Global Review on Torture Summary Brief

A recent systematic review and meta-metanalysis documented torture in 105 countries over a more than 70-year period. In 2022 alone, Amnesty International described allegations of torture in 72 countries, constituting 47 percent of the 154 countries profiled in their most recent annual report. Studies and United Nations-published statistics reflect that, on average, 27 to 44 percent of asylum-seekers and refugees experience torture, although there is a wide range across different settings. Measuring torture prevalence remains a challenge due to underreporting that stems from suppression, fear and mistrust, stigma, survivors' limited access to reporting mechanisms, and low visibility into detention centers, conflict zones, and other affected areas. Methodological challenges include the lack of data consistency and comparability across studies, difficulties with verification of claims, and use of non-representative and non-probabilistic sampling techniques. Several regions are particularly affected by torture, with the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) and Asia identified as two regions where torture may be taking place on a particularly large scale. In IDAMS' analysis of the Amnesty International 2022 report, these two regions each accounted for 24 percent of all countries where torture was alleged or reported. Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe also have significant proportions of countries where torture is confirmed, alleged, or suspected. Conflict increases the risk and intensity of torture and weakens the rule of law and human rights protection mechanisms. States where nationalist parties hold substantial influence are more likely to adopt policies that lead to torture of marginalized groups. Increases in torture have also been linked to the worsening conditions of migration, including criminalization of migration. Country wealth is also associated with the risk of torture, although the relationship is nuanced. Countries with higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita have lower risks of torture committed by police, military, prison, and other unnamed state actors. However, wealthy countries are more likely to perpetrate torture in immigration detention centers. Torture practices are largely similar across the globe, with physical, psychological, and conditions of detention being the primary forms of torture. On average, torture survivors experience 3.6 methods per person, with individual survivors experiencing an average of two physical practices and one psychological practice. Physical torture is widely practiced and documented in 59 countries and 208 studies, with several other studies reporting physical practices such as beatings or blunt force trauma as the most common forms of torture. Psychological torture was reported in 62 countries and 188 studies, encompassing a wide range of practices that aim to induce fear, humiliation, a sense of powerlessness, and a loss of dignity. Conditions of detention constituted nearly one-third of torture, including overcrowding, lack of sanitation, violence, inadequate food and water, and solitary confinement.