It's Time to Stop Torture

"I thought it will be fast but no, it was done one at a time... I started counting and when it reached 40 I thought I could not make it... I prayed so hard... At last it reached 60... I could not explain the pain experienced." -- Nieves, a migrant worker from the Philippines, describes being flogged in Saudi Arabia.

Court Ordered Torture

1. Overview 2. Children 3. Corporal Punishment 4. Impunity 5. Juvenile Justice 6. Sexual Identity 7. Women & Girls

When governments are accused of committing torture, the usual response is denial: denial that torture took place; denial that they knew; or denial that they were responsible. The exception is when torture takes the form of punishment imposed by courts or ordered as a disciplinary measure by prison officials. Such punishments are spelled out in legislation and government policy, carried out openly by state officials, and sometimes take place in public.

However, even if such punishments are in accordance with national laws, they still break binding international treaties for the protection of human rights. As stated by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, "corporal punishment is inconsistent with the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." In 1992 the UN Human Rights Committee stated that the international prohibition of torture and ill-treatment "must extend to corporal punishment." In a resolution adopted in April 2000, the UN Commission on Human Rights confirmed that "corporal punishment, including of children, can amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or even to torture."

Some proponents of judicial corporal punishment justify it on cultural or religious grounds. But culture is not static and traditions are constantly being reshaped by new realities and debates. Punishments that may have been widely accepted in the past, today are seen to be cruel and degrading. Within countries that still practise corporal punishment, local human rights activists are increasingly challenging these practices. Furthermore, countries that still practise corporal punishment are clearly an exception to a broader trend among countries of diverse cultures and traditions to refrain from such punishments.

Amnesty International has documented cases of court ordered floggings in 14 countries since 1997. These countries are Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

Court ordered amputations have been documented in only seven countries: Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Sudan.

Judicial corporal punishment has been abolished or declared unconstitutional in four countries since 1997 (Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa and Zambia). Judicial corporal punishment has been newly introduced in only one country -- Nigeria.