The torture of war criminals is not only a violation of human rights but also a strict violation of the Geneva Conventions. The Red Cross did an investigation of American “Black Site” prisons in 2006-7, concluding that the US treatment resulted in cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of detainees. The report was shared with the US government but not given to the public due to the humanitarian group's strict policy of neutrality in conflicts. Last week, Mark Danner, a journalism professor, obtained a copy of the report and published extensive experts of it through the New York Review of Books.
The findings in the report are horrendous. The ICRC interviewed many detainees from Guantanamo. They all reported nearly identical treatments though they were questioned separately, adding to the credibility of their reports. Their allegations range from sleep deprivation, intense temperature change, water boarding, and severe beatings. The Washington Post summarized the interrogation reports in this way: “During interrogations, the captives were routinely beaten, doused with cold water and slammed head-first into walls. Between sessions, they were stripped of clothing, bombarded with loud music, exposed to cold temperatures, and deprived of sleep and solid food for days on end. Some detainees described being forced to stand for days, with their arms shackled above them, wearing only diapers.”
These torture techniques clearly had a huge impact on the health of the detainees. In a federal court filing, Abu Zubaida was reported to have had 175 seizures that were directly related to the abuse he suffered. The Washington Post and Danner repeatedly remind audiences that the Red Cross’s use of the term torture has significant weight and should be highly respected. Therefore, their conclusion that the U.S. tortured people in these prisons has huge significance.
People might be tempted to think that we have moved past this issue—that because our new president has outlawed such practices, we no longer need to worry about them or feel culpability as a result of them. Unfortunately, I think this would be a very wrong attitude to hold. Guantanamo has yet to be closed and many other secret prisons have not even been broached to the public. So long as they exist, there is reason to fear that once again the United States could condone acts of torture when circumstances of fear arise.
For more information or to see the report (last one), follow these links: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/15/AR2009031502724_2.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009031602358
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0316/p99s01-duts.html
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22530
Showing posts with label Torture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Torture. Show all posts
Friday, April 3, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
The Increase of Modern Slavery
The United Nations recently released a report on the status of human trafficking in the world. Unfortunately, the results were not promising. Though the number of nations which have agreed to condemn the practices of human trafficking has grown, there is real reason to doubt whether their promises are a real commitment to stop trafficking. 40 % of countries where the problem is known to exist have yet to convict one person of trafficking even though all of them have declared their commitment to the cause. The United Nations claims this is due to a lack the legal instruments or political will in these countries to ensure that perpetrators are punished. In the end, the United Nations fears that the problem is only worsening each year.
This is significant not only due to the severity and brutality of human trafficking for victims, but also due to the sheer numbers of new victims each year. The UN has yet to comment on the number of trafficked individuals each year, but estimates range from 800,000 new victims each year, according to the U.S. State Department, to 2.5 million, according to the International Labor Organization. All we know for sure is the amount of people that are reported, which in 2006 was over 21,400 people.
Human Trafficking is said to be the modern form of slavery—and this description is terrifyingly accurate. 80 % of human trafficking is sexual exploitation, with the remaining 20% being mostly forced labor. Both kinds are horrendous. One article that I have linked below describes the experiences of a former sex slave who was able to escape. She was kidnapped at a young age, and woke up beaten and bloody from a man who had purchased her virginity. From that moment on, she never left the building until her escape. She was beaten until she learned to smile and act flirtatious for customers so that they assumed she was complicit in her situation. When she did not act this way, she was literally tortured in the basement. The torture included beatings, massive electric shocks, and days spent in a coffin with biting ants. Many women died in these torture sessions. Now, as an activist, she works under constant threats. In fact, two of her co-workers have had their daughters kidnapped and subjected to sex slavery.
The problem is widespread and a horribly egregious violation of human rights. Governments can do a great deal to deincentivize people from going into the trafficking business, but another obvious solution to the problem is to stop the demand. I hope that human rights activists continue their work to free young women and children that have been trafficked. Additionally, I hope that they focus some attention on educating people about the tactics used by traffickers to make children and women appear consensual, in hopes that such education will fight the rising demand for trafficking.
Below are two links, one to the report given by the UN and the other to woman’s story of human trafficking:
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/global-report-on-trafficking-in-persons.html
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/global-report-on-trafficking-in-persons.html
This is significant not only due to the severity and brutality of human trafficking for victims, but also due to the sheer numbers of new victims each year. The UN has yet to comment on the number of trafficked individuals each year, but estimates range from 800,000 new victims each year, according to the U.S. State Department, to 2.5 million, according to the International Labor Organization. All we know for sure is the amount of people that are reported, which in 2006 was over 21,400 people.
Human Trafficking is said to be the modern form of slavery—and this description is terrifyingly accurate. 80 % of human trafficking is sexual exploitation, with the remaining 20% being mostly forced labor. Both kinds are horrendous. One article that I have linked below describes the experiences of a former sex slave who was able to escape. She was kidnapped at a young age, and woke up beaten and bloody from a man who had purchased her virginity. From that moment on, she never left the building until her escape. She was beaten until she learned to smile and act flirtatious for customers so that they assumed she was complicit in her situation. When she did not act this way, she was literally tortured in the basement. The torture included beatings, massive electric shocks, and days spent in a coffin with biting ants. Many women died in these torture sessions. Now, as an activist, she works under constant threats. In fact, two of her co-workers have had their daughters kidnapped and subjected to sex slavery.
The problem is widespread and a horribly egregious violation of human rights. Governments can do a great deal to deincentivize people from going into the trafficking business, but another obvious solution to the problem is to stop the demand. I hope that human rights activists continue their work to free young women and children that have been trafficked. Additionally, I hope that they focus some attention on educating people about the tactics used by traffickers to make children and women appear consensual, in hopes that such education will fight the rising demand for trafficking.
Below are two links, one to the report given by the UN and the other to woman’s story of human trafficking:
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/global-report-on-trafficking-in-persons.html
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/global-report-on-trafficking-in-persons.html
Monday, February 9, 2009
The Hope for Change for Bagram
Article 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile
Article 10: Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11 (1): Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.
Guantanamo has long been the basis of debate for human rights activists. Yet recently, there is an air of relief as our new President has proclaimed that within a year, the prison will close. Though I share this relief, I am concerned with the fate of not only Guantanamo, but also the Bagram Prison in Afghanistan. As of now, Obama has yet to say much on his plans for this detention center. In a very limited time, he must decide if he wants to approve of the 60 million dollar prison complex that Bush proposed to replace the current one, and if he will give four prisoners in Bagram the ability to challenge their detention as has been done for prisoners in Guantanamo.
I am very concerned about these decisions. This detention center has been reported to have worse conditions for prisoners than Guantanamo, and as the Bush administration has allowed no reporters or human rights organizations inside, we can only image that to be true. These prisoners are being held without rights or the ability to question their charges for indefinite period of time. On top of this, with as little transparency into the prison as is currently allowed, one need not question deeply to imagine the conditions the guards have created for the prisoners. As we have learned from psychology, even good people are corrupted under unregulated power. All it takes is looking back on the Stanford Prison Experiment to see that it does not take evil people to do evil things. Situations are very powerful determinants of behavior. Yet if we know this, then why do we continue to put any people—regardless of their values—in situations where corruption is a foreseeable event. At Bagram in 2003, two men were “coercively interrogated” to death, and the prison was known for using many interrogation techniques that many consider to be torture on a regular basis. Though it is said that the prison has improved after 2003 due to intense public pressure, we must foresee similar events in the future, and decide that they are unacceptable. In my opinion, the only way to prevent their occurrences is make the prisons more transparent, where workers are held accountable by public censure, and more just, where prisoners are given the human rights that should never be denied to anyone.
We have seen the atrocities that have happened since 2001 in these secret detention camps, and the wise know that these atrocities will only continue without increased transparency. Yet, we have not put the pressure on our new president to ensure that these violations stop. It is not only in Guantanamo that they occur, it is all prisons where suspects are held secretly without habeas corpus, without trial, and with very minimal rights. President Obama has been given until February 20th the make a decision about the four prisoners seeking to question their detention in Bagram. I hope that he decides, as as was done for prisoners in Guantanamo, that the values that our country were built upon are never worth sacrificing.
Article 10: Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11 (1): Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.
Guantanamo has long been the basis of debate for human rights activists. Yet recently, there is an air of relief as our new President has proclaimed that within a year, the prison will close. Though I share this relief, I am concerned with the fate of not only Guantanamo, but also the Bagram Prison in Afghanistan. As of now, Obama has yet to say much on his plans for this detention center. In a very limited time, he must decide if he wants to approve of the 60 million dollar prison complex that Bush proposed to replace the current one, and if he will give four prisoners in Bagram the ability to challenge their detention as has been done for prisoners in Guantanamo.
I am very concerned about these decisions. This detention center has been reported to have worse conditions for prisoners than Guantanamo, and as the Bush administration has allowed no reporters or human rights organizations inside, we can only image that to be true. These prisoners are being held without rights or the ability to question their charges for indefinite period of time. On top of this, with as little transparency into the prison as is currently allowed, one need not question deeply to imagine the conditions the guards have created for the prisoners. As we have learned from psychology, even good people are corrupted under unregulated power. All it takes is looking back on the Stanford Prison Experiment to see that it does not take evil people to do evil things. Situations are very powerful determinants of behavior. Yet if we know this, then why do we continue to put any people—regardless of their values—in situations where corruption is a foreseeable event. At Bagram in 2003, two men were “coercively interrogated” to death, and the prison was known for using many interrogation techniques that many consider to be torture on a regular basis. Though it is said that the prison has improved after 2003 due to intense public pressure, we must foresee similar events in the future, and decide that they are unacceptable. In my opinion, the only way to prevent their occurrences is make the prisons more transparent, where workers are held accountable by public censure, and more just, where prisoners are given the human rights that should never be denied to anyone.
We have seen the atrocities that have happened since 2001 in these secret detention camps, and the wise know that these atrocities will only continue without increased transparency. Yet, we have not put the pressure on our new president to ensure that these violations stop. It is not only in Guantanamo that they occur, it is all prisons where suspects are held secretly without habeas corpus, without trial, and with very minimal rights. President Obama has been given until February 20th the make a decision about the four prisoners seeking to question their detention in Bagram. I hope that he decides, as as was done for prisoners in Guantanamo, that the values that our country were built upon are never worth sacrificing.
Monday, December 8, 2008
The U.S. Constitution and the Defense of Human Rights
I've frequently written on the topic of torture. Torture is antithetical to the values that America represents and endangers America's security because it is simply ineffective. A New York Times editorial today emphasizes another aspect. Not only is it wrong to do so, it is unconstitutional. Namely, the assertion of a right to indefinitely detain people in the United States without charges violates our right to due process. The belief in such a bizarre doctrine would essentially render the fifth and sixth amendments meaningless:
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
One of the most beautiful things about the U.S. Constitution is how many human rights it legally protects. We must ensure that it continues to do so, and not settle for anything less. The case of Maher Arar demonstrates the immoral abuses we are complicit in if we ignore the issue.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Human Rights in the News
NYT -- J.L. Chestnut Jr, Civil Rights Activist and Attorney, Passes Away
J.L. Chestnut Jr., led an incredible life in the U.S. Civil Rights struggle. The struggle between civil rights and human rights are often one and the same, as is the case in his work defending the lives and livelihoods of the oppressed.
Human Rights Watch -- Missing Rendition Victims in Ethiopia and Kenya
Citizens from 18 different countries were illegally arrested in 2007 while in Somalia and Kenya, then extradited to Ethiopian prisons. In Ethiopia, they were subjected to deplorable living conditions and torture: forced to crawl on gravel. genitals being crushed, and being beaten to the point of unconsciousness. At night they were taken out of the prison and interrogated by U.S. officials for suspected terrorism links. They have been denied access to courts or communication with their families. Many are still held in Ethiopian prisons.
Chicago Tribune -- AIDS Traced Back 100 Years Ago
Understanding the roots of the AIDS crisis is necessary to finding a solution to the humanitarian and human rights problems it causes. HIV/AIDS has led people and governments to desperation in which human rights are often disregarded. The virus has been traced back to the rise of cities and close living conditions, with the disease presenting itself earlier than originally thought.
J.L. Chestnut Jr., led an incredible life in the U.S. Civil Rights struggle. The struggle between civil rights and human rights are often one and the same, as is the case in his work defending the lives and livelihoods of the oppressed.
Human Rights Watch -- Missing Rendition Victims in Ethiopia and Kenya
Citizens from 18 different countries were illegally arrested in 2007 while in Somalia and Kenya, then extradited to Ethiopian prisons. In Ethiopia, they were subjected to deplorable living conditions and torture: forced to crawl on gravel. genitals being crushed, and being beaten to the point of unconsciousness. At night they were taken out of the prison and interrogated by U.S. officials for suspected terrorism links. They have been denied access to courts or communication with their families. Many are still held in Ethiopian prisons.
Chicago Tribune -- AIDS Traced Back 100 Years Ago
Understanding the roots of the AIDS crisis is necessary to finding a solution to the humanitarian and human rights problems it causes. HIV/AIDS has led people and governments to desperation in which human rights are often disregarded. The virus has been traced back to the rise of cities and close living conditions, with the disease presenting itself earlier than originally thought.
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