Extrajudicial killings

The OMCT and the members of its SOS-Torture Network keep documenting these killings, including in countries where they are part of a well-established pattern. One case in point is the Philippines, where large-scale killings in the framework of the so-called “war on drugs” have not even spared children. In Bangladesh, there were 845 documented cases of extrajudicial killings between 2013 and 2017, with not a single one having been duly investigated. As with torture and other serious crimes carried out by State officials or with their tacit approval, impunity is a major factor for such killings to continue. Together with our SOS-Torture Network, we have documented numerous cases in Latin America, including Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Other countries known for this practice include Congo, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, and Syria.

There is frequent overlap between torture and extrajudicial killings, for example, when torture results in death. The experts on the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) regularly refer to extrajudicial killings in their concluding observations after examining how a country complies with its obligation to respect the Convention against Torture. In recent years, this has been the case for Burundi, Ukraine, Israel/OPT, Iraq, Yemen, and China, among others – including when the CAT focused on deaths in custody due to torture. The CAT also includes acts perpetrated by non-State actors when examining extrajudicial killings as violations of the Convention.