The international protective framework against the crime of torture

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 represents the cornerstone that sparked the first explicit criminalization of torture internationally, filling the void left by previous conventions that lacked explicit texts prohibiting its practice. Since then, legal efforts have continued, starting with the 1950 European Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, all the way to the Convention against Torture. Further, these instruments combined to impose a comprehensive legal prohibition and formulate a precise concept of torture that ensures the prosecution and punishment of its perpetrators. Therefore, the Hague and Geneva Conventions oblige states to treat prisoners in a humane manner befitting their dignity and criminalize any harm to their physical safety or subjecting them to any form of cruelty or mutilation. In this context, Article 3, common to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, stands out as a fundamental guarantee in non-international armed conflicts. It categorically prohibits attacks on life and physical integrity and prohibits mutilation, cruel treatment, and torture, thereby affirming the necessity of preserving human dignity even in the darkest circumstances of internal conflicts.