Convention against Torture

The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment is an international human rights treaty adopted by the General Assembly on 10 December 1984. It entered into force on 26 June 1987 after its twentieth ratification, a date now marked annually as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, and by April 2024 it had 174 parties. The convention obliges states to take effective measures to prevent torture within any territory under their jurisdiction and forbids them from returning or extraditing a person to a country where they would be in danger of being tortured. A Committee against Torture monitors compliance through periodic state reports submitted every four years and can investigate complaints from individuals alleging violations, and the prohibition of torture the convention codifies is now widely recognized as a binding rule of customary international law that applies even to states that have not ratified it.