Convention Against Torture (CAT)
61 Articles
Systemic Racist Police Brutality Shocks the Conscience of Humanity, but is it an International Crime?
(Editor’s note: To mark today’s 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia, Just Security is publishing two articles. In addition to this piece by Margaret deGuzman…
How Inter-State Procedures in Human Rights Treaties Can Support the Black Lives Matter Movement
The initiation of inter-State conciliation proceedings alone, under either convention, could send a powerful and symbolic message about the need for reform. The Conventions provide…
The US Goes to Bat for Lebanon’s “Butcher of Khiam”
American intervention in Lebanon's trial of Amer Fakhoury undermines the rule of law and disregards obligations under the Convention against Torture.
The Trump Administration’s Indefensible Legal Defense of Its Asylum Ban
"The Trump administration has finally made public its legal justification for its decision to halt asylum processing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is embarrassingly bad.…
Saudi Crackdown on Dissent Violates Kingdom’s International Legal Obligations
The prosecution of Salman Alodah, a reform-minded Saudi scholar, is particularly emblematic of Saudi Arabia's worrisome pattern of suppressing dissent.
Fear and Loathing on the Border: A First-Hand Look at the Travesty
Far from the loophole-ridden sieve described by the administration, the asylum system we saw was a Kafka-esque labyrinth designed to punish migrants who dare to exercise their…
Top Expert Backgrounder: Children in Immigration Detention — What are the International Norms?
Vice Chair of the United Nations Committee Against Torture, Felice Gaer, writing in her personal capacity.
Citizens to the UN: Investigate Our “Torture Chambers in the Sky”
On behalf of the North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture (NCCIT), a citizen-initiated truth panel, we just submitted a 35-page communication to 10 U.N. Special Rapporteurs…
The Torture of Forcibly Separating Children from their Parents
A detailed analysis of why the family separation policy amounts to government-sanctioned torture.
“Zero Tolerance” and the Detention of Children: Torture under International Law
The Trump administration will continue to run afoul of refugee and human rights law unless and until it stops criminalizing refugees and ends the unjustified detention of children.
Syria, J’Accuse! Syrian State Responsibility for War Crimes
So far, achieving any measure of accountability for the grave international crimes being committed in Syria has been elusive, as I’ve outlined before. A draft Security Council…
Trump and Torture
Presidential candidate Donald Trump has made headlines with his campaign promise to revive torture as a US government practice. First, with his signature bluster, Trump declared…