may be invoked as a justification of torture." The UN Principles of Medical Ethics relevant to the Role of Health Personnel, particularly Physicians, in the Protection of Prisoners and Detainees against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UN.1982) applies specifically to medical and other health workers but it has no implementation mechanism to ensure enforcement. It is up to state, provincial, and national bodies to enforce the standards in the document. The development of command responsibility established criminal liability for all people, including physicians, involved in crimes against humanity. There remain gaps in regulation relating to medical torture in many countries. A higher standard of behaviour is expected of health professionals yet the UN Principles of Medical Ethics are not enforceable when governments are complicit in violations. This higher standard is reflected in the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence (above all do no harm), autonomy, justice, dignity and informed consent and these are not covered comprehensively by the UN Convention Against Torture. Examples Between 1937 and 1945, Japanese medical personnel who were part of Unit 731 participated in the torture and murder of as many as 10,000 Korean, Chinese, Russian, American and other prisoners as well as Allied POWs during the second Sino-Japanese War. During World War II, inmates in Nazi concentration camps were subjected to medical experiments. Josef Mengele was the most notorious perpetrator, earning him the nickname "Angel of Death". Some doctors also ensured that inmates were painfully executed. For example, Hermann Fischer-Hüllstrung, who played a role in executing notable inmates such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "had the job of reviving political prisoners after they had been hanged until they were almost dead, in order to prolong the agony of their dying." Between 1970 and 1971, mentally disorienting interrogation techniques were used against interned prisoners captured in Northern Ireland, including white noise. The Irish government complained to the European Commission for Human Rights, who found Britain guilty of torture; however the higher European Court of Human Rights ruled that the British government's actions were "inhuman and degrading but did not constitute torture". In Soviet mental hospitals used to hold political prisoners, very unpleasant medications were given to these "patients" as a means of punishment. A psychiatric diagnosis was devised to describe people who oppose government policies. In 1978, "Pisaot menuh" ("Human Experiments") were performed on seventeen political prisoners held at the infamous prison Tuol Sleng in