UN Human Rights Day: Time to restore respect for the absolute prohibition of torture

​OMCT STATEMENT ON UN HUMANRIGHTS DAY: Time to restore respect forthe absolute prohibition of torture Geneva, 10 December 2010. On the occasion of the UN Human Rights Day theWorld Organisation against Torture (OMCT) calls for urgent steps to protect personsfrom torture worldwide and to fully restore respect for the absoluteprohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment orpunishment. ‘The persistentimpunity and lacking legal accountability for acts of torture and other humanrights violations in the name of protecting security remains today one of the mostfundamental challenges to the human rights community’, said Eric Sottas,Secretary General of the OMCT. ‘It must be clear that national security doesnot give any discount on accountability for torture and other ill-treatment’,he added. Theuniversal day for human rights should remind governments around the world that internationallaw mandates States to prevent and prohibit torture and other forms of cruel,inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment but also to investigate suchviolations and to provide victims of torture and ill-treatment with aneffective remedy and reparation. Torture and impunity corrupt stateinstitutions, nourish relativism and the type of justification discourse thatsought legitimacy for interrogations under torture and other prohibitedtreatment. Without legal accountability the door remains open for a return ofsuch policies. Ultimately, we should not lose sight that protecting humandignity and ensuring accountability is a key requirement for any viablelong-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. Despitecompelling evidence about torture, enforced disappearances and other humanrights violations committed in the name of national security there is almostcomplete impunity for such violations. The OMCT remains particularly concerned overthe continuous lack of legal accountability for the US interrogationand rendition policy. While the policy of so-called ‘enhanced interrogations’has been formally ended, no credible steps have been taken to bring thoseresponsible to justice. Government lawyers who authored legal memos that soughtto immunize officials from prosecution have been cleared from disciplinarysanctions. Remedies sought by those subjected to torture or enforceddisappearances have been systematically frustrated with extensive invocationsof state secrecy and national security doctrines, and investigations in thirdcountries have been met with a lack of cooperation and political pressure onpartner countries to end them. European Governments, too, have yet to credibly addressthe full dimension of their own complicity into torture, secret detentions andextraordinary renditions. Where inquiries and independent investigations havebeen undertaken they were impeded by extensive secrecy invocations or thefailure to seek extradition of US suspects. It is timeto come clear with these policies and to learn the lessons of this experiencein order to move forward. The experience over the last years has shown the needfor more effective control and oversight over the secret world of intelligenceservices and their international cooperation in order to prevent suchviolations in the future. In light of the present discussion about transparencyand national security the OMCT considers it vital to keep in perspective thatmuch of what is known today about secret detention, torture and disappearancesis the result of investigative journalism able to rely on confidential sourcesand whistleblowers. Extensive notions of secrecy were an important part ofthose illegal policies and should not stand in the way of accountability. Atthe core of the debate should thus be how to ensure accountability for crimesunder international law and to secure adequate accountability and transparencyin the future. ‘Theinability or unwillingness by Governments, including those traditionallycommitted to the rule of law, to confront torture and ill-treatment sets backthe 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 toaccusations of selectiveness and double standards in which the mighty claimsthe 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 absoluteprohibition of torture and ill-treatment is our joint responsibility. Theassault on the universal prohibition of torture and ill-treatment requires therejection from the broader public. To this end, the OMCT has launched an internationalcampaign[1] that is implemented jointlywith its SOS Torture Network around the world. The OMCT invites anybody to jointhe campaign and sign the manifesto by nine Nobel Price Laureates in March 2010on 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
[1] http://www.omct.org/international-campaigns/campaign-prohibition-torture/