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The aim of this thesis has been to discuss whether remainders of colonial influences exist within the UN's definition of torture or not. The discussion has been presented from a postcolonial point of view, in dialogue with contemporary power critical theorists. In order to raise awareness of a potential colonial influence, the following questions were intended to be answered: –                                        Are there any reasons, if so – which ones, to regard the UN's definition of torture as a colonial project? And; –                                        To what extent is the term “inhumane” limiting for the prohibition against torture from a postcolonial perspective? One of the most central arguments of the chosen theories is that the term “inhumane” evokes prejudices that a racializing apparatus within the social norms of the UN automatically produces. These prejudices are, according to the theorists, influenced by images of people in non-western and non-secular (especially muslim) societies as more prone to exercise “violence” and “cruelty” towards their own citizens as well as towards the population of the world in general. Thereby, these people's state of being leave them with no access to the human rights – they are not acting in a humane way and are therefore not allowed to be treated humanely. Even though the reasoning of the theorists are understandable at a theoretical and emotional level, the language of the convention against torture leaves no substantial evidence for this assumed cultural bias and colonial tendency.   Where the theories point out some human suffering as excluded from the definition, the solutions on how to include more aspects of suffering might be too intangible to be sustainable within the context of international law. One of the theorists however, Talal Asad, makes an appealing effort by introducing a paragraph of consent within the definition of torture. A paragraph of consent makes it, according to him, easier to account for emotional experiences of suffering. At the same time it makes it possible to exercise self-selected suffering (such as religious rituals and certain sexual preferences) between two or more consenting adults, without them being stigmatized within the discourse of suffering. By introducing the paragraph of consent and the elimination of the word “cruel” (because of its tendency of being linked to racializing factors) from the definition, Asad's  argumentation points out a way to possibly improve the prohibition to include more aspects of suffering.

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Abstract This essay has been about investigating and analyzing key rights in armed conflicts and howthey are respected in the Syrian war. The essay brings up three key rights and they are- the right to life- torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment- protection of cultural propertyRegarding these rights, questions are formulated- How have the human key rights been respected in the Syrian war?- How does the protection for the key rights look within IHL?- What do the prospects for an acceptable situation look like in short term?The Syrian war started in mars 2011 as a result of the Arabic spring. The situation for Syria’spopulation has gotten worse since the war’s beginning. It has not gotten better during thesenine years despite hard work from UN and other humanitarian organizations. There was along battle against IS who has been defeated, but there are different actors in Syria thatcontinue to fight.Syria’s president Al-Assad is one of them that bears to biggest responsibility for Syria’scrisis, but he gets supported by for example Russia and Iran. Russia was in Syria to fight IS,but fought rebel groups instead, because they were a threat to Al-Assad. Al-Assad wanted itto look like he was protecting Syria from terrorism. He released islamic prisoners to fightthem. Some of the worst battles has happened in Aleppo, which is the most important cityfinancially.A lot of countries are militarily involved and that does not make it better when it’s abouthuman rights in Syria. When I investigate the respect of international humanitarian law inSyria, it shows that fighting parties fail hard to respect IHL. Cruel crimes against the keyrights has happened since the violence got worse. It is a lot of casualties, people get torturedin prisons and a lot of old culture gets destroyed.Syria’s economy has and continues to fall. Syria has the most refugees in the world since thesecond world war, and this civil war is the worst humanitarian crisis in modern time. Syriahad 20 million residents when the war began and now 11 million people is on flight. Syria has100 armed groups, and they are divided. Syria’s population miss access to survival needs andtheir everyday is life threatening. One cause to fatalities in Syria is lack of food, water andcare. At the same time as USA started to pull their forces back, Turkey took in their forces.Turkey thinks that USA approved the offensive when they pulled their forces back, but USAdenies that. Turkey will not interrupt the offensive, but USA wants it to be suspended.In my investigation I have used a legal dogmatic method in form of articles and based on thesources I have interpreted the key rights and their compliance in Syria. I have used literaturestudies in form of news articles, printed literature and books. Key rights in armed conflict andIHL have big roles in this essay. Literature about key rights within international human rightslaw and its application in the Syrian war is central in the analyze. A SWOT analysis is used toget structure for the description and leads to the conclusions used to answer the given questions. 6(37)In the essay I explain the situation in Syria, IHL and key rights role and situation in Syria andwhat the conflict looks like today. My sources highlight events in different areas in Syria, whichare used in the analysis and as answers to the questions:- In armed conflicts it’s very hard to protect the studied key rights and the war in Syria is noexception. There are plenty of tragic examples on how people are killed or tortured. Manyinvaluable cultural heritage has been systematically destroyed or stolen.- IHL was developed to reduce human suffering and to demand a human acting from fightingparties. In an armed conflict it is IHL that rules.- In the Syrian war there’s only one solution that UN has come up with and is pushing for it tobe implemented. That solution is a Syrian owned and Syrian led political process.