Welcome to Hard Talk from the BBC World Service. I'm Sarah Montague.

In the 40 years since its introduction, almost every country in the world has signed up to the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

That means states have an obligation to prosecute anyone considered to have carried out torture

and to prevent other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishments.

My guest, in an interview recorded on the 7th of January, is Alice Edwards, the UN's special rapporteur on torture.

When she took up the job, she said her priority was to build the foundations of a torture-free world.

But there are more wars around the globe now than at any time since

1945. And she says torture is at unacceptable levels. So is it fanciful to believe you can

eradicate something that's been around for as long as humans have existed? Alice Edwards,

welcome to Hard Talk. Thanks very much, Sarah. The number of conflicts are on the rise.

Is torture on the rise too?

I think there is a direct correlation between the fact that we have 120 conflicts, armed conflicts, going on in the world right now.

And what we're seeing are increasing reports of torture from multiple conflicts.

How do you define torture? The general definition is from the UN Convention Against Torture,

which is then used in more or less all the other international legal frameworks and is

considered widely accepted without exception.

Essentially, severe pain or suffering that is inflicted on an individual with a specific purpose.

So there's a purposeful intent and that could be for the purpose of interrogating them,

seeking a confession.

It could also be for the purpose of oppression, discrimination and intimidation,

and done by a public authority or another person acting in an official capacity.

There are also later been developments to say, well, where the state stands by and watches non-state actors perform those acts of cruelty, they can also be liable for those acts.

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