Torture by Police, Forced
Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment
In the early years of the 21st Century
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According
to the UN Convention against Torture, the term “torture” means any act by
which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally
inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third
person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third
person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or
coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of
any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation
of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person
acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising
only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
Why Torture Doesn’t Work - The Neuroscience
of Interrogation Shane O’Mara, Professor of Experimental
Brain Research at Trinity College, Dublin, and Director of the Trinity
College Institute of Neuroscience -- Harvard University Press, ISBN
9780674743908 www.academia.edu/14702236/Why_Torture_Doesnt_Work_The_Neuroscience_of_Interrogation [accessed 24 Aug 2015] www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-interrogated-brain/201603/why-torture-doesnt-work [accessed 26 October 2017] Torture is banned
because it is cruel and inhumane. But as Shane O’Mara writes in this account of
the human brain under stress, another reason torture should never be condoned
is because it does not work the way torturers assume it does. In countless films
and TV shows such as Homeland and 24, torture is portrayed as a harsh
necessity. If cruelty can extract secrets that will save lives, so be it. CIA
officers and others conducted torture using precisely this justification. But
does torture accomplish what its de-fenders say it does? For ethical reasons,
there are no scientific studies of torture. But neuroscientists know a lot
about how the brain reacts to fear, extreme temperatures, starvation, thirst,
sleep deprivation, and immersion in freezing water, all tools of the
torturer’s trade. These stressors create problems for memory, mood, and
thinking, and sufferers predictably produce information that is deeply
unreliable—and, for intelligence purposes, even counterproductive. As O’Mara
guides us through the neuroscience of suffering, he reveals the brain
to be much more complex than the brute calculations of torturers have
al-lowed, and he points the way to a humane approach to interrogation,
founded in the science of brain and behavior. Statement by Mr. Juan E Méndez Mr. Juan E Méndez, SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON
TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT, 16th
session of the Human Rights Council, Agenda Item 3, Geneva, 7 March 2010 www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/SRTorture/StatementHRC16SRTORTURE_March2011.pdf [accessed 9 January 2013] The ordeal of
victims of torture endures even when the torture itself has ended. Victims
experience many forms of long-term physical and psychological damage as a
result of torture and ill treatment. In this regard, I am encouraged by the
heroic efforts of various organizations whose work ensures that there are
appropriate remedies and reparation for victims. The work of such
organizations seeks to include and promote the perspectives of victims and survivors
in the development of programmes and policies aimed
at addressing torture. This is a goal that I wholeheartedly support and will
pursue during my tenure. European Convention for the Prevention of
Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Council of Europe, European Treaties, ETS
No. 126, 1989 www.cpt.coe.int/en/documents/ecpt.htm [accessed 18 January 2013] [accessed 17 March 2020] The member States
of the Council of Europe, signatory hereto, having regard to the provisions
of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms, Recalling that,
under Article 3 of the same Convention, "no one shall be subjected to
torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"; Noting that the
machinery provided for in that Convention operates in relation to persons who
allege that they are victims of violations of Article 3; Convinced that the
protection of persons deprived of their liberty against torture and inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment could be strengthened by non-judicial
means of a preventive character based on visits, Have agreed as
follows ... Hooded Men: Can the use of torture by a
State be justified? Conor Courtney,
TheJournal.ie, 25 March 2018 www.thejournal.ie/readme/hooded-men-can-the-use-of-torture-by-a-state-be-justified-3921020-Mar2018/ [accessed 25 March 2018] [accessed 25 March 2018] LEGAL PHILOSOPHY -- In legal
philosophy, there are two main sides to the torture debate. One approach,
which is the dominating position of Western societies, is that torture is
never acceptable. This is reflective of an absolutist approach, as there is
never a moral basis upon which one can warrant torture. UTILITARIAN SCHOOL
OF THOUGHT --
Jeremy Bentham has been hailed as being a principal exponent for the
utilitarian school of thought. Utilitarians propose
that nothing, in theory, is ever intrinsically wrong. Their argument is that
each case is different, and merits individual inspection to observe whether
it is morally acceptable or not. They
strive for, ‘The greatest happiness of the greatest number’, so, if the
torture of one person could save 100 lives, then they would have no
objections. The main issue with
torture, from both perspectives, is that it has been proven to be unreliable,
and it undermines civilian support towards the government involved in the
torture, |
