2019 – Posted in: Daily News – Tags: article 72, death panelty

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTIONS ON TORTURE

For: Preliminary & Mains

Topics covered: UN Assembly on torture, Association for the Prevention of Torture, India’s view, Indian constitutional provisions, the death penalty

News Flash

India joined ranks with Russia and 42 other nations to abstain from voting on a United Nations General Assembly resolution aimed at examining options to end the trade in goods used for capital punishment and torture, saying it is unacceptable to place death penalty on par with torture.

The 193-member United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution Towards torture-free trade: examining the feasibility, scope and parameters for possible common international standards’.

India’s views on torture Resolution

India was not able to support the resolution and abstained during the voting, as according to India, the draft resolution seeks to establish a link between trade in goods and the criminal acts of torture.
India kept away from voting on the resolution, saying that consolidating the death penalty into the extent of this resolution “raises worries that it might be an attempt to put it on par with torture.”
India remains solidly committed to preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman, barbaric and degrading treatment or punishment.
India solidly accepts that freedom from torture is a human right which must be respected and secured under all conditions.”
India firmly accepts that torture is a crime and “thusly, unlawful.”
India also said that every state has the sovereign right to determine its own legal system and appropriate legal penalties. Any implication that death punishment is being treated on par with torture is unacceptable.
In India, the death penalty is a statutory provision, despite the fact that it is used in the rarest of rare cases.
In India, acts of torture are a punishable offence under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
The Indian Judiciary also serves as a bulwark against any such violations of human rights.

Annual United Nations General Assembly resolution on Torture

The UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council every year receive a goal on torture and other cruel, inhuman, barbaric or corrupting treatment or punishment.

These resolutions are usually adopted by consensus, which means that no UN Member State, in the case of the UNGA resolution, and no UN Human Rights Council’s Member State, in the case of the HRC resolution, has opposed to these resoltuion.

The UN General Assembly’s resolution speaks to a significant instrument reflecting the base benchmark agreed by all Member States of the international community on issues identified with torture and different types of abuse or ill-treatment.

The Human Rights Council’s resolution represents the views of the Member States to the main UN Human Rights organ.

Association for the Prevention of Torture

The APT was founded in 1977.
APT work is built on the insight that torture and forms of ill-treatment happens behind closed doors.
APT mobilise States and civil society in favour of prevention through the following actions:

Inspiring innovative solutions to prevent ill-treatment;
Informing that the risk exists everywhere, and that prevention works;
Persuading that it is necessary to commit to prevention.

What is torture?

Torture is one of the most serious violations of a person’s fundamental rights. It destroys their dignity, body and mind and has far-reaching effects on their family and community.

Torture Prevention

In recent years, the concept of torture prevention has gained ground all over the world.
Some 80 States have already joined the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT) system and agreed to open up their prisons, police stations and other places of detention to outside scrutiny.

Capital Punishment or Death Penalty

It is the execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law.

Death Penalty in India

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in India.
In August 2015, the Law Commission of India submitted a report to the government which recommended the abolition of capital punishment for all crimes in India, excepting the crime of waging war against the nation or for terrorism-related offences.

Constitutional Provisions

Article 72(1) of the Constitution of India states:

The President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence

(a) in all cases where the punishment or sentence is by a Court Martial;

(b) in all cases where the punishment or sentence is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends;

Source: The Hindu

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