Editing Torture (section)

==Prohibition==
{{further|Torture in international law}}
[[File:Torture, proposed poster in The Nature of the Enemy series.gif|thumb|upright=0.8|Proposed United States poster, 1942 or 1943]]
[[File:CAT members.svg|thumb|Parties to the [[Convention against Torture]] in dark green, states that have signed the treaty in yellow, and others in gray]]

The condemnation of torture as barbaric and uncivilized originated in the debates around its abolition.{{sfn|Barnes|2017|pp=13, 42}} By the late nineteenth century, countries began to be condemned internationally for the use of torture.{{sfn|Barnes|2017|pp=48–49}} The ban on torture became part of the [[civilizing mission]] justifying colonial rule on the pretext of ending torture,{{sfn|Kelly ''et al.''|2020|p=64}}{{sfn|Barnes|2017|pp=51–52}} despite the use of torture by colonial rulers themselves.{{sfn|Barnes|2017|p=55}} The condemnation was strengthened during the twentieth century in reaction to the use of torture by Nazi Germany and the [[Soviet Union]].{{sfn|Barnes|2017|p=57}} Shocked by Nazi atrocities during World War II, the United Nations drew up the 1948 [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]], which prohibited torture.{{sfn|Wisnewski|2010|pp=42–43}}{{sfn|Barnes|2017|pp=64–65}} [[Ethics of torture|Torture is criticized]] based on all major ethical frameworks, including [[deontology]], [[consequentialism]], and [[virtue ethics]].{{sfn|Hassner|2020|p=29}}{{sfn|Wisnewski|2010|pp=68–69}} Some contemporary philosophers argue that torture is never morally acceptable; others propose exceptions to the general rule in real-life equivalents of the ticking time-bomb scenario.{{sfn|Wisnewski|2010|p=50}}{{sfn|Shue|2015|pp=116–117}} 

Torture stimulated the creation of the [[human rights movement]].{{sfn|Hajjar|2013|p=41}} In 1969, the [[Greek case]] was the first time that an international body—the [[European Commission on Human Rights]]—found that a state practiced torture{{sfn|Barnes|2017|p=121}} and it, along with ''[[Ireland v. United Kingdom]]'', formed much of the basis for the definition of torture in international law.{{sfn|Lesch|2023|p=8}} In the early 1970s, [[Amnesty International]] launched a global campaign against torture, exposing its widespread use despite international prohibition and eventually leading to the [[United Nations Convention against Torture]] (CAT) in 1984.{{sfn|Barnes|2017|pp=108–109}} Successful [[civil society]] mobilizations against torture can prevent its use by governments that possess both motive and opportunity to use torture.{{sfn|Collard|2018|p=162}} [[Naming and shaming]] campaigns against torture have shown mixed results; they can be ineffective and even make things worse.{{sfn|Einolf|2023}}

The prohibition of torture is a [[peremptory norm]] (''jus cogens'') in [[international law]], meaning that it is forbidden for all states under all circumstances.{{sfn|Evans|2020|loc=Introduction}}{{sfn|Saul|Flanagan|2020|p=356}} Most jurists justify the absolute legal prohibition on torture based on its violation of [[human dignity]].{{sfn|Pérez-Sales|2016|p=82}} The CAT and its [[Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture|Optional Protocol]] focus on the prevention of torture, which was already prohibited in [[international human rights law]] under other treaties such as the [[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]].{{sfn|Carver|Handley|2016|p=13}}{{sfn|Hajjar|2013|p=39}} The CAT specifies that torture must be a criminal offense under a country's laws,{{sfn|Kelly ''et al.''|2020|p=65}} [[Exclusion of evidence obtained under torture|evidence obtained under torture]] may not be admitted in court, and deporting a person to another country where they are likely to face torture [[non-refoulement|is forbidden]].{{sfn|Saul|Flanagan|2020|p=356}} Even when it is illegal under national law, judges in many countries continue to admit evidence obtained under torture or ill treatment.{{sfn|Thomson|Bernath|2020|pp=474–475}}{{sfn|Carver|Handley|2016|p=631}} It is disputed whether ratification of the CAT decreases, does not affect, or even increases the rate of torture in a country.{{sfn|Einolf|2023}}

In [[international humanitarian law]], which regulates the conduct of war, torture was first outlawed by the 1863 [[Lieber Code]].{{sfn|Nowak|2014|pp=387, 401}} Torture was prosecuted during the [[Nuremberg trials]] as a [[crime against humanity]];{{sfn|Barnes|2017|pp=60, 70}} it is recognized by both the 1949 [[Geneva Conventions]] and the 1998 [[Rome Statute]] of the [[International Criminal Court]] as a [[war crime]].{{sfn|Nowak|2014|p=398}}{{sfn|Hajjar|2013|p=38}} According to the Rome Statute, torture can also be a crime against humanity if committed as part of a systematic attack on a civilian population.{{sfn|Nowak|2014|pp=397–398}} In [[Use of torture since 1948#Israel|1987]], Israel became the only country in the world [[Israeli torture in the occupied territories|to purportedly legalize torture]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Torture by the GSS |url=http://www.btselem.org/english/Torture/Toture_by_GSS.asp |website=B'Tselem |access-date=28 June 2024 |date=1999 |archive-date=15 November 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021115094838/http://www.btselem.org/english/Torture/Toture_by_GSS.asp |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Israel: Torture still used systematically as Israel presents its report to the Committee Against Torture |url=https://www.amnesty.org/ar/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/mde150311998en.pdf |website=[[Amnesty International]] |access-date=28 June 2024 |date=15 May 1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=It's now (even more) official: torture is legal in Israel |url=https://www.omct.org/en/resources/blog/its-now-even-more-official-torture-is-legal-in-israel |website=[[OMCT]] |access-date=28 June 2024 |language=en |date=21 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hajjar |first=Lisa|authorlink=Lisa Hajjar |chapter=A Sociological Intervention on Drones and Targeted Killing |title=Opposing Perspectives on the Drone Debate |date=17 June 2014 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-137-43263-6 |page=93 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B-5CBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA93&dq=legalization+of+torture+israel&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi5vI2gsvuMAxVFEzQIHdl6GyA4FBDoAXoECA0QAw#v=onepage&q=legalization%20of%20torture%20israel&f=false |language=en}}</ref><!-- Hajjar also mentions this in her 2013 book cited in this article, but the wording is clearer in this chapter -->