The prevention and prohibition of torture and ill-treatment in Uganda. a case study of the detention centers in Uganda

Abstract

Torture is defined under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, (UNCAT) 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 or 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.1 According to this definition, acts of physical or mental suffering cannot constitute torture without either the consent or direct involvement of a public official.