International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

News

In 1997, on the recommendation of the Economic and Social Council, the UN General Assembly proclaimed June 26 the International Day of the United Nations in Support of Victims of Torture.

This day is marked with the aim of eradicating torture and ensuring the effective implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which entered into force on 26 June 1984.

On this day, the world community pays tribute to the men and women who suffered the harsh ordeals that fell to their lot, and didn’t lose their courage and inner strength and mourns those who did not survive.

Torture is used with the view to destroy an individual’s personality, as one of the most inhuman actions, used by one person against another one, and it is a crime under the principles of the international law. All relevant documents strictly prohibit the use of torture. This means that no circumstances whatsoever, whether the state of war or the threat of war, internal political instability or any other state of emergency and the order of a superior or state authority cannot serve as a justification for torture. However, using torture continues despite the long-standing and unconditional prohibition of it.

Not all states consider it necessary to observe international legal norms. In violation of the norms of the International Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War, staff of the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies continue to use unlawful methods of influence against the captive supporters of the Republic. And even now, in the era of humanism and democracy, the use of torture is a usual practice in Ukraine. Unfortunately, the reality is that in Ukraine there is no respect for the personality of prisoners.

The International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is a day that gives an opportunity to show solidarity with the victims of torture and their families for all the suffering they had faced, and to reaffirm the need to take measures by the world community to rehabilitate all victims of ill-treatment.