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Rh The Oxford English Dictionary defines 'cruel' as "causing or inflicting pain without pity," 'inhuman' as "destitute of natural kindness or pity, brutal, unfeeling, savage, barbarous" and 'degrading' as "lowering in character or quality, moral or intellectual debasement." In South African case law, definitions of 'cruel,' with regard to treatment or punishment are rare. The phrase "cruel treatment" has been used in the context of abuse of animals and has been described variously as "wilfully caus[ing] pain without justification … intention of causing it unnecessary suffering;" "deliberate act causing substantial pain and not reasonably necessary in all the circumstances."

Whether it is necessary to split the words of the phrase and interpret the concepts individually is a matter which would largely depend on the nature of the conduct sought to be impugned. It may well be that in a given case, conduct that is degrading may not be inhuman or cruel. On the other hand, other conduct may be all three. It was suggested to us that a useful approach might be to grade the concepts on a sliding scale of suffering inflicted, torture occupying the extreme position, followed by cruel, inhuman and degrading, in that order.

International forums offer very little guidance with regard to the meaning to be given to each word, individually. The tendency has been to deal with them as phrases or a combination of words. Thus when the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) was called upon to interpret the corresponding section in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), it did not consider "it necessary to draw up a list of prohibited acts or to establish sharp distinctions between the different kinds of punishment or treatment; the distinctions depend on the nature, purpose and severity of the treatment applied." According to the UNHRC, the assessment of what constitutes inhuman or degrading treatment depends on all the circumstances of the case, such as the duration and manner of the treatment, its physical or mental effects as well as the sex, age and state of