Torture

The Twenty-fifth International Conference of the Red Cross,

deeply concerned

at the increasing use of torture in the world,

noting with profound disquiet the development of ever more sophisticated methods of physical and psychological torture which inflict on victims suffering that at times does not leave any visible trace,

emphasizing that torture is a practice which not only injures the physical and moral integrity of its immediate victims but also harms their families and the entire society in which it occurs, and that it casts the greatest discredit on those responsible for it and on States which authorize it, condone it, or are party to it,

recalling Resolution XIV on torture of the Twenty-fourth Internationa Conference of the Red Cross,

recalling also that that resolution requested the United Nations Organization to expedite the adoption of an international Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,

1. welcomes with satisfaction the adoption by the General Assembly of the United Nations, on 10 December 1984, of the Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and invites States to ratify it,

2. encourages States and intergovernmental regional organizations to undertake or continue to work according to their rules and practices with a view to drawing up regional conventions against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, providing efficient supervisory mechanisms,

3. requests governments to continue and to intensify their efforts aimed at achieving, in addition to formal prohibitions, the actual elimination of all forms of torture,

4. appeals to National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as well as to the League to continue and to develop their action to enhance public awareness of and support for the struggle against torture, and to support all efforts, in particular those of the ICRC, designed to prevent and eliminate torture.