The Istanbul Protocol
The Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment and Punishment, commonly known as the Istanbul Protocol, contains the first international standards and procedures on how to recognise and document symptoms of torture in such a way that the findings
may be used as evidence in court cases. Initiated and coordinated by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey
and Physicians for Human Rights USA, the Istanbul Protocol was developed by 75 experts from more than 40 organisations, including the IRCT. It was submitted to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on 9 August
1999 and has subsequently been annexed to various UN resolutions and been published by the Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as part of its Professional Training Series.
The Istanbul Protocol is available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish on the OHCHR’s
website: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/PublicationsResources/Pages/TrainingEducation.aspx
The IRCT has facilitated translations of the Istanbul Protocol into Georgian and Serbian. These translations
are available from our website: http://www.irct.org/Read-the-Protocol-2701.aspx