The UN and human rights groups have called for the prosecution of US officials involved in what a Senate report called the "brutal" CIA interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects.
A top UN human rights envoy said there had been a "clear policy orchestrated at a high level".
The CIA has defended its actions in the years after the 9/11 attacks on the US, saying they saved lives.
President Barack Obama said it was now time to move on.
'Criminal charges'
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism Ben Emmerson said that senior officials from the administration of George W Bush who planned and sanctioned crimes must be prosecuted, as well as CIA and US government officials responsible for torture such as waterboarding.
"As a matter of international law, the US is legally obliged to bring those responsible to justice," Mr Emmerson said in a statement made from Geneva.
"The US attorney general is under a legal duty to bring criminal charges against those responsible."
Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said that the CIA's actions were criminal "and can never be justified".
"Unless this important truth-telling process leads to prosecution of officials, torture will remain a 'policy option' for future presidents," he said.
(Published by BBC News – December 10, 2014)