MERCO PRESS
Too many countries are still practising or tolerating “cruel, degrading and illegal” acts of torture, top United Nations officials said today as they pledged the UN’s solidarity with the millions of torture victims worldwide.
“The prohibition of torture is absolute and unambiguous,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message marking the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, June 26.
“Torture cannot be justified under any circumstances whatsoever, whether during a state of war or in response to terrorism, political instability or any other public emergency.”
UN High Commissioner of Human Rights Navi Pillay used her message for the Day to warn that no one suspected of committing torture should be allowed to benefit from an amnesty.
“Torturers, and their superiors, need to hear the following message loud and clear: however powerful you are today, there is a strong chance that sooner or later you will be held to account for your inhumanity,” she said.
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