As a survivor of non-state torture (waterboarding), I feel very strongly (as do other survivors) that the UN convention on Torture's definition of torture as any setting where state officials may be involved in inflicting 'severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental' on an individual is extremely damaging. It denies justice and validation to the thousands of people who have experienced torture inflicted by people or organisations other than the state.

Torture is torture, no matter who does it.

We need the UN convention to recognise this.

This will enable survivors to obtain justice. Currently, torturers can evade justice based on their detachment from the state, or be prosecuted for lesser crimes, meaning that the severity of the damage that they cause is not fully recognised or taken into account in sentencing. It will also mean that survivors feel validated as their experience is internationally recognised and taken seriously.

Although I am plagued by my intense fear of even drinking water every day like some state torture survivors, my experience and suffering is somehow seen as less valid, and there is significantly less support and research for non-state torture survivors like me.

State torture is torture, but it is only one category of torture.

Despite the UN Committee on Torture commenting in 2008 that non-state torture occurs and should be investigated, they still have not added it into their convention 16 years later.

International Law must recognise this serious violation of human rights.

Torture is torture, no matter who does it.