The worldwide eradication of the practice of torture was one of the major challenges of the United Nations only a few years after it was created. To ensure adequate protection for all persons against torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the United Nations has, over the years, adopted a number of universally applicable standards. The Committee Against Torture was established to ensure that the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment is observed and implemented. The publication reports on the selected decisions of the Committee during its eleventh to thirty-eighth sessions (November 1993 to May 2007).