"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. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions". (Article 1 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1988).

Torture has been recognized around the world as one of the most serious crimes, its prohibition as a fundamental standard of the international community (1). Moreover, as a 'peremptory' norm, the prohibition of torture is placed at the highest level of international law and takes precedent over conflicting rules of treaty law or customary international law (2). Conventions and treaty texts setting out the prohibition of torture have stipulated that torture must be characterized as a crime in domestic law (3). Further, the Committee against Torture has repeatedly called on States to list torture as a specific offence in domestic criminal codes (4), and/or to ensure that the offence of torture is consistent with Article 1 of the Convention against Torture (5).

The definition of torture has been analysed by the European Court of Human Rights, who found that torture is deliberate inhuman treatment causing very serious and cruel suffering (6). The level of pain and suffering was said to be the distinguishing factor between torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment: "[T] he Convention, with its distinction between "torture" and "inhuman or degrading treatment", should by the first of these terms attach a special stigma to deliberate inhuman treatment causing very serious and cruel suffering". In the Greek Case, the Commission held that torture has a purpose, such as the obtaining of information or confessions or the infliction of punishment and it is generally an aggravated form of inhuman treatment (7).

The Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture has defines torture more broadly than the UN Convention. It includes as torture "the use of methods upon a person intended to obliterate the personality of the victim or to diminish his physical or mental capacities, even if they do not cause physical pain or mental anguish" (8). Also, the Rome Statute for an International Criminal Court has slightly extended the definition in the UN Convention against Torture, in that it does not explicitly require the consent or acquiescence of a public official or any other person acting in an official capacity. It defines torture as: "the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, upon a person in the custody or under the control of the accused; except that torture shall not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to, lawful sanctions. (9)"

While several treaties and international texts provide that torture does "not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions, (10)" In 1992, the Human Rights Committee, in its General Comment, stated that the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment "must extend to corporal punishment (11),'' and may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or even to torture (12)"