UN Human Rights Day: Time to restore respect for the absolute prohibition of torture
OMCT STATEMENT ON UN HUMAN
RIGHTS DAY:
Time to restore respect for
the absolute prohibition of torture
Geneva, 10 December
2010. On the occasion of the UN Human Rights Day the
World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) calls for urgent steps to protect persons
from torture worldwide and to fully restore respect for the absolute
prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.
‘The persistent
impunity and lacking legal accountability for acts of torture and other human
rights violations in the name of protecting security remains today one of the most
fundamental challenges to the human rights community’, said Eric Sottas,
Secretary General of the OMCT. ‘It must be clear that national security does
not give any discount on accountability for torture and other ill-treatment’,
he added.
The
universal day for human rights should remind governments around the world that international
law mandates States to prevent and prohibit torture and other forms of cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment but also to investigate such
violations and to provide victims of torture and ill-treatment with an
effective remedy and reparation. Torture and impunity corrupt state
institutions, nourish relativism and the type of justification discourse that
sought legitimacy for interrogations under torture and other prohibited
treatment. Without legal accountability the door remains open for a return of
such policies. Ultimately, we should not lose sight that protecting human
dignity and ensuring accountability is a key requirement for any viable
long-term security response that is to be both effective and legitimate.
Unfortunately,
the reality witnessed by the OMCT in many parts of the world remains grim. Despite
compelling evidence about torture, enforced disappearances and other human
rights violations committed in the name of national security there is almost
complete impunity for such violations. The OMCT remains particularly concerned over
the continuous lack of legal accountability for the US interrogation
and rendition policy. While the policy of so-called ‘enhanced interrogations’
has been formally ended, no credible steps have been taken to bring those
responsible to justice. Government lawyers who authored legal memos that sought
to immunize officials from prosecution have been cleared from disciplinary
sanctions. Remedies sought by those subjected to torture or enforced
disappearances have been systematically frustrated with extensive invocations
of state secrecy and national security doctrines, and investigations in third
countries have been met with a lack of cooperation and political pressure on
partner countries to end them. European Governments, too, have yet to credibly address
the full dimension of their own complicity into torture, secret detentions and
extraordinary renditions. Where inquiries and independent investigations have
been undertaken they were impeded by extensive secrecy invocations or the
failure to seek extradition of US suspects.
It is time
to come clear with these policies and to learn the lessons of this experience
in order to move forward. The experience over the last years has shown the need
for more effective control and oversight over the secret world of intelligence
services and their international cooperation in order to prevent such
violations in the future. In light of the present discussion about transparency
and national security the OMCT considers it vital to keep in perspective that
much of what is known today about secret detention, torture and disappearances
is the result of investigative journalism able to rely on confidential sources
and whistleblowers. Extensive notions of secrecy were an important part of
those illegal policies and should not stand in the way of accountability. At
the core of the debate should thus be how to ensure accountability for crimes
under international law and to secure adequate accountability and transparency
in the future.
‘The
inability or unwillingness by Governments, including those traditionally
committed to the rule of law, to confront torture and ill-treatment sets back
the global fight against impunity’, said Eric Sottas. ‘It risks to create a
‘crack’ in the foundation of the human rights framework as it exposes it to
accusations of selectiveness and double standards in which the mighty claims
the privilege to decide whether to apply the law’, he noted.
Ultimately,
the UN Human Rights Day reminds us all that ensuring the respect for the absolute
prohibition of torture and ill-treatment is our joint responsibility. The
assault on the universal prohibition of torture and ill-treatment requires the
rejection from the broader public. To this end, the OMCT has launched an
international
campaign[1] that is implemented jointly
with its SOS Torture Network around the world. The OMCT invites anybody to join
the campaign and sign the manifesto by nine Nobel Price Laureates in March 2010
on the protection of the universal prohibition of torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
For more information please contact: Eric Sottas or Gerald
Staberock at + 41 22 809 49 39