UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan stressed on Thursday that all states should prohibit all forms of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

    In a message on Saturday's Human Rights Day, Annan noted that recent times have witnessed an especially disturbing trend of countries claiming exceptions to the prohibition on torture based on their own national security perceptions.

    "Torture can never be an instrument to fight terror, for torture is an instrument of terror," he emphasized, urging all states to honor the prohibition and vigorously combat the impunity of perpetrators of torture.

    Annan also stressed that no state can condone torture by a third party, saying that means individuals must never be rendered to another state if there is any danger that doing so may subject them to torture.

    UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour implicitly criticized the United States on Wednesday for violating the global ban on torture, saying the absolute ban on torture is becoming a casualty of the so-called "war on terror" through loosened legal definition, secret detention, hand-over of prisoners without adequate safeguards and other practices. Enditem