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UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture 2025: Know the date, theme, history and significance
UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture 2025: The United Nations has long condemned torture as one of the most heinous acts committed by humans against one another.
Despite being strictly prohibited by international law, the ongoing prevalence of torture calls for renewed efforts to address this critical issue and uphold the dignity and rights of individuals everywhere.
As a result, the UN International Day of Victims of Torture is observed every year on June 26th to eradicate torture as well as to remember and assist individuals who have been tortured across the world. This year, the day will be marked on Thursday, highlighting the theme 'Torture: a crime against humanity,' in 2025.
Thursday is the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
Despite being banned under international law, torture persists worldwide.
The UN has long condemned it as one of the vilest acts perpetrated by human beings on their fellow human beings.
— United Nations (@UN) June 26, 2025
It also commemorates the 1987 entry into force of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The day serves as a call to action for all stakeholders, including UN member states, civil society, and individuals worldwide, to band together in support of the hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world who have been tortured and continue to be tortured.
According to the UN (Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment), '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.
