How does torture abuse human rights

States Parties shall also take all appropriate measures to prevent all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse by ensuring, inter alia, appropriate forms of gender- and age-sensitive assistance and support for persons with disabilities and their families and caregivers, including through the provision of information and education on how to avoid, recognize and report instances of exploitation, violence and abuse.

States Parties shall ensure that protection services are age-, gender- and disability-sensitive. In order to prevent the occurrence of all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse, States Parties shall ensure that all facilities and programmes designed to serve persons with disabilities are effectively monitored by independent authorities. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote the physical, cognitive and psychological recovery, rehabilitation and social reintegration of persons with disabilities who become victims of any form of exploitation, violence or abuse, including through the provision of protection services.

Such recovery and reintegration shall take place in an environment that fosters the health, welfare, self-respect, dignity and autonomy of the person and takes into account gender- and age-specific needs. States Parties shall put in place effective legislation and policies, including women- and child-focused legislation and policies, to ensure that instances of exploitation, violence and abuse against persons with disabilities are identified, investigated and, where appropriate, prosecuted.

The information contained in this chapter will enable participants to work towards the following objectives:. Persons with disabilities are particularly at risk for exposure to torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. Likewise, persons with disabilities are vulnerable to exploitation, violence, and abuse. Many violations against persons with disabilities go unnoticed because they frequently are forced into institutionalized settings or other places that are isolated and hidden from public scrutiny, such as private and group homes, psychiatric hospitals, detention centres, and prisons.

Like all human beings, persons with disabilities have the right under human rights law to be free from all forms of violence and abuse. The enjoyment of the right of persons with disabilities to be free from torture and other forms of violence is related to their enjoyment of other human rights.

For example, if a person with a disability is subjected to torture, his or her right to life may well be compromised and also his or her right to health — both physical and mental — is surely at risk. Where children with disabilities are subjected to violence and abuse in educational settings, their right to health, as well as their right to an education is violated.

Persons with disabilities in institutional settings are often subject to degrading conditions where they receive little or no care, have no means to fulfil basic necessities of personal hygiene, or have no access to meaningful activities of interest. Such conditions violate a number of additional human rights beyond the right to be free from inhuman and degrading treatment, including the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to recreation, and the right to health. These examples demonstrate how human rights are indivisible , interdependent , and interrelated.

Human rights law draws some distinctions between torture on the one hand and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment on the other. Where an action does not meet the precise definition of torture, it may be considered cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, depending on the form, severity, and purpose of the conduct.

Advocates need to understand the legal differences when they are making claims and reporting on violations. It is also important to understand, however, that the lines between torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment may be difficult to draw in any given case.

In part, it requires assessing the intensity and duration of pain and the particular circumstances of the individual. Abuse that some courts may recognize as torture may be characterized differently by other courts. Torture is one of the most serious violations of human rights. The right to be free from torture and other forms of physical and mental ill-treatment is absolute and may not be suspended or restricted under any circumstances. Because of the risk of torture and other ill-treatment occurring during police custody, a number of procedural safeguards have been put in place in international human rights law documents that aim to substantially reduce the risk of torture occurring.

Torture is a frequent cause of disability, and when torture is inflicted on a person with a disability, it may lead to secondary disabilities or the onset of a serious medical condition.

Interrogation techniques amounting to torture, which are damaging to anyone, may be compounded for a person with certain disabilities or for those with medical conditions. The practices of displaying and photographing children with visible disabilities in hospital amphitheatres or subjecting persons with disabilities to display in circuses in forced-labour conditions are degrading as well as psychologically harmful.

The treatment of psychosocial illnesses especially illustrates abusive practices that may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

The abusive treatment of persons with psychosocial disabilities is not confined to the distant past. Disability organizations have documented contemporary examples of abusive treatment, which constitute some of the most extreme forms of torture or inhuman and degrading treatment against persons with disabilities. Thus, the Convention Against Torture identifies the following three elements that, if combined, constitute torture: 1 intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering; 2 for a specific purpose, such as to obtain information, as punishment, or to intimidate, or for any reason based on discrimination; and, 3 by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of State authorities.

Torture is distinguished from other forms of mistreatment based on a context-and fact-specific analysis of the intent with which the suffering is inflicted and the severity of the treatment. Some of the most common methods of physical torture include beating, electric shocks, stretching, submersion, suffocation, burns, rape and sexual assault.

Psychological forms of torture and ill-treatment, which very often have the most long-lasting consequences for victims, commonly include: isolation, threats, humiliation, mock executions, mock amputations, and witnessing the torture of others.

The Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Istanbul Protocol contains widely accepted standards for identifying victims of torture and documenting and reporting the abuse.

As a result, infliction of torture may constitute a war crime. See First Geneva Convention, art. The conventions protect both civilians and military personnel from torture. The Egyptian government has deliberately let a former presidential candidate languish behind bars without proper medical care. Get updates on human rights issues from around the globe. Join our movement today. Human Rights Watch. Donate Now. Take Action. Join Us. Give Now.

Explore Torture. Asia November 3, News Release. Next: Article 16 — Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse. List of Articles. CRPD Homepage. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Map of Signatures and Ratifications.