Torture not Treatment - Disability Rights International

TORTURE NOT TREATMENT
120 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art 7, GA res. 2200A (XXI), 21 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 52,
UN Doc. A/6316 (1966), ratified by the United States 8 June 1992 (hereinafter Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights).
121 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, supra note 120, at art. 7.
122 Convention against Torture, supra note 119, at art. 2(1).
123 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, supra note 120, at art. 50 (“The provisions of the present Covenant shall
extend to all parts of federal States without any limitations or exceptions.”).
124 Manfred Nowak & Elizabeth McArthur, The United Nations Convention against Torture: A Commentary 54
(2008).
125 Convention against Torture, supra note 119, Art. 4(1).
126 Eric Rosenthal & Clarence J. Sundram, “International Human Rights in Mental Health Legislation,” 21 New York
School Journal of International and Comparative Law 469 (2002) (providing an overview of international human
rights law and the neglect of disability issues in advance of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities).
127 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), Dec. 13, 2006, G.A. Res. 61/106, U.N. Doc.
A/RES/106, entered into force May 3, 2008, signed by the United States 30 July 2009.
128 Convention against Torture, supra note 119, at art. 1(1).
129 Nowak & McArthur (2008), supra note 124, at 77.
130 Id. The distinction between torture and inhuman or degrading treatment was described by the European
Commission of Human Rights in The Greek Case, Report to the Commission of 5 November 1969 (1969) XII
Yearbook 186 (“The word ‘torture’ is often used to describe inhuman and degrading treatment, which has a
purpose, such as obtaining of information or confessions, or the infliction of punishment, and it is generally an
aggravated form of inhuman treatment.”).
131 Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment: Note by the Secretary-General (2008),
supra note 1, at para. 47.
132 Manfred Nowak, What Practices Constitute Torture?: US and UN Standards, 28 Hum. Rts. Q. 809, 832 (2006).
133 Nowak & McArthur (2008), supra note 124, at 549.
134 Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment: Note by the Secretary-General (2008),
supra note 1, at para. 77.
135 Nowak & McArthur (2008), supra note 124, at 71, citing UN Doc. A/56/44 Sections 42-43.
136 Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment: Note by the Secretary-General (2008),
supra note 1, at para. 61.
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