Despite opposition from the US, a key UN committee has approved a protocol to a convention on torture which will establish a system of regular international inspection of prisons and detention centres.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, said the enforcement plan was "an important step toward the establishment of a new international mechanism to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".
The protocol, which has been ten years in the negotiating, has been backed by the UN's Commission on Human Rights, and is strongly supported by the EU, was passed late on Wednesday by a vote of 35-8 with 10 abstentions in the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
It now goes to the General Assembly in the autumn. If approved by a majority - Irish diplomatic sources are hopeful it will be - the protocol comes into force as soon as 20 states ratify it.
Although the protocol's provisions are optional, the US argued that it would be unconstitutional, on the grounds that allowing international inspectors into state jails would be an infringement of states' rights. In the past UN inspectors have been turned away from jails in several US states.
The US is also reported to be sensitive to the proposal because of concerns that it might prompt calls for inspectors to visit the base at Guantanamo, Cuba, where al- Qaeda and Taliban prisoners are being held.
Opposition to the protocol, for the most part, came from countries with a poor human rights record. The US, which insists it is still a firm supporter of the convention itself, was joined in abstaining by Bhutan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia and Zimbabwe.
Outright opposition came from China, Cuba, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, Sudan, Japan and, to the surprise of many diplomats, Australia.
Japan opposed the measure because its funding, like all other human rights funding, is to be provided from central UN funds rather than contributions from participating states.
The International Convention on Torture was passed in 1989 and has since been ratified by 130 countries, including the US, but has no effective mechanism for ensuring its implementation.
Amnesty International claims that over 100 states still employ torture on prisoners in detention.
