The International Coalition to End Torture documents torture and ill-treatment, monitors how states apply the Convention against Torture, and publishes source-based research for the people affected and for those who represent them.

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Internal Government Documents: More Than 100 People Sent to Eight African States, Many With No Criminal History

CBS News obtained internal United States government documents on the expansion of third-country removals. They record people sent to eight African states, and that many had no criminal history beyond…

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The rule this site exists to document

“No State Party shall expel, return (‘refouler’) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”

United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, article 3(1)

The same prohibition in national law

Refoulement is the treaty’s word, from the French refouler, for returning a person to a place of danger. None of the three statutes below uses it. Each sets out the same prohibition in its own words.

United States

“It shall be the policy of the United States not to expel, extradite, or otherwise effect the involuntary return of any person to a country in which there are substantial grounds for believing the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture, regardless of whether the person is physically present in the United States.”

Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, section 2242(a)

United Kingdom

“It is unlawful for a public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with a Convention right.”

Human Rights Act 1998, section 6(1). Article 3 of the European Convention, which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, is set out in Schedule 1 to that Act.

Germany

“Foreigners may not be deported to a state where they face serious harm as referred to in section 4 (1) of the Asylum Act.”

Residence Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz), section 60(2). Section 4(1) of the Asylum Act defines serious harm to include torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Read these in full, with the decisions that have applied them

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Every route names its sources and says plainly what the Coalition can and cannot do. None of it is legal advice.

Alert

Reported risks of torture or refoulement in states receiving people transferred from the United States. Each designation names the sources it rests on. What an Alert means

52 states
Antigua and BarbudaA legal grey zone, in the Government's own wordsArmeniaTorture found by the European Court, and reports to the Committee against Torture of Azerbaijani prisoners of war killed, tortured and ill-treated, with no prosecutionsAustraliaIll-treatment found by the Committee against Torture, and chain refoulement riskBelizeNo supervision of any kindBurundiTortureCabo VerdeNo asylum procedureCameroonTorture and refoulementCentral African RepublicTorture and refoulement riskCosta RicaArbitrary detention on arrivalCubaIll-treatment and arbitrary arrest found by the Committee against Torture, with no individual complaint route openDemocratic Republic of the CongoRefoulementDominicaSelected from a list, with no procedure behind itDominican RepublicA refuge claim the receiving state says it will not acceptEcuadorEmergency rule and no documented receptionEgyptTorture found systematically practised, in an inquiry by the Committee against TortureEl SalvadorTorture and incommunicado detentionEquatorial GuineaTorture and refoulementEswatiniTortureGermanyRefoulement found by the Committee against Torture, and a removal German courts called unconstitutionalGhanaRefoulementGrenadaA framework agreement with the terms left outGuatemalaOnward removal without a protection procedureGuyanaAn assurance with no law behind itHondurasA corridor, not a destinationIranTorture found by a United Nations mission to amount to a crime against humanityItalyPushbacks and refoulement riskJamaicaOutside the Convention against Torture altogetherKosovoRefoulement riskLiberiaRefoulement riskMexicoChain refoulement and violence in transitMoldovaRefoulement riskNicaraguaPast torture by the Nicaraguan government found by a United States immigration judge, and torture in prisons and police stations found by the Committee against TortureNigeriaImpunity for torture found by the Committee against Torture, which examined Nigeria in the absence of any reportPalauNo treaty protectionPanamaIncommunicado detention and no asylum routeParaguayReturn onward without an asylum claimPolandRefoulement at the border and acquiescence in tortureRussiaTorture found by the Committee against Torture to be practised, including as a means to extract confessionsRwandaRefoulement riskSaint Kitts and NevisA right of entry, not a protection systemSaint LuciaOutside the refugee treaties entirelySierra LeoneRefoulementSomaliaMistreatment during interrogation found by the Committee against TortureSouth SudanArbitrary detentionSudanA party to the Convention against Torture since 2021 whose first report has never been examinedThe GambiaA party to the Convention against Torture that has never been examined under it, its first report seven years overdueUgandaTortureUnited KingdomA transfer carried out against a European Court order, and ill-treatment in immigration detentionUnited StatesPunitive removal and refoulement riskUzbekistanTortureVenezuelaTorture and ill-treatment of people arrested during protests found by the Committee against TortureVietnamTorture found by the Human Rights Committee, falling in particular on minorities and dissidents

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Internal Government Documents: More Than 100 People Sent to Eight African States, Many With No Criminal History
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Our Approach

How We Work

Know It.

We raise awareness of the UN Convention Against Torture and international human rights law among governments, institutions, and citizens. Knowing the law is the foundation of demanding it.

Demand It.

We lobby the United Nations, national parliaments, and regional bodies to ratify and implement OPCAT and anti-torture obligations. Pressure from coalitions changes legislation and practice.

Defend It.

We train detention monitors, support national preventive mechanisms, and protect human rights defenders. Without independent oversight, prohibitions against torture exist only on paper.

2003 Year Founded
176 States parties to the UN Convention Against Torture
100+ Coalition partner organizations globally
Zero Government funding: fully independent