9.3. Prohibition against torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment PRINCIPLE LEGAL STANDARD 9.3.1. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. UDHR, Art. 5: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 9.3.2. Deprivation of nationality is likely to constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, particularly where it results in statelessness. 9.3.3. Attempted expulsion consequent to deprivation of nationality is likely to meet the threshold of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment when this leads to: ICCPR, Art. 7: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. CAT, Art. 2(1): “Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction. CAT, Art. 1: “[T]he term ‘torture’ means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as … punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed 9.3.3.1. arbitrary detention; 9.3.3.2. a violation of the principle of non-refoulement; or 9.3.3.3. the forcible separation of families. 155. The prohibition against torture is a clearly established principle of both international and regional (human rights) law, and is established in the UDHR (Article 5), the ICCPR (Article 7), CAT, the CRC (Article 37(a)), the ECHR (Article 3), the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (Article 4), the ACHR (Article 5(2)), the ACHPR (Article 5), the ACRWC (Article 16), and the Geneva Conventions (Common Article 3). 156. The Committee against Torture (CAT) states that the prohibition against torture is a fundamental principle of customary international law.263 The prohibition against torture is absolute and nonderogable. The absolute nature of this prohibition is evident from Article 4 ICCPR, which lists the prohibition of torture among the non-derogable human rights in times of a public emergency. Article CAT emphasizes that “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture . The Committee against Torture identified threats of terrorist acts or 263 CAT, ‘General Comment No. : Implementation of article by States parties’ 76 CAT C GC , para .