohibition on torture is universal.

The Special Rapporteur congratulates Dominica for acceding to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and Honduras for accepting the individual communications procedure. Today, 90 per cent of States are party to this decisive Convention. She welcomes the extension to 2030 of the significant work of the State-led Convention against Torture Initiative. There were no new ratifications of other human rights treaties containing explicit prohibitions of torture.

The Special Rapporteur thanks all those who contributed to the present report. She received 79 submissions, including from 17 States.¹

1. State submissions were received from Armenia, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Mexico, Italy, Russia Federation, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain, Türkiye, Ukraine and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of). All submissions are accessible at: www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2025/call-inputs-global-trends-and-developments-torture. ↩

The year 2025 marks the fortieth anniversary of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which for four decades has been the leading global voice against torture and other ill-treatment. It is a suitable moment to ask whether the mandate still meets the challenges of today’s world. The three main activities of the mandate holder are given below.

First, country visits that provide technical support and advice to cooperating countries. At best, funding is sufficient to cover a maximum of two visits per year; due to funding constraints, this has been reduced to one in 2025. Other challenges include the regular denial or delay of consent by potential hosting States. Time-consuming lobbying for visits takes away from other crucial work. When free access is granted and the Government genuinely engages, these visits can be of great value to the inviting State, leading to important reforms.

Second, transmitting communications that raise and record allegations of torture and other ill-treatment concerning individuals or groups, or address legal or structural questions. This allows conversations between States and the Special Rapporteur that can end violations or lead to reforms, reparations, releases from detention, changes in law, or justice. Challenges include the many unanswered letters and the fact that, at times, individuals are subject to reprisals for their engagement with the mandate holder. There is also limited capacity at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to handle the hundreds of submissions received every year.

The third activity of the mandate holder is to study questions of torture and present reports and recommendations to the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council. These have led to developments in international law and changes in State practices, policies or laws.

The significant limits on human and financial resources affect the capacity of the Special Rapporteur to tackle the massive global challenges. Former incumbents of the position have also raised these concerns.² Even prior to the current financial crisis of the United Nations, the mandate holder is supported by only one OHCHR-funded position. As for all special procedure mandate holders, no translation services are available, except for official reports, requiring reliance on privately funded translation services. The Special Rapporteur has supplemented the available resources through her own fundraising, pro bono legal services and other ad hoc support. The ability of the mandate holder to address torture globally is directly commensurate to the willingness of States to engage with the mandate holder and the resources made available.

2. See A/HRC/49/50; A/HRC/46/26; and A/HRC/46/26/Corr.1. ↩

In the light of the mandate renewal in March 2026, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the mandate holder be equipped with a new procedure to respond to time-sensitive situations. This would complement the existing activities of the mandate holder and would specifically allow the Special Rapporteur and a forensic specialist to undertake shorter, timely visits to countries or situations. This would be supplementary to the official country visits, which are of a different nature.

These visits would enable the Special Rapporteur to provide an early “on-site” evaluation and advise authorities and other stakeholders on how to entrench the prohibition on torture into all actions. They could also contribute to the documentation and investigation of allegations, leading to justice and rehabilitation for victims and survivors. At present, the only way for the Special Rapporteur to be able to engage in such a way is through academic visits and other on-site engagement and without United Nations funding, which in addition may mean without United Nations security. The Special Rapporteur is open to discussions on this proposal ahead of the mandate renewal.

In order for the mandate holder to be able to meet the realities of the twenty-first century, a more nimble, flexible and responsive approach to the realities of torture and other ill-treatment is required, and the full support by States of the mandate is absolutely vital.

Torture is used by warring parties to terrorize, injure and humiliate, and exert power and control over people and territory. In times of war, torture and other inhumane acts are prohibited by the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. There are no exceptional circumstances that permit torture. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur documents physical, psychological and sexual forms of torture in a wide range of countries. The Special Rapporteur received information about sexual torture in 27 armed conflicts. The intensity of this torture, its duration and depravity suggest we have reached a new low in war-time torture perpetration.

Publicly humiliating victims by filming and disseminating violations – including “in real time” – are new, and potentially permanent, forms of terror. These illegal tactics amplify fears in communities and embolden perpetrators. No one, regardless of sex or age, appears to be spared.

The extent of the violations must not defeat our resolve to eradicate torture, even in these most trying of times. As defence budgets expand, the Special Rapporteur urges all Governments to ensure that military and security spending includes strategies to prevent torture. Such action must begin in “normal” times. All soldiers must adhere to a strictly enforced code of ethical conduct to which they are held accountable, which includes criminal sanctions. They must be protected when they report violations. Investigations must be effective, transparent, timely and impartial.

While not every unlawful action perpetrated by warring parties qualifies as torture or other inhumane acts, even if they cause immense pain and suffering, the starving of civilians is an unacceptable military tactic and is specifically outlawed as a war crime and/or a crime against humanity when part of a widespread or systematic attack with knowledge of the attack.³ Hunger, severe weight loss and malnutrition, organ failure and death are alarming consequences of such tactics, especially among vulnerable groups, including infants and pregnant or lactating mothers. Impediments to humanitarian goods reaching civilian populations were reported in Gaza, Mali, Myanmar, the Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen.⁴ The Special Rapporteur reminds all parties of their obligations to provide adequate food and water to those in their custody, permit access or provide humanitarian assistance to besieged populations and not to steal or divert the distribution of aid.

3. See Security Council resolution 2417 (2018). ↩
4. See www.unocha.org/publications/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/humanitarian-situation-update-292-gaza-strip; www.unocha.org/publications/report/mali/mali-humanitarian-access-dashboard-march-2025-0; https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/06/1165041; www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/04/sudan-faces-worsening-humanitarian-catastrophe-famine-and-conflict-escalate; https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/06/1151456; and https://www.unocha.org/yemen. ↩

War can put our commitment to human rights under extreme strain. Resorting to the brutality of torture represents a serious collapse of human values. All parties to armed conflict must apply the rules of international humanitarian law and human rights law without discrimination and with determination.

Allegations against Azerbaijan included recording and disseminating videos that appear to depict beheadings, as well as the desecration and mutilation of corpses of Armenian prisoners of war and other protected persons.⁵ There have also been reports of torture, inhumane detention conditions and a refusal to provide adequate medical care to 300 Armenian political prisoners.⁶

5. See CAT/C/AZE/CO/5, para. 22. ↩
6. See https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/en/document-summary?id=1793783. ↩

In Burkina Faso, videos of massacres by pro-Government militia circulated on social media.⁷ The videos depicted corpses and some alive detainees with visible injuries and their hands and feet bound. The United Nations reports that children have been abducted, raped, maimed and beaten.⁸ Authorities in Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali have all reportedly used torture and ill-treatment against human rights defenders.⁹ In the Central African Republic, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) documented two instances of torture and 29 cases of ill-treatment.¹⁰

7. See www.hrw.org/news/2025/03/14/burkina-faso-government-allied-militias-linked-massacre. ↩
8. See S/2025/101, paras. 26–27, and 33–37. ↩
9. See www.omct.org/site-resources/legacy/20250217_Rapport-OBS-SAHEL_EN-V1.pdf, p. 26. ↩
10. See www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/central-african-republic/20250304-minusca-ohchr-dembia-report.pdf, paras. 44–46. ↩

The Wagner Group and its associates are accused of lawlessness in the Central African Republic and Mali, including executions of civilians, forced recruitment of children, sexual violence and attacks on schools and hospitals.¹¹ Military bases in Mali have reportedly been identified where Malian civilians have been detained and tortured.¹² Terrorism and violent extremism remain terrible scourges in the Sahel, with an estimated 10,400 deaths linked to militant Islamist violence in the Sahel in 2024.¹³

11. See www.armedgroups-internationallaw.org/2025/05/30/the-case-for-listing-the-wagner-group-for-violations-against-children-in-car-mali-and-ukraine/. ↩
12. See www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20250612-international-investigation-reveals-wagner-group-secret-prisons-in-mali-russia. ↩
13. See https://africacenter.org/spotlight/mig2025-militant-islamist-groups-in-africa/. ↩

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, fighters belonging to the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) and Congolese military forces have been accused of gross violations. Doctors have documented sexual assaults by multiple perpetrators, penetration with foreign objects, rape in captivity and survivors as young as three years old.¹⁴ Detainees held by M23 fighters reported being beaten with flexible wooden rods, gun butts and electric cables, among other tools, and being held in inhumane conditions. This included no running water, meaning they had to drink each other’s urine.¹⁵ The Special Rapporteur has called for the dignified treatment of dead bodies¹⁶ and solutions to protect civilians.¹⁷

14. See https://phr.org/news/massive-influx-of-conflict-related-sexual-violence-in-eastern-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-drc-phr-report/. ↩
15. See www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/05/drc-m23-kill-torture-and-hold-civilians-hostage-at-detention-sites-new-investigation/. ↩
16. See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/02/democratic-republic-congo-parties-conflict-must-treat-dead-bodies-dignity. ↩
17. See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/02/un-experts-call-urgent-humanitarian-relief-and-political-solution-protect. ↩

In Haiti, rampaging gangs and armed groups have abducted, drugged and raped children and recruited them.¹⁸ Mass killings and sexual violence are rife. This has led to citizens responding with their own violence, including lynchings of gang members.¹⁹

18. See www.unicef.org/press-releases/haitis-children-under-siege-staggering-rise-child-abuse-and-recruitment-armed-groups. ↩
19. See https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/01/1158781. ↩

Torture, inhuman treatment and sexual torture have been reported on both sides of the conflict in Israel and Gaza, for which the Special Rapporteur has intervened on multiple occasions.

Thousands of Palestinians remain detained by Israel. In many cases, their detention has been arbitrary and incommunicado, and there have been dozens of reported enforced disappearances. Israel reported that more than 5,500 Palestinians from Gaza “passed through” Israel Defense Forces detention facilities in the first year of the war.²⁰ Palestinian detainees and those released in exchanges reported being held in degrading conditions, subjected to torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence, and deprived of food and dignity.²¹ There have also been allegations of coercive and threatening interviewing and demeaning arrests. Decisions to reduce food rations for detained Palestinians by Israel, which says that caloric intake was lowered to the same levels as those applicable to people detained on criminal grounds, are currently being litigated in the courts.²²

20. Response to ISR 10/2024 from the Permanent Mission of Israel to the Special Rapporteur, dated 18 December 2024. ↩
21. ISR 10/2024, ISR 17/2024, ISR 12/2025, ISR 17/2025. ↩
22. Israel High Court of Justice 2858/24 Civil Rights Association in Israel v. Minister of National Security et al. ↩

Hostages held by Hamas and other armed groups have reported torture, starvation, rape and other sexual humiliations.²³ Recovered bodies have allegedly showed signs of torture and ill-treatment, including death by strangulation.²⁴ Hostage releases have been marred by degrading and terrifying ceremonies.²⁵

23. PSE 3/2023. ↩
24. Submission from Monitor. ↩
25. See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/02/experts-urge-humane-treatment-and-immediate-release-israeli-hostages-and. ↩

The Special Rapporteur repeats her calls for an end to the hostilities in the region and a pathway to peace, including the unconditional release of all hostages; the release of all arbitrarily detained Palestinians; and an independent investigations into all alleged crimes. In December 2024, she visited Israel and the State of Palestine (the West Bank) and met with victims and survivors, civil society actors and authorities. Neither Hamas nor Israel have allowed international observers to gain access to persons deprived of their liberty. An Israeli airstrike that hit Evin prison in the Islamic Republic of Iran in late June 2025, reportedly killing 71 people, including prisoners, visitors and guards, and injuring others, requires a full investigation. Since then, the Islamic Republic of Iran has moved certain political prisoners to unknown locations.

In Latin America, torture is a characteristic of the drug wars and State responses to them. In Mexico, 12 bodies were discovered bearing signs of torture and messages by cartels.²⁶ In Ecuador, military personal detained four boys as part of the State’s fight against gangs, and their tortured and burned bodies were later discovered in a swamp.²⁷

26. See www.cbsnews.com/news/bodies-torture-found-cartel-messages-guanajuato-mexico/. ↩
27. See www.oas.org/en/IACHR/jsForm/?File=/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2025/015.asp. ↩

In Myanmar, it is considered that torture – such as beatings, electric shocks, strangulations and pulling out fingernails with pliers – has become systematic.²⁸ Gang rapes, burns on sexual body parts and other forms of sexual torture against males and females of all ages have been documented.

28. See www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/news/2024/09/97304/un-investigators-warn-widespread-abuses-myanmar-conflict; OTH 16/2025. ↩

In escalating violence in South Sudan, over a three-month period between October and December 2024, 35 cases of sexual torture were reported.²⁹

29. See https://unmiss.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/quarterly_brief_on_violence_affecting_civilians_october_-december_2024.pdf. ↩

In the Sudan, the scale of torture and other cruel treatment is widespread and routine, including in “ghost sites” and improvised detention centres. Reports detail how the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) rape and enslave thousands of women and girls to humiliate, assert control and displace communities.³⁰ Both the RSF and Sudanese armed forces have allegedly filmed themselves executing, torturing and dehumanizing detainees.³¹

30. See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/05/sudan-experts-denounce-systematic-attacks-women-and-girls. ↩
31. See www.hrw.org/news/2024/08/29/sudan-warring-parties-execute-detainees-mutilate-bodies. ↩

The fall of the Assad regime in the Syrian Arab Republic in December 2024 opened places of deprivation of liberty for the first time in decades, exposing an excess of torture crimes. The findings have been in line with documents compiled by the mandate holder since 2011.³²

32. See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/12/special-rapporteur-torture-documents-syrian-violations-icj-case. See also SYR 1/2024. ↩

The creation of the National Commission on Transitional Justice and a national commission on missing persons in the Syrian Arab Republic are significant. Society can only move forward together when there is comprehensive truth and reconciliation. These mechanisms must promote accountability on the part of all perpetrators and welcome the full participation of survivors in their design and implementation. The Special Rapporteur encourages the international community to support the Syrian Arab Republic in its transition, including by establishing a hybrid tribunal.³³ She has joined calls for accountability for crimes committed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Da’esh).³⁴

33. SYR 1/2025; SYR 4/2025. Alice Edwards, “The Assad regime were world leaders in torture. Its survivors will determine Syria’s future”, in The National (20 December 2024). ↩
34. See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/04/un-experts-urge-end-isil-related-arbitrary-detention-north-east-syria-and. ↩

The Special Rapporteur expresses alarm that, in the post-Assad period, armed violence erupted in coastal regions, including reports of mistreatment, beatings, torture and degradation, including against members of the Alawite, Druze and Christian minorities.³⁵

35. Submission from Syrians for Truth and Justice. ↩

As the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation entered its fourth year, torture and other mistreatment of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers by Russian forces continued unabated. The Special Rapporteur takes the view that her assessment remains current – the torture of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war is part of the Russian Federation war policy, with authorization from the highest levels.³⁶ In the reporting period, the Special Rapporteur intervened specifically with respect to the lack of medical care of eight Crimeans imprisoned in the Russian Federation,³⁷ and the alleged torture and mistreatment of 178 Ukrainian military personnel captured at the Chernobyl nuclear site.³⁸ The Special Rapporteur welcomes the legislative efforts of Ukraine to provide support to victims of sexual torture. Ukraine reports that more than 100,000 cases have been filed alleging torture, in which 299 people have been indicted and 95 convicted, albeit some in absentia.³⁹ Captured Russian personnel have reported torture and mistreatment by Ukrainian forces.⁴⁰ She urges all those involved in peace efforts to make sure that justice and rehabilitation for victims and survivors are embedded in any peace deal.

36. See A/HRC/55/52/Add.1. ↩
37. RUS 2/2025. ↩
38. RUS 7/2024. ↩
39. Submission from Ukraine. ↩
40. CAT/C/UKR/CO/7, para. 17 (a). ↩

Hundreds of Yemenis have been detained at official and unofficial detention centres across the country, with torture and mistreatment reported to be endemic, particularly perpetrated by the Houthis but also committed by government forces.⁴¹ Dozens of humanitarians continue to be detained by the Houthis with one death reported earlier this year.⁴² Detained women and girls have been reportedly subjected to rape, forced confessions, mutilation and forced abortions.⁴³

41. See www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/yemen. ↩
42. See https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/06/1163956. ↩
43. A/HRC/57/NGO/159, pp. 2–3. ↩

Criminalizing torture in national law with sufficient specificity and recognition of the gravity of the offence is a basic precondition to preventing, prohibiting and prosecuting acts of torture. The Special Rapporteur refers States to the recommendations in her reports A/HRC/52/30 and A/79/181.

Positively, Côte d’Ivoire adopted an amendment that includes acts of torture by public officials,⁴⁴ Denmark amended its Criminal Code to criminalize torture,⁴⁵ and Mauritius approved a bill that removed provisions in the Constitution and Criminal Code that undermined the absolute prohibition of torture.⁴⁶ The Special Rapporteur encourages Nigeria to adopt a proposed amendment to strengthen support for torture survivors.⁴⁷ In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, a bill was tabled to include an autonomous offence of “humiliating treatment” in the Criminal Code.⁴⁸ The Special Rapporteur welcomes and offers her technical advice to the Committee on the Prevention of Torture in Africa, which has been designated to develop a model law to criminalize torture across Africa.⁴⁹

44. CAT/C/CIV/CO/1, para. 7. ↩
45. Submission from DIGNITY. ↩
46. CAT/C/MUS/CO/5, para. 8. ↩
47. Submission from Legend Golden Care Foundation. ↩
48. Submission from the Plurinational State of Bolivia. ↩
49. See https://achpr.au.int/en/adopted-resolutions/624-achprres624-lxxxii-2025. ↩

Ongoing challenges to criminalizing torture included definitions of torture that are not aligned with article 1 of the Convention against Torture,⁵⁰ sentences that do not match the gravity of the offence,⁵¹ the exclusion of public officials from liability⁵² and the operation of statutes of limitations, amnesties and/or immunities.⁵³

50. See CAT/C/KOR/CO/6, para. 8; CAT/C/TUR/CO/5, para. 8; CAT/C/JOR/CO/4, para. 9; CAT/C/MNG/CO/3, para. 7; and CAT/C/KWT/CO/4, para. 9. ↩
51. See CAT/C/AUT/CO, para. 10; CAT/C/FIN/CO/8, para. 10; CAT/C/LIE/CO/5, para. 9; CAT/C/KOR/CO/6, para. 8; CAT/C/CMR/CO/6, para. 10; CAT/C/JOR/CO/4, para. 9; CAT/C/KWT/CO/4, para. 9; and CAT/C/ARM/CO/5, para. 8. ↩
52. See CAT/C/HND/CO/3, para. 8; CAT/C/KOR/CO/6, para. 8; CAT/C/MNG/CO/3, para. 7; and CAT/C/THA/CO/2, para. 8. ↩
53. See CAT/C/CIV/CO/1, para. 7; CAT/C/ECU/CO/8, para. 9; and CAT/C/CMR/CO/6, para. 10. Submission from Access Center for Human Rights; Iridia; ASILEGAL; and Casa Memoria José Domingo Cañas. ↩

The Special Rapporteur expresses dismay at the recent constitutional reform in Nicaragua that has removed reference to torture⁵⁴ and the proposed Criminal Procedure Code of Egypt, which would shield officials from prosecution for torture and enforced disappearances.⁵⁵

54. Submission from Comisión Permanente de Derechos Humanos. ↩
55. Submission from DIGNITY. ↩

In terms of historic cases, she regrets that, in Spain, the 1977 amnesty law is still in force.⁵⁶ In Mexico, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation has accepted the legal possibility to investigate possible crimes against humanity committed during the so-called “dirty war”.⁵⁷ While landmark proceedings opened in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to hear whether intelligence services were complicit in the torture of detainees at “black sites” of the United States of America Central Intelligence Agency,⁵⁸ the Special Rapporteur is concerned about several legal obstacles to investigating and prosecuting torture overall.⁵⁹

56. See A/HRC/WG.6/49/ESP/2, para. 27. ↩
57. Submission from Mexico. ↩
58. Mustafa Adam Ahmed Al-Hawsawi v. Security Service et. al., [2023] UKIPTrib 5; Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri v. Security Service et al., [2023] UKIPTrib 6. ↩
59. Submission from REDRESS referencing the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Act 2021, the National Security Act 2023, the Criminal Justice Act 1988, the Justice and Security Act 2013 and the International Criminal Court Act 2001. ↩

Safe, independent, accessible and effective complaints mechanisms are the gateway to reporting acts of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, obtaining redress for victims and survivors and holding perpetrators accountable. In that respect, in Spain, a regulation was adopted that obliges authorities to act on whether a complaint should be the subject of criminal, disciplinary or administrative proceedings.⁶⁰ Conversely, the Committee against Torture noted that, while there were complaint mechanisms in place in the Republic of Korea, the number of registered and accepted complaints were few, raising doubts about their effectiveness.⁶¹ In Austria, the new Investigation and Complaints Office for Allegations of Police Ill-Treatment was established, yet its formal placement under the authority of the Federal Ministry of the Interior raised concerns about its independence.⁶² In Liechtenstein, the directive to create an investigation group within the National Police was similarly criticized in respect of the requirement of independence.⁶³ She expresses concerns about reports that human rights organizations are de facto excluded from providing legal support to complainants in Kazakhstan.⁶⁴

60. Submission from Spain. ↩
61. CAT/C/KOR/CO/6, para. 22. ↩
62. CAT/C/AUT/CO/7, para. 34. ↩
63. CAT/C/LIE/CO/5, para. 21. ↩
64. Submission from Coalition of Kazakhstani NGOs Against Torture. ↩

Saudi Arabia reports that detainees have access to online channels for submitting complaints through the authority’s website, x account and email,⁶⁵ although there were also reports that its mechanisms lack transparency and independence.⁶⁶ The Special Rapporteur also casts doubt on the adequate security of social media platforms and considers them unsuitable as complaint mechanisms.

65. Submission from Saudi Arabia. ↩
66. Submission from the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights. ↩

Investigating and prosecuting allegations of torture and/or other forms of ill-treatment involves specialist training and skills. It must be guided by the highest professional ethics and standards. The Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the Istanbul Protocol) is the key forensic and evidence-gathering resource. In addition, the Principles of Effective Interviewing for Investigations and Information-Gathering (the Méndez Principles) and the Convention against Torture Initiative training tool on investigative interviewing for criminal cases provide a complete set of resources for the effective documentation and investigations into torture and related ill-treatment.

In the reporting period, Tajikistan took steps towards adherence with the Istanbul Protocol by creating a medical examination protocol.⁶⁷ Azerbaijan included the revised Istanbul Protocol into its training curricula for medical professionals, judges and law enforcement officials.⁶⁸ Serbia delivered training on the Protocol to medical personnel who provide care to individuals under police supervision.⁶⁹ The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel translated the Protocol into Hebrew.

67. Submission from CSO Coalition Against Torture and Impunity in Tajikistan and the International Partnership for Human Rights. ↩
68. See CAT/C/AZE/CO/5, para. 32. ↩
69. Submission from Serbia. ↩

Humane and non-coercive interviewing helps to ensure the truth is reached while putting in place guardrails against the use of torture or other forms of coercion or repression when interviewing. Relying on any information of confessions produced by torture is contrary to article 15 of the Convention against Torture. Regrettably, many authorities still endorse torture or related oppression as a means to extract confessions,⁷⁰ and judges fail to exclude such evidence when it is presented to them.⁷¹ There have been serious allegations of the use of coercion against dissidents in India⁷² and vulnerable persons in Bahrain.⁷³ Deeply worrying is the reliance on forced confessions in capital cases, such as in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.⁷⁴ The Special Rapporteur intervened in cases of forced confessions or statements, including in Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq and Saudi Arabia.⁷⁵ She continues to seek information concerning Jimmy Lai, who has spent extended periods in solitary confinement and allegations that his trial is partially reliant on evidence produced under torture.⁷⁶

70. Submissions from South Asia Justice and Association pour la défense des droits de la femme en Mauritanie. ↩
71. Submission from Democracy and Human Rights Development Centre. ↩
72. Submission from REDRESS. ↩
73. Submission from Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, and Reprieve; and European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights, and Reprieve. ↩
74. Submission from Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, and Reprieve; European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights, and Reprieve. ↩
75. IRN 13/2024, IRN 15/2024, IRN 21/2024, IRQ 3/2024, SAU 5/2024. ↩
76. CHN 2/2024. A reply was received on 7 June 2024. ↩

The Special Rapporteur commends States that have taken steps to exclude torture-tainted evidence. In Brazil, the Superior Court of Justice held that the Méndez Principles are good practice for securing more accurate confessions.⁷⁷ The Supreme Court of Nigeria mandated that confessions during criminal investigations must be videorecorded in order to be admissible.⁷⁸ Meanwhile, after protracted legal battles, a United States military judge ruled that the statements made by a detainee at the United States detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including a confession, were inadmissible due to the use of torture by the Central Intelligence Agency.⁷⁹ Judges in Chile are provided with courses on torture and ill-treatment.⁸⁰ There have been positive developments regarding implementing the Méndez Principles in Mexico, Tajikistan, Thailand and Ukraine.⁸¹

77. Superior Tribunal de Justiça, No 915025 - SP (2024/0181816-3), 24 March 2025. ↩
78. Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Akaeze [2024] 12 NWLR (Pt. 1951) 1. ↩
79. Submission from the Centre for Victims of Torture. ↩
80. Submission from Chile. ↩
81. See https://www.apt.ch/sites/default/files/2025-05/APT-AR2025-ENG-v08-ForWeb.pdf, p. 8; submission from The World of Law and Ukraine. ↩

Despite approximately 110 States today having laws that criminalize torture, there remain extensive reports of abuses by public authorities worldwide, and prosecutions in that regard are rare. Only with domestic prosecutions, including in pursuit of those holding high office, can the grip of impunity be loosened. Given the scale and extent of torture in the world, the Special Rapporteur repeats the call in her report A/HRC/52/30 for stepped-up national prosecutions.

The Special Rapporteur acknowledges the conviction and sentencing in Chile of two Carabineros (police) for offences during the 2019 protests.⁸² In Denmark, the Supreme Court of Denmark found that, in holding down an individual and removing his clothes in an unlawful strip search, officers had violated the individual’s rights.⁸³ In India, eight police officers were sentenced to life imprisonment for the custodial death of an accused, which involved torture to extract a confession,⁸⁴ although thousands of custodial deaths have not been investigated.⁸⁵ In Guatemala, three ex-paramilitaries were sentenced for sexual violence against Indigenous women committed during the 1980s civil war.⁸⁶ Ukraine initiated criminal proceedings against prison authorities for creating a criminal organization that used torture to extort funds from prisoners.⁸⁷

82. Submission from Chile; RIT N°60-2024, RUC 2010038836-8, sentence dated 26 August 2024. ↩
83. Denmark Supreme Court, Sag BS-46114/2024-HJR, 22 May 2025. ↩
84. See www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/life-term-for-kotkhai-custodial-death-testimonies-of-dgp-cops-crucial-in-conviction-101738090794922.html. ↩
85. Submission from South Asia Justice Campaign. ↩
86. See https://apnews.com/article/guatemala-war-crimes-indigenous-convicted-b5cc4488e1b9051ffa78358a6534f0b1. ↩
87. Submission from Ukraine. ↩

Yet most crimes of torture go unprosecuted and unpunished. Ecuador has yet to fully investigate alleged torture of the detained former vice-president Jorge Glas Espinel.⁸⁸ Viet Nam has brought only 12 defendants to trial since 2019 for the crime of “cruel treatment”.⁸⁹ Despite using the Istanbul Protocol to document torture in the Philippines, there have only been two convictions under its domestic anti-torture legislation.⁹⁰ Many States rely on “abuse of power” provisions rather than prosecuting torture for what it is.

88. ECU 7/2024. ↩
89. See A/HRC/57/7, para. 30. ↩
90. See https://omegaresearchfoundation.org/news/uatc-interview-in-the-philippines-telling-the-truth-is-a-challenge/. ↩

Civil actions in national courts can also be utilized as a supplementary way for victims to obtain remedies. In the United States, a federal court ordered a private contractor to pay $42 million in compensatory and punitive damages to three men who were subject to torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, run by the United States.⁹¹

91. See www.justsecurity.org/104983/abu-ghraib-alien-tort-statute/. ↩

Prosecutions by national courts under universal jurisdiction have become major avenues for justice and exemplify a State’s international commitment to holding perpetrators accountable, no matter who the victims are or where the crimes were committed. In 2024, there were more than 130 matters under investigation or proceedings worldwide, albeit only 8 for torture.⁹² Notable convictions for torture included a former Liberian commander in France,⁹³ a Gambian minister in Switzerland,⁹⁴ a member of a former Syrian regime-affiliated militia leader in Germany⁹⁵ and a member of a Gambian death squad in the United States.⁹⁶ Recent arrests under universal jurisdiction for torture involve a former head of a prison in Damascus⁹⁷ and five suspects accused of torture and other crimes in the Syrian Arab Republic.⁹⁸

92. See https://cja.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/03_TRIAL_UJAR_2025_FINAL_DIGITAL-1-1.pdf, pp. 10 and 104–111. ↩
93. Ibid., p. 40 (Kunti Kamara). ↩
94. Ibid., p. 91 (Ousman Sonko). ↩
95. Ibid., p. 56 (Ahmad H). ↩
96. See www.justice.gov/opa/pr/gambian-man-convicted-torture-charges. ↩
97. See https://cja.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/03_TRIAL_UJAR_2025_FINAL_DIGITAL-1-1.pdf, p. 100 (Samir Ousman Alsheik). ↩
98. Ibid., p. 61 (Jihad A., Mahmoud A., Sameer S., Wael S. and Mazhar J.). ↩

Commitments to bring perpetrators to international justice wavered over the reporting period. Hungary withdrew from the International Criminal Court effective 2 June 2026. The United States imposed sanctions on Court judges. Italy arrested then released Libyan Osama Elmasry Njeem, who is indicted for torture among other crimes, citing procedural missteps and miscommunication by the Court. The former President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested and transferred to the Court to stand trial for murders as crimes against humanity during his anti-drugs campaign from 2011 to 2019, although the charges of torture and rape were dropped for insufficient “nexus”.⁹⁹

99. International Criminal Court, Warrant of Arrest for Mr. Rodrigo Roa Duterte, ICC-01/21, 7 March 2025. ↩

More positively, Ukraine officially joined the International Criminal Court. The Appeals Chamber confirmed the decision of the Trial Chamber on reparations against Dominic Ongwen. On 16 July 2024, the Specialist Chambers found Kosovo Liberation Army member Pjetër Shala guilty of the war crimes of arbitrary detention, torture, cruel treatment and murder. He was sentenced to 18 years, reduced to 13 years on appeal, and ordered to pay 208,000 euros in compensation to victims.¹⁰⁰

100. See www.scp-ks.org/en/appeals-panel-pronounces-judgment-pjeter-shala-case. ↩

The case against the Syrian Arab Republic before the International Court of Justice brought by Canada and the Kingdom of the Netherlands for failures to apply the Convention against Torture is expected to be heard this year. The Special Rapporteur reminds the transitional authorities that the Court’s provisional measures apply to present circumstances.¹⁰¹ The Special Rapporteur shared with the Court and parties a series of allegations of torture and ill-treatment involving hundreds of victims of the Assad regime.¹⁰²

101. SYR 1/2025; www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/04/un-experts-urge-end-isil-related-arbitrary-detention-north-east-syria-and. ↩
102. See www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/srtorture/20241217-srt-edwards-position-paper-icj-canada-netherlands-v-syria.pdf. ↩

At the regional level, the establishment of a special tribunal for the Gambia was approved by the Economic Community of West African States, a hybrid court seated in Banjul with a mandate to prosecute torture and other serious crimes committed during the Jammeh regime.¹⁰³ The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights ordered Mali to take measures to suspend the detention of prisoners who alleged torture and to enable them to obtain medical treatment for injuries.¹⁰⁴ The Inter-American Court of Human Rights declared that Guatemala had complied with the guarantee of non-repetition by providing specific and ongoing training for members of the Guatemalan Army on the prevention and absolute prohibition of torture.¹⁰⁵

103. See www.icj.org/gambia-west-african-states-agree-on-court-for-jammeh-era-crimes/. ↩
104. African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Moulaye Baba Haïdara and Other v. Republic of Mali, Application No. 009/2024, Ruling (Provisional Measures), 29 October 2024. ↩
105. Inter-American Human Rights Court, Annual Report 2024 (Washington, D.C., 2025), p. 102. ↩

The challenges and recommendations identified by the Special Rapporteur in her report on prison management (A/HRC/55/52) continue, notably overcrowding, infrastructure neglect or unsuitability, overuse of pretrial detention, lack of non-custodial alternatives and sentencing policies. Many countries are taking measures to address these risks.

Monitoring places of deprivation of liberty is one of the most effective ways to detect risks and improve conditions. In total, 94 States are Party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the approval by the Constitutional Court of Colombia of the country’s ratification of the Optional Protocol.¹⁰⁶ In Madagascar, the first monitoring visit to a police station was carried out under its National Preventive Mechanism.¹⁰⁷

106. See www.corteconstitucional.gov.co/comunicados/comunicado-10---abril-2-y-3-de-2025.pdf. ↩
107. Submission from APT. ↩

The Special Rapporteur welcomes the landmark Advisory Opinion on Climate Emergency and Human Rights of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which addressed the impact of climate change on persons deprived of liberty.¹⁰⁸ The Special Rapporteur commends Albania for its project with the Council of Europe to expand non-custodial alternatives;¹⁰⁹ Brazil for relaunching their “fair sentence plan”;¹¹⁰ Morrocco for its new law on non-custodial penalties for lesser crimes;¹¹¹ Colombia for its Constitutional Court order on the adoption of measures to address overcrowding in temporary detention;¹¹² and Mongolia for its legal amendments to introduce alternatives to detention.¹¹³

108. Inter-American Court of Human Rights, OC-32/25, 29 May 2025. ↩
109. Submission from the Council of Europe. ↩
110. Submission from Brazil. ↩
111. Submission from DIGNITY. ↩
112. See www.corteconstitucional.gov.co/relatoria/autos/2024/a1096-24.htm. ↩
113. See CAT/C/MNG/CO/3, para. 11. ↩

During her positive visit to Senegal in February 2025, the Special Rapporteur reported that overcrowding was so severe that she recommended that the Government take bolder measures, such as an automatic 20 per cent reduction in sentences for those serving sentences of three years or less.¹¹⁴ She reiterates her call for the United Kingdom to implement the 2024 Victims and Prisons Act and release or resentence the thousands of prisoners who are still serving inhumane and indeterminate “imprisonment for public protection” sentences.¹¹⁵

114. See www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/torture/sr/20250213-eom-senegal-sr-torture-en.pdf. ↩
115. GBR 9/2024. ↩

States are responsible for torture and ill-treatment when informal hierarchies and criminal organizations take control in prisons. In two recent judgments – S.P. and Others v. Russia and D. v. Latvia – the European Court of Human Rights found that the social and physical segregation, stigmatization and abuse of prisoners in the lowest caste of informal hierarchies in post-Soviet prisons can amount to inhuman and degrading treatment.¹¹⁶

116. Council of Europe, “Informal Prisoner Hierarchy, Prison Standard CPT/Inf (2025) 12” (Strasbourg, France, 2025), pp. 10–11; European Court of Human Rights, D. v. Latvia, Application no. 676680/17, 11 April 2024; S.P. and Others v. Russia, Applications nos. 36463/11 and 10 others, 2 August 2023. ↩

Denying medical treatment to detainees is completely unacceptable. During the reporting period, the Special Rapporteur issued communications for allegations of lack of or inadequate medical treatment for persons deprived of their liberty in Bahrain, Belarus, Bhutan, China, Ecuador, Guatemala, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Nepal, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) and Zimbabwe.¹¹⁷

117. BHR 4/2024, BLR 7/2024, BLR 2/2025, BTN 1/2024, CHN 16/2024, CHN 5/2025, ECU 7/2024, GTM 6/2024, IRN 20/2024, NPL 4/2024, RUS 2/2025, SAU 3/2024, TUR 4/2024, TKM 1/2024, VEN 11/2024 and ZWE 1/2024. ↩

States that made progress in providing better access to healthcare included the adoption of an anti-drug strategy in Armenia;¹¹⁸ health insurance coverage in North Macedonia for all prisoners and a hardship allowance to improve recruitment of new medical staff;¹¹⁹ measures taken in the Republic of Korea to improve wages and working conditions for medical doctors working in prisons and an increase in the use of remote video consultations and external medical assistance;¹²⁰ and the increase in health coverage for patients living with HIV in the penal enforcement system in the Russian Federation.¹²¹

118. Submission from Armenia. ↩
119. See CAT/C/MKD/CO/4, para. 14. ↩
120. CAT/C/KOR/CO/6, para. 16. ↩
121. Submission from the Russian Federation. ↩

There are still many reports of prisoners spending too much time in their cells without meaningful activities or rehabilitation opportunities. In that respect, the Special Rapporteur welcomes the following measures: in Colombia an initiative that enables women to pursue higher education;¹²² in Malawi, a new prison bill that shifts approach from a punitive to a rehabilitative model;¹²³ in Mexico, efforts to provide formal education to inmates including access to law degrees;¹²⁴ and in the Russian Federation, a report that nearly 92 per cent the prison population are engaged in paid work.¹²⁵

122. Submission from Temblores. ↩
123. Submission from Reprieve. ↩
124. Submission from ASILEGAL. ↩
125. Submission from the Russian Federation. ↩

States have taken positive steps to meet the needs of vulnerable groups in prisons. In Armenia and Ukraine, adaptations and improvements to cells were made for pregnant women and children.¹²⁶ In Malawi, a new bill requires pregnant women to be placed near appropriate medical facilities. Special diets are provided for pregnant and elderly prisoners.¹²⁷

126. Submissions from Armenia and Ukraine. ↩
127. Submission from Reprieve. ↩

In the Republic of Moldova, a new risk and needs assessment tool was approved to address more individualized treatment approaches to transgender persons and other people with vulnerabilities.¹²⁸ The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment issued new guidelines on transgender prisoners.¹²⁹

128. Submission from the Council of Europe. ↩
129. Council of Europe, “Transgender Persons in Prison, Prison Standard CPT/Inf (2024) 16 – part” (Strasbourg, France, 2024). ↩

In Tajikistan, new reforms are being made aimed at diverting children from the formal justice system.¹³⁰ The Special Rapporteur sent a communication to Australia criticizing the imposition of adult penalties on children, describing the various child justice systems as being in crisis and expressing alarm at the disproportionate number of First Nations children behind bars.¹³¹ The Special Rapporteur also intervened in Chile on an allegation of a pattern of discriminatory practices in judicial proceedings against the indigenous Mapuche people.¹³²

130. Submission from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). ↩
131. AUS 4/2025. ↩
132. CHL 1/2025. ↩

The involuntary detention of persons with mental disabilities and forced psychiatric treatment may constitute torture or ill-treatment, despite claims of good intentions and medical necessity.¹³³ In V.I. v. the Republic of Moldova, the European Court of Human Rights found a violation of article 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the European Convention on Human Rights) where an orphaned 15-year-old child with a mild intellectual disability had been involuntarily placed in a psychiatric hospital and subjected to neuroleptics and tranquilizers without proven medical necessity.¹³⁴ New guidance by the World Health Organization recommends the alignment of treatments with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.¹³⁵

133. See A/63/175, paras. 62–65; and A/HRC/22/53, paras. 32, 64, 80. See also BLR 3/2025. ↩
134. European Court of Human Rights, V.I. v. the Republic of Moldova, No. 38963/18, 26 March 2024. ↩
135. World Health Organization, Guidance on mental health policy and strategic action plans: Module 1. Introduction, purpose and use of the guidance (Geneva, 2025), pp. 2–4. ↩

Depriving people of liberty under threat of injury or death is not only unlawful it strains diplomatic relations. Since the Special Rapporteur’s report on hostage-taking as torture (A/HRC/58/55), France filed an application to institute proceedings before the International Court of Justice against the Islamic Republic of Iran for pursuing a hostage policy against its nationals;¹³⁶ São Tomé and Principe and Colombia endorsed the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations;¹³⁷ the Organization of American States adopted a resolution opposing State hostage-taking;¹³⁸ and the European Parliament passed resolutions on the Islamic Republic of Iran for the taking of European Union citizens as hostage¹³⁹ and on Azerbaijan for the taking of Armenians as hostage.¹⁴⁰

136. See https://api.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/199/199-20250516-pre-01-00-en.pdf. ↩
137. See www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/human_rights-droits_homme/arbitrary_detention-detention_arbitraire.aspx. ↩
138. Organization of American States, General Assembly resolution AG/RES. 3030 (LIV-O/24), 27 June 2024. ↩
139. European Parliament resolution 2025/2511 (RSP). ↩
140. European Parliament resolution 2025/2596 (RSP). ↩

The Special Rapporteur took up various individual cases. She welcomed the release of the American Ryan Corbett, who had been held by the Taliban in Afghanistan.¹⁴¹ She is working to secure the release and humane treatment of Peter and Barbie Reynolds, an elderly the British couple who are currently detained by the Taliban;¹⁴² Ahmad Reza Djalali, an Iranian researcher with Swedish residency, held by the Islamic Republic of Iran;¹⁴³ and Australian businessman Robert Pether, held in Iraq.¹⁴⁴ She reiterates her call for all hostages held by State and non-State actors to be released immediately and unconditionally.

141. OTH 106/2024. ↩
142. OTH 46/2025. ↩
143. IRN 8/2025. ↩
144. IRQ 2/2025. ↩

The special role of police and security forces in maintaining law and order and protecting citizens’ rights requires the full and transparent implementation of obligations to prevent torture and other ill-treatment and hold perpetrators accountable. While some States took measures to facilitate and protect peaceful assemblies, many others responded with violent crackdowns.

The Special Rapporteur is concerned that authorities are increasingly treating legitimate and peaceful protests as security threats, rather than as the expressions of rights and freedoms. She reminds States of the accepted limits on use of force and on less lethal weapons, even when a peaceful protest turns violent.

The Special Rapporteur intervened in respect of police excesses in crowd control operations and reports of torture and/or mistreatment of protesters in Argentina,¹⁴⁵ Bhutan,¹⁴⁶ Georgia,¹⁴⁷ Kenya,¹⁴⁸ Morocco,¹⁴⁹ Mozambique,¹⁵⁰ Pakistan,¹⁵¹ Serbia,¹⁵² Türkiye¹⁵³ and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of).¹⁵⁴ Reports also documented aggressive tactics causing injuries in Angola¹⁵⁵ and Bangladesh.¹⁵⁶

145. ARG 4/2025. ↩
146. BTN 1/2024. ↩
147. GEO 1/2025; GEO 2/2025. ↩
148. KEN 4/2024. ↩
149. MAR 3/2025. ↩
150. MOZ 2/2024. ↩
151. PAK 1/2025. ↩
152. SRB 2/2025. ↩
153. TUR 5/2024; TUR 3/2025. ↩
154. VEN 7/2024. ↩
155. See www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr12/8764/2024/en/. ↩
156. Submission from United Against Torture Consortium. ↩

An extensive survey of the state of the right to protest in Europe documented widespread misuse of less lethal weapons, including water cannons, tear gases, pepper-spray, kinetic impact projectiles and batons.¹⁵⁷

157. See www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur01/8199/2024/en/. ↩

The Special Rapporteur intervened in Serbia earlier this year, owing to reports that an unauthorized experimental acoustic weapon (“sonic cannon”) had been deployed on protesters. This caused fainting, vomiting, heart palpitations and excessive sweating.¹⁵⁸ In Georgia, many protesters sustained serious head injuries by police officers, who did not wear insignia and often wore balaclavas to shield them from accountability.¹⁵⁹

158. SRB 2/2025. ↩
159. Submissions from United Against Torture Consortium and DIGNITY. See also www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/01/georgia-must-investigate-use-force-police-during-demonstrations-experts. ↩

There is a correlation between repressive policing and a lack of training of law enforcement officials. The Special Rapporteur welcomes reports of stepped-up training.¹⁶⁰

160. Submission from Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Spain and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of). ↩

Without a global agreement on the use, development and production, financing, promotion and trade in law-enforcement equipment, manufacturers and suppliers are able to continue to market and sell equipment to security forces with little to no oversight. Less lethal weapons have been associated with thousands of injuries and deaths around the world, while other tools of restraint and control are – by their design or impact – inherently torturous. The Special Rapporteur reminds States of her report of 2023 (A/78/324), in which she sets out a full set of recommendations, including a list of 20 prohibited items that should be immediately recalled from use,¹⁶¹ and the pressing need for an international agreement on this subject.

161. See www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/torture/sr/annex-i-document-august-2023-ae-18-09-23.pdf. ↩

The Special Rapporteur notes significant regional initiatives in support of these goals. In Africa, in October 2024, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa started asking States about proscribed and other equipment of concern, as part of their regular State reviews.¹⁶² Efforts in August 2024 to create a North African coalition of civil society organizations against this trade are welcome.¹⁶³ Significant national and regional conversations have been taking place in Asia, including at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Dialogue on Human Rights and Policing in December 2024, organized by the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights.¹⁶⁴

162. Submission from Torture-Free Trade Network. ↩
163. Submission from Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights. ↩
164. See https://aichr.org/news/aichr-hosts-first-asean-dialogue-on-human-rights-and-policing/; submission from Torture-Free Trade Network. ↩

European Commission proposals adopted in March 2025 to substantially broaden the scope of goods covered by the European Union Anti-Torture Regulation are extremely welcome. The Special Rapporteur is pleased that the proposed amendments to annex II to the Regulation, listing “inherently abusive” items, reflect many of the weapons, restraints and other items she recommends be prohibited.¹⁶⁵ At the time of writing, the amendments to the Regulation were pending adoption by the European Council and European Parliament.

165. Submission from Torture-Free Trade Network, United Against Torture Consortium and Omega Research Foundation. See also www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/torture/sr/annex-ii-document-august-2023-18-09-23.pdf. ↩

The Council of Europe held a workshop to advance its work on strengthening existing measures to regulate the trade in goods that can be used for torture.¹⁶⁶ The Special Rapporteur welcomes the Council’s report on implementation and recommendation to align practices with the Special Rapporteur’s recommendations.¹⁶⁷ The Special Rapporteur congratulates Switzerland on passing torture-free trade legislation in June 2024.¹⁶⁸

166. Submission from the Council of Europe. ↩
167. See https://rm.coe.int/steering-committee-for-human-rights-cddh-cddh-report-on-the-implementa/1680b6812f. ↩
168. See www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-politics/swiss-governments-act-on-instruments-of-torture-clears-first-hurdle/80548427. ↩

The Special Rapporteur pursued communications involving security trade fairs in France¹⁶⁹ and the United Kingdom¹⁷⁰ where items on her prohibited list were being displayed. She welcomed the cooperation of both countries and the organizers in redressing the matter.¹⁷¹ The Special Rapporteur is of the view that industry must be a strong partner and collaborator in the development of a torture-free trade treaty. Prohibited items have also been observed at trade events in Brazil and the United Arab Emirates.¹⁷²

169. FRA 4/2024. ↩
170. GBR 14/2024. ↩
171. Response to FRA 4/2024 from the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, addressed to the Special Rapporteur, dated 4 October 2024; response to GBR 14/2024 from the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, addressed to the Special Rapporteur, dated 30 January 2025. See also OTH 149/2024. ↩
172. Submission from Omega Research Foundation. ↩

The Special Rapporteur urges the Alliance for Torture-Free Trade, which is made up of more than 60 States, to reengage with vigour on this subject and for those States that have not yet joined to do so. She thanks the non-governmental organization Torture-Free Trade Network, comprising more than 85 civil society member organizations from all world regions, for its ongoing hard work on this subject.

The Special Rapporteur recognizes the challenges faced by irregular entries and overstayers, however she reminds States that refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants must be treated humanely and with dignity at all times, regardless of their legal status.

Since August 2024, Bangladesh has forcibly returned thousands of Rohingya to Myanmar, knowingly exposing them to a high risk of violence and death as the Myanmar military and Arakan army commit mass killings and torture.¹⁷³ India is accused of detaining and mistreating Myanmar refugees, especially in Jammu and Assam.¹⁷⁴ On 31 July 2025, the Supreme Court of India is set to hear a petition on forcible deportations.¹⁷⁵ Pakistan has intensified deportations to Afghanistan, causing many Afghans who have lived in Pakistan for decades to flee without their belongings or time to sell their assets in fear of police harassment and crackdowns. Afghan women, girls, journalists and human right defenders are particularly at risk upon return.¹⁷⁶ In Libya, mass graves with the bodies of migrants were found, some with gunshot wounds, and there have been reports of torture by smugglers.¹⁷⁷ In Thailand, the transfer back to China against their will of 40 Uyghurs who had been detained for over 10 years was a low point.¹⁷⁸

173. See https://unric.org/en/myanmar-many-reports-of-brutal-war-crimes-and-crimes-against-humanity/; And www.hrw.org/news/2024/09/25/bangladesh-new-rohingya-refugees-lack-protection-aid. ↩
174. IND 14/2024. ↩
175. See www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/sc-calls-plea-on-rohingya-abandonment-in-intl-waters-beautifully-crafted-story-101747396794756.html. ↩
176. See www.crisisgroup.org/sites/default/files/2025-05/wl-2025-spring-pakistan-afghanistan.pdf. ↩
177. See https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/02/1159951. ↩
178. THA 1/2025; THA 6/2025; CHN 8/2025. ↩

In January 2025, in A.R.E. v. Greece, the European Court of Human Rights found there was a practice of systematic pushbacks by Greek authorities that violated article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.¹⁷⁹ However, the Court declared another case inadmissible in finding that Italy did not exercise jurisdiction over a group of migrants “pulled back” to Libya.¹⁸⁰

179. European Court of Human Rights, A.R.E. v. Greece, App. No. 15783/21, 7 January 2025 (referred to Grand Chambers in progress). ↩
180. European Court of Human Rights, S.S. and Others v. Italy, App. No. 21660/18, 20 May 2025. ↩

In the United States, the mass deportation campaign involving agreements with many countries is worrisome as some of those countries are known for inhumane detention conditions and the ill-treatment of detainees. The Special Rapporteur intervened to halt deportations by United States authorities of Salvadorians and Venezuelans to El Salvador with specific concerns about the lack of procedural safeguards to guard against refoulement and the inhumane treatment in caged cells.¹⁸¹ The negotiated release of Julian Assange was a relief.¹⁸²

181. USA 14/2025; SLV 1/2025. ↩
182. See https://news.un.org/en/interview/2024/02/1146567. ↩

The Special Rapporteur welcomed the decision by the Government of the United Kingdom to cancel plans to transfer asylum-seekers to Rwanda¹⁸³ and the Human Rights Committee’s latest opinion that Australia remains responsible for the detention of asylum-seekers held in offshore facilities in Nauru.¹⁸⁴ The openness of Mexico to allow civil society organizations to monitor the conditions in migrant holding centres in its National Strategy Against Torture, adopted in February 2025, is a good practice.¹⁸⁵

183. See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/07/experts-welcome-announcement-end-uk-rwanda-asylum-partnership. ↩
184. CCPR/C/142/D/2749/2016; CCPR/C/142/D/3663/2019. ↩
185. Submission from Mexico. ↩

Women and girls were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in a wide range of contexts, often being targeted or denied interventions because of their sex. The Special Rapporteur reported extensively on sexual torture in armed conflict in her report A/79/181 and covered the special considerations for women and girls and LGBTI+ individuals in prisons in her report A/HRC/55/52.

Arguably the worst place to be a female today is in Afghanistan under the de facto Taliban authorities where women and girls have been systematically excluded from public life. Women and girls have been arrested for non-compliance with hijab rules and have reported being subjected to degrading treatment, torture and rape.¹⁸⁶

186. Amnesty International, State of the World’s Human Rights (London, 2025), p. 71. ↩

Reproductive rights were rolled back. In the United States, 19 states have a total or near-total abortion ban,¹⁸⁷ placing women at risk of physical and psychological damage by seeking clandestine abortions or through the denial of associated medical care. Medical professionals must be permitted to treat anyone who requires post-abortion care. In Poland, Parliament rejected a bill that would have decriminalized “aiding with abortion”.¹⁸⁸

187. Ibid., p. 386. ↩
188. See www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/10/a-year-after-tusk-came-to-power-why-is-access-to-safe-and-legal-abortion-still-a-distant-dream-in-poland/. ↩

Despite these serious setbacks, advances are being made for the protection of women and girls. In Kazakhstan, a law came into effect that criminalizes domestic violence, and a special unit for domestic violence crimes was established, including female officers.¹⁸⁹ In Türkiye, additional violence prevention and monitoring centres were opened under the monitoring process of its national action plan to combat violence against women,¹⁹⁰ yet the country has not yet rejoined the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence after its withdrawal in 2021. The Plurinational State of Bolivia is encouraged to adopt a bill aimed at strengthening mechanisms to prevent violence against women.¹⁹¹

189. Submission from Coalition of Kazakhstani NGOs Against Torture. ↩
190. Submission from Türkiye. ↩
191. Submission from the Plurinational State of Bolivia (reference to bill No. 61/2024-25). ↩

In the Gambia, the rejection of a bill seeking to lift a ban on female genital mutilation was a strong message for women’s rights.¹⁹² Spain has updated action to provide victims of female genital mutilation with reconstructive surgery.¹⁹³ In Germany, the Government produced a short film that provides information on the assistance available to at-risk females.¹⁹⁴ In Nigeria and Senegal, the practice of female genital mutilation is outlawed, but there are reports of weak enforcement in rural areas and a lack of access to shelter and long-term support for survivors.¹⁹⁵ Unfortunately, recent reports that one in four cases of female genital mutilation is perpetrated by healthcare workers¹⁹⁶ signals that the medical community needs to commit further to ending this inhumane practice.

192. See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/07/gambia-upholding-ban-female-genital-mutilation-another-historic-win-say. ↩
193. Submission from Spain. ↩
194. Submission from Germany. ↩
195. Submission from Lawyers Alert. ↩
196. See https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/04/1162661. ↩

Any form of corporal punishment is contrary to the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and States cannot invoke domestic law to justify it. The Special Rapporteur has made her objections known regarding the use of amputations of fingers as punishment for theft in the Islamic Republic of Iran;¹⁹⁷ the Taliban’s public lashings and floggings;¹⁹⁸ and the ongoing use of flogging in hudud (fixed punishment) cases in Saudi Arabia.¹⁹⁹

197. IRN 4/2025. ↩
198. See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/04/afghanistan-must-immediately-stop-public-executions-and-corporal-punishment. ↩
199. Submission from European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights. ↩

The prohibition of torture and ill-treatment also applies to the corporal punishment of children inside and outside of the home, including in schools. Legislation should be explicit that such punishment is prohibited in all settings. The Committee against Torture stated in its recent reviews of Armenia, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco and Namibia that they should explicitly prohibit the use of corporal punishment in the home.²⁰⁰ At the fifty-eighth session of the Human Rights Council, 40 countries signed a joint statement to end the corporal punishment of children.²⁰¹ Tajikistan and Thailand recently enacted laws to prohibit the corporal punishment of children in all settings; 68 States worldwide have committed to this prohibition.²⁰²

200. CAT/C/ARM/CO/5, para. 33; CAT/C/JOR/CO/4, para. 26; CAT/C/KWT/CO/4, para. 48; CAT/C/MCO/CO/7, para. 35; CAT/C/NAM/CO/3, para. 35. ↩
201. See https://endcorporalpunishment.org/first-hrc-joint-statement/. ↩
202. Submission from UNICEF. ↩

It is almost impossible for States to impose the death penalty while complying with the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment. The Special Rapporteur commends Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia for becoming parties to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, and Morocco for voting in favour of the moratorium resolution.²⁰³ While there has been much progress, with 113 countries having abolished the death penalty in law by the end of 2024, there have also been very serious cases of regression. The Special Rapporteur expresses disappointment regarding the plans of Burkina Faso to reinstate the death penalty²⁰⁴ and the lifting in the Democratic Republic of Congo of its moratorium on executions.²⁰⁵

203. Submission from Maat. ↩
204. See www.hrw.org/news/2024/11/11/burkina-faso-plans-reinstate-death-penalty. ↩
205. See www.fiacat.org/en/publications-en/reports/geographic-reports/africa/3241-report-on-the-situation-of-abolitionist-human-rights-defenders-in-democratic-republic-of-the-congo. ↩

The Special Rapporteur has raised serious concerns about public executions in Afghanistan;²⁰⁶ poor death row conditions in Bahrain;²⁰⁷ the lack of advance notification, hanging method and death row conditions in Japan;²⁰⁸ the sentencing to death of children in Saudi Arabia²⁰⁹ and reports of death row inmates there being forced to watch others being taken away for execution as they await their own;²¹⁰ and the experimental use in the United States of nitrogen gas as a method of execution, which reportedly caused the execution of one inmate to last more than 20 minutes.²¹¹

206. See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/04/afghanistan-must-immediately-stop-public-executions-and-corporal-punishment. ↩
207. BHR 4/2024. ↩
208. JPN 2/2024. ↩
209. See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/04/saudi-arabia-un-experts-call-immediate-release-child-offenders. ↩
210. See www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/12/saudi-arabia-un-experts-voice-alarm-executions-foreign-nationals. ↩
211. USA 27/2024. ↩

The Special Rapporteur has intervened on the use of the death penalty for drug offences in Saudi Arabia and Singapore.²¹² She remains preoccupied by the imposition of the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran against human rights activists for baghy crimes (security offences), including those involved in the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests,²¹³ and in Pakistan for blasphemy.²¹⁴

212. SAU 5/2024; SGP 4/2025; SGP 1/2025. ↩
213. IRN 21/2024, IRN 13/2024. ↩
214. PAK 2/2025. ↩

Forty years after its establishment, the influence of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on States, national and international institutions is remarkable. The present report is testament to the efforts being undertaken to align laws, policies and practices with international standards. At the same time, there are far too many violations that cannot be blamed on poor training or know-how.

Every human being is entitled to respect for their inherent dignity and worth, whether they are an adversary or otherwise. The extent to which the world tortures is a litmus test on how far values of human rights have been internalized and operationalized. The mandate holder will continue to recognize positive developments while paying special attention to worrisome trends and situations. In order for the Special Rapporteur to be responsive to those trends and situations, she strongly encourages States to support the exploration of a new capacity for the mandate holder to undertake timely missions.