THE UNITED NATIONS, December 11. /TASS/. The release of a long-awaited Senate report on CIA torture is the “start of a process” on ensuring that there needs to be accountability for this illegal practice, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told journalists.

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations chief shares the sentiments expressed earlier by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that torture is unacceptable under any circumstances.

All 156 countries that have signed up to the UN Convention against Torture, including the US which ratified it in 1994, need to ensure that these practices stop, he stressed.

“What is laid out in the Convention is very clear. And those States that have signed up to the Convention need to follow up on what is in the Convention,” he said.

“I think the prohibition against torture is absolute,” Dujarric, reminding that Mr. Ban said this a few months ago in his message on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. “It's absolute. And it's non-negotiable.”