European Court of Human Rights: Ban on torture is absolute and universal

Amnesty International, the AIRE Centre, The International Commission of JURISTs, Interights and REDRESS are warning that, in a hearing today, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights is being asked to reconsider the absolute ban on torture and other ill-treatment. ---- The prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment is absolute for good reason. Torture is a grave violation of personal dignity and bodily integrity. Its effect is also corrosive on the rule of law and the moral authority of the state itself. For these and other reasons, the practice of torture has been repeatedly condemned by international and national courts. Its absolute prohibition has attained the highest status of international law, it is fundamental, peremptory and intransgressible.