UNWCC Policy on the Prosecution of Torture 1943–1948

This article provides a cursory overview of the development of torture as a war crime and/or a crime against humanity. While torture may at one time have been an accepted method of interrogation and punishment, matters changed in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. After presenting the approaches to torture common before World War II, the article focuses on the United Nations War Crimes Commission’s (UNWCC) internal debates on the crime, as well as it’s scrutiny of the national war crimes prosecution programmes of its members. As torture was, however, not at the core of UNWCC’s discussions, the author calls for further comparative research on the legacy of the UNWCC, particularly in the records of national authorities which were responsible for the prosecution of war crimes following World War II.