A/RES/57/199. Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, 2002

• Resolution Number: A/RES/57/199
• Year: 2002
• Session: 57th
• Issuer: General Assembly of the United Nation

United Nations A/RES/57/199

General Assembly Distr.: General

9 January 2003

Fifty-seventh session

Agenda item 109 (a)

02 55148

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly

[on the report of the Third Committee (A/57/556/Add.1)]

57/199. Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and

Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or

Punishment

The General Assembly

,

Recalling

article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

1

article 7 of

the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,

2

the Declaration on the

Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel,

Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

3

and its resolution 39/46 of

10 December 1984, by which it adopted and opened for signature, ratification and

accession the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading

Treatment or Punishment, and all its subsequent relevant resolutions,

Reaffirming

that freedom from torture is a right that must be protected under

all circumstances,

Considering

that the World Conference on Human Rights, held at Vienna from

14 to 25 June 1993, firmly declared that efforts to eradicate torture should first and

foremost be concentrated on prevention and called for the early adoption of an

optional protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or

Degrading Treatment or Punishment, intended to establish a preventive system of

regular visits to places of detention,

Welcoming

the adoption of the draft optional protocol to the Convention

against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by

the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 2002/33 of 22 April 2002

4

and

by the Economic and Social Council in its resolution 2002/27 of 24 July 2002, in

which the Council recommended to the General Assembly the adoption of the draft

optional protocol,

1.

Adopts

the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and

Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment contained in the

annex to the present resolution, and requests the Secretary-General to open it for

_______________

1 Resolution 217 A (III).

2 See resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.

3 Resolution 3452 (XXX), annex.

4 See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2002, Supplement No. 3 (E/2002/23), chap. II,

sect. A.