Chapter 8 • International Legal Standards for the Protection of Persons Deprived of Their Liberty These elements were all fulfilled in the case of Ms. Mejía. As to the first element, the Commission considered “that rape is a physical and mental abuse that is perpetrated as a result of an act of violence”; it also “causes physical and mental suffering in the victim. In addition to the violence suffered at the time it is committed, the victims are commonly hurt or, in some cases, are even made pregnant. The fact of being made the subject of abuse of this nature also causes a psychological trauma that results, on the one hand, from having been humiliated and victimized, and on the other, from suffering the condemnation of the members of their community if they report what has been done to them.”37 This element was fulfilled in this case, since Ms. Mejía “was a victim of rape, ... in consequence of an act of violence that [caused] her ‘physical and mental pain and suffering’.”38 As to the second element, the rape of Ms. Mejía was committed “with the aim of punishing her personally and intimidating her”; the guilty man had told her that “she, too, was wanted as a subversive, like her husband”, and “that her name was on a list of persons connected with terrorism”. The man also threatened to come back and rape her again.39 Lastly, with regard to the third element, the Commission concluded that the man who raped Ms. Mejía was a member of the security forces who had himself been accompanied by a large group of soldiers.40 Considering that the three elements of the definition of torture were all present in this case, the Commission concluded that Peru had violated article 5 of the American Convention on Human Rights.41 It concluded moreover that the rapes suffered by Ms. Mejía constituted a violation of article 11 of the Convention concerning the right to privacy “in that they affected both her physical and her moral integrity, including her personal dignity”; indeed, as stated by the Commission, besides being a violation of victims’ physical and mental integrity, sexual abuse “implies a deliberate outrage to their dignity”.42 Lastly, the Peruvian State had also violated articles 1(1), 8(1) and 25 of the Convention since it had not provided effective remedies with regard to these violations.43 2.3.2 Treatment of detainees and prisoners The prevalence of torture and other unlawful treatment of persons deprived of their liberty is all too evident from the case-law of, inter alia, the Human Rights Committee, which contains numerous examples of violations of articles 7 and 10(1) of the International Covenant following the use of violence for the purpose, among others, of extracting confessions. Whenever the author is able to give a sufficiently detailed account of the beatings and other kinds of ill-treatment and the State party concerned fails to respond thereto, or does not dispute the allegations, the Committee considers that the information before it sustains a violation of articles 7 and 10(1) of the 37 Ibid., p. 186. 38 Ibid., loc. cit. 39 Ibid., pp. 186-187. 40 Ibid., p. 187. 41 Ibid., loc. cit. 42 Ibid., pp. 187-188. 43 Ibid., p. 193. The same held true with regard to the homicide of her husband, ibid., loc. cit. Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers 327