Friday, December 16, 2005



Mapping the CAT

In his Human Rights Day message, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged countries to ratify the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. So who has actually ratified? Here's a little map I whipped up last week, using information from the OHCHR's list of ratifications:

CAT_sml

By far the majority of countries have ratified the CAT. Yet many of them still engage in torture. The problem then isn't with ratifications, but with getting states to keep their word and work to stamp out torture.

2 comments:

Agreed. Still a depressing surprise to see India hasn't ratified it though.

Posted by Anonymous : 12/16/2005 08:11:00 AM

Very. Especially when China has.

Most of the Pacific Island nations are also non-signatories - which presents a clear (though minor) foreign policy goal for New Zealand.

Posted by Idiot/Savant : 12/16/2005 11:17:00 AM