Commemorating Anti-Torture Day
Anti-torture protestor aims her message at UC Berkeley
professor John Yoo. (Photo: B. Patterson/Berkeleyside)
Annually on June 26, The International Day in Support of Victims of Torture remembers and honors victims, survivors, and family members.
On June 26, 1987, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment took effect. The Convention defines 'torture' as:
"any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain and suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity...."
Torture is prohibited at all times, under all conditions with no allowed exceptions.