Conceptualising Involuntary Sterilisation as ‘Severe Pain or Suffering’ For the Purposes of Torture Discourse

The definition of torture contained in Article 1 of the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment requires an ‘act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person’. In this article it is argued that involuntary sterilisation constitutes an act which intentionally causes both severe physical and mental pain and suffering, thereby satisfying the first requirement of the definition of torture. In this way, this article takes torture discourse beyond the traditional context and adopts a distinctly gendered approach to the definition of torture by focusing on the involuntary sterilisation of women.