Back to the Middle Ages

BY: Brooke Bullock, American School of Doha

Bleeding, with disease setting in, trapped thousands of miles from home, and to get out you have to provide the information they are looking for. Does this sound like the modern world? In the age of technology and information torture shouldn’t be an option for gaining facts, yet governments resort to secret deals and cruelty to gain their means. Trying to climb past diplomatic assurances and political dissidents on a hill too steep, the modern world is backsliding into the middle ages.
Torture is banned under international law and includes prohibiting transferring detainees to torturous states. There are no exceptions, even during times of war. Despite this internationally acknowledged law, countries such as Syria, Yemen, and Russia still practice torture. The most common torture victims are “political dissidents,” said a Human Rights Watch (HRW) article, “Egypt: Government Must Address Torture Epidemic.” These political dissidents often include Islamists, Chechens and Kurds. It is not only these regions practicing torture, however.
The Western world is making the greatest backslide into torture. In previously mentioned countries, torture is a continuing process, but the practice had significantly decreased in the Western world before now. Countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands are increasing torture practices. Amnesty International reported “several cases where detainees held in US custody in Afghanistan and Iraq died under torture.” They sneak around torture accusations, through “diplomatic assurances.” A diplomatic assurance is a promise from another country to accept terrorism suspects and treat them humanely, thus removing blame from the sending country for any torturous acts. “Governments that are using diplomatic assurances know full well that they don’t protect against torture,” said Kenneth Roth, an executive director at HRW. “But in the age of terror, they’re convenient.” Delegate of China Alex Baghdjian agreed with Roth’s statement that torture is convenient; however, he did not comment on China’s stance on government torture. Human rights shouldn’t be based on convenience.
Among many countries that are backsliding, some are stepping forward to acknowledge their past torture crimes. “After years of denial, Chile has finally acknowledged its legacy of torture,” said an executive director of Human Rights Watch, Jose Miguel Vivanco. The commission in charge of this recognition, however, will not identify the perpetrators of the torture crimes. Identifying perpetrators and allowing for their prosecution rests mainly on the shoulders of victims who are willing to step forward, not that it matters. An amnesty decree is currently in
effect that exempts all human rights violators from prosecution.
Many countries take a stance against torture and are signed on to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Reports always seem to surface, despite what seem to be great measures taken against torture. Delegate of Angola James Goh commented that “[Angola] expressly refuses to admit torture in their nation although there have been reports on it.” Other countries such as Uganda have been questioned about the effectiveness of their anti-torture polices. The Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, a Uganda-based organization, documented recent cases of torture against political opponents despite measures the Ugandan government instituted to comply with the Convention. “Torture persists in Uganda because no one is investigated or punished for it,” said the director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, Livingstone Sewanyana. Many countries contradict their promise to uphold the Convention by continuing torture practices in some form. YA Advocate Fleur Brennet said, “ It’s unethical. They say they won’t [practice torture] but they do.”
In the two-faced issue of government torture, a solution cannot be found unless countries are willing to halt all torture practices. Diplomatic assurances and flat out discount of the Convention allows the modern world to slide back to the Middle Ages and times where torture was a normal practice. In the present age there should be other options to gain information other than barbarically harming human lives.