“Torture is a crime under international law….[It] is absolutely prohibited and cannot be justified under any circumstances. This prohibition forms part of customary international law, which means that it is binding on every member of the international community, regardless of whether a State has ratified international treaties in which torture is expressly prohibited. The systematic or widespread practice of torture constitutes a crime against humanity” (United Nations).
Despite this absolute prohibition of torture, the United States has perpetrated torture at Guantanamo Bay, in its own prisons, and through extraordinary rendition, thereby earning widespread condemnation from the international community.
The government officials who have promoted the use of torture and the citizens who condone it are enabled by their own moral disengagement and by the passivity of all the Americans who avoid thinking about the agonies of torture and the complicity of their government in this violation of international law.
Time for a change.
Just two months ago, on April 16, 2013, a bipartisan task force assembled by The Constitution Project, a public interest organization, released a 560-page study providing “indisputable” evidence of U.S. torture of detainees since September 11, 2001. The U.S. government is urged to provide redress to its victims.
The report is timely, because June 26 is the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims provides valuable information on the victims of torture and the efforts made to help them recover.
Meet some of the survivors of torture from around the world and hear them relate their heart-wrenching stories. And then be part of the solution.
Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology