NEW YORK, June 25: The Amnesty International on Monday called on all states to eradicate the scourge of torture and all other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The human rights watchdog made the appeal to mark the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention against Torture adopted in 1984.

“Torturers must not be allowed to get away with their crimes — be they perpetrators, their civilian superiors or military commanders or the state as a whole. Victims must not be left to suffer — their torture must be stopped, their torturers punished, and their right to reparation ensured,” the Amnesty said in a statement.

However, the organisation observed that the convention and the struggle to rid the world of all forms of torture and ill-treatment in general, continued to face serious challenges.

These challenges include, first and foremost, the continued infliction, in many countries, of torture and other ill-treatment on detainees, prisoners and others.

In police stations, prisons, military detention facilities, interrogation centres and other locations all around the world officials abuse the absolute power they have over defenceless persons deprived of their liberty and inflict pain on them, or else they allow others to inflict such pain with impunity.

Amnesty International's annual reports depressingly show, year after year, that the majority of states in the world still torture or ill-treat persons under their control.