A/HRC/21/50 48. Under IHL, persons taking no active part in the hostilities are entitled to be treated humanely.56 Customary IHL rules also include a prohibition on arbitrary deprivation of liberty57 and require parties to the conflict to keep a register of persons deprived of their liberty,58 respect detainees‘ family life, to permit detainees to receive visitors, especially near relatives to the degree practicable and allow correspondence between detainees and their families. 49. Parties to a conflict must take all feasible measure to account for persons reported missing as a result of the conflict and efforts must be made to provide family members with any information the Party has on their fate. The practice of enforced disappearance also may be a gateway to other violations such as torture, murder or extra judicial executions. The combined effect of particular IHL obligations leads to the conclusion that the practice of disappearance is prohibited by customary IHL. 50. Furthermore, ―imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law‖ and enforced disappearance are acts recognized in the Rome Statute as potentially giving rise to a crime against humanity if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.59 Integral to the finding of a crime of ―enforced disappearance‖ is a refusal to acknowledge the arrest, detention or abduction, or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of such person or persons.60 E. Torture and other forms of ill-treatment 51. Under IHRL, there is a clear prohibition on torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in Article 7 of the ICCPR. The Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) provides a fuller definition: ―torture‖ means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. 52. Torture during armed conflict is both a violation of IHL and a breach of international criminal law. Torture must not be balanced against national security interests or even the protection of other human rights. No limitations are permitted on the prohibition of torture. International humanitarian law explicitly prohibits the torture and cruel treatment of persons taking no active part in hostilities (including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms or been rendered hors de combat). Such conduct constitutes a war crime. 56 57 58 59 60 56 detention, granting detainees suitable access to persons such as doctors, lawyers and family members, ensuring detainees are held in places that are officially recognized as places of detention and for their names and places of detention, as well as for the names of persons responsible for their detention, to be kept in registers readily available and accessible to those concerned, including relatives and friends. Article 4 (1) AP II, Common Article 3 of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949. ICRC Study, Rule 99. ICRC Study, Rule 123. Rome Statute, Art. 7 (1) (i). ICC Elements of Crimes, Article 7 (1) (i).