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Compliance with international human rights treaties is notoriously unreliable when it comes to the states parties that have signed on to them. The UN Convention Against Torture (CAT) is one such treaty. Although 146 countries have both signed and ratified the CAT (as of January 2010), many blatantly violate its terms by operating in semantic loopholes or by ignoring the treaty altogether. So the key to compliance may lie in the domestication of the terms set out in the CAT. By incorporating CAT principles in domestic penal legislation, human rights actors have more avenues for seeking redress against violations of the CAT, as well as a platform which they can use to raise awareness and educate the public about torture. There are many clauses in the Convention specifically addressing this issue: Article 4 says that torture must be a criminal offense and Article 5 establishes jurisdiction over acts of torture committed by or against a party’s citizens. However, merely signing and ratifying the CAT does not ensure that such domestic legislation will occur. In this blog post I look at some of the domestic legislation currently underway or already in existence, and bring up a few questions which have still been left unanswered.

The 2009 Prohibition and Prevention of Torture Bill in Uganda is an excellent example of a step in the right direction. The bill is specifically aimed at following through on Uganda’s obligations as a State party to the CAT. By first stating the gaps in current Ugandan legislation, the bill is able to justify is usefulness and existence. It provides a comprehensive definition of torture, as well as including torture as a crime in itself under the penal law.

The 2010 Law Enforcement Torture Prevention Act in the United States is also working towards a similar goal, although it focuses on a specific perpetrator. The bill explicitly addresses torture committed by anyone “acting under color of local, State, or Federal law”. This bill was came about in part in response to the Jon Burge trial, which brought to light the fact that there was no U.S. law making torture a federal crime, except for acts committed outside U.S. territory, and existing legislation had a statute of limitations so short that it prevented many cases from ever being brought to trial.

For those interested in researching anti-torture laws, the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) has a compilation of existing torture laws from all around the world on their website, at www.apt.ch/laws. Each country file provides a fact sheet which gives a brief overview of the laws, as well as the relevant provisions of each law. Many other organizations are also working on this issue; the National Religious Coalition Against Torture (NRCAT) has recently added the passage of federal legislation to end torture in U.S. prisons to their 2010 agenda. But many questions and issues still remain on this subject. Are you aware of any laws in your home country that distinctly criminalize the act of torture as required by the CAT? Are there any movements working towards such a goal? We would love to hear from anyone with questions or answers to these and the many other questions that arise from this topic, please share any personal experiences you might have!