Torture: A Contemporary Issue

Torture: A Contemporary Issue

For many, the word “torture” conjures up images of medieval torture devices, such as thumb or toe screws, the rack, and small cages. Those in the west perhaps would associate torture with, say, the French Revolution. An antiquity of human barbarism from several hundred years ago. Yet for many even today, torture is not as far removed as the textbooks. In fact, according to reports released by Amnesty International and the US State Department, torture occurs in a majority (more than 100) of countries today. 6

Most of the countries where torture occurs are in the developing world – South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. However, there are notable exceptions in Europe and North America. 6

According to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1984 torture is defined as:

“…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 acquisescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity” 7

The practice of torture has many applications and desired results. The ancient Greeks used torture in their law system – slaves, strangers and those shamed or in ‘shameful occupations’ were most at risk. Aristotle himself advocated a list of “five extrinsic proofs” which could be used in the legal process, one of which was torture. 4

Later on, borrowing heavily from the Greeks, the Romans also employed torture for determining guilt or innocence in law proceedings. At first, it was limited to slaves and non-citizens, such as in Greece. But as time progressed, they began to also employ torture against citizens, especially in cases of ‘treason,’ as well as vague imperial orders. And eventually, even after the fall of the Roman empire, their laws concerning torture were adopted throughout Europe. 4

In the cases of Greece and Rome, torture was – ideally at least – only being used to obtain information in criminal proceedings (towards the end of it’s reign, Rome began to use torture for other uses, but this is extraneous and beside the point). As the years rolled past however, and memories of the Roman empire faded – as Europe entered the Dark Ages with the Catholic Church at the reigns – torture began to be used for purposes other than to extract information. In 1252 AD, Pope Innocent IV declared torture as justified against heretics. 6 This opened the gates for it to be used as a tool to silence dissent – against the Church at first, and eventually against kings, chiefs, local overlords, et al.

Not until the 17th & 18th centuries was the practice of torture seriously questioned in Europe. Prominent Enlightenment thinkers – such as Montesquieu, Beccaria and Voltaire – began to rail against the practice for moral, legal and practical reasons. They argued that information gained from torture was not readily trustworthy – indeed, if anything, information obtained from torture was suspect. They also argued against unduly harsh (torturous) punishments, because “the worse the evil he faces, the more anxious the criminal is to avoid it, and it makes him commit other crimes to escape the punishment of the first.” 5 Prussia became the first European state to officially outlaw the practice of torture in 1754, and most other European nations followed suit in the following fifty years. By 1874, novelist Victor Hugo stated that, “Torture has ceased to exist.” 6

Torture obviously did not cease to exist during the 19th century. But it’s use as a state institution in most European nations was severely reduced, notwithstanding the abuses occurring overseas in European colonies during the same point in time.

The twentieth century saw a marked increase in state-sponsored torture and related human rights abuses. Warfare became more brutal with the advent of poison gas and tanks . A totalitarian government rose to power in Russia, and with it came decades of torture of political dissidents and others. There were gross human rights abuses and instances of torture during various points in time in Germany, Italy, Vietnam, Cambodia, Columbia, Chile, et al.

And now, at the beginning of a new century, torture is still a serious issue around the globe. The main reasoning and justification behind torture in today’s world, is for extracting information. The views towards torture during the Enlightenment are gone, and once again, it’s a credible way of mining suspects for information. This is not to say, however, that torture does not still occur to intimidate political opponents or for idle sadistic pleasure. These reasons are still readily employed. They just aren’t admitted as such publicly.

As I mentioned before, Amnesty International and the US State Department regularly compile reports of flagrant cases of torture around the world. And between the two, they’ve recorded more than 100 countries still actively practicing torture. Some of the worst perpetrators listed in the 2002 reports were Egypt, North Korea, China, and Colombia. The violations listed ranged from electric shock, to suspension by the wrists or ankles, to public humiliation, severe beatings or rape.

But perhaps the most publicized cases of torture recently, have been in Iraq, at the hands of US troops. These instances brought to light have illustrated the oftentimes direct correlation between warfare and blatant torture.

According to a report commissioned in January and completed on March 3rd, prisoners at the Abu Ghraib Prison were beaten with broom handles and chairs, threatened with a loaded pistol, forced to masturbate while being filmed, and arranged in piles naked where they would then be jumped on. 3 And now, we learn that there have been a number of ongoing investigations concerning allegations of torture for several months. 2

The accounts of one prisoner, who was eventually released 10 months after being detained, correlates with the reports and further illustrates the maliciousness of the soldiers actions:

“They made us act like dogs, putting leashes around our necks and making us bark. They’d whistle and we’d have to bark like dogs.

They made us stand up and then climb on top of each other, one after the other.

They said they were going to kill us, but in the end they took the bags off our heads and I was surprised to see my friends around me.

They had beat me so hard that they broke my jawbone. Even now I can’t eat properly.” 1

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s personal human rights envoy released information about an incident last July, where US troops apparently placed a harness on a 70-year-old Iraqi women and rode her like a donkey. She was arrested because of supposed ties between her and the former Hussein government, but was released several weeks later with no charges filed. 8 The fact that actions such as these occurred over the span of several months, in several different locations, is disturbing and perhaps indicative of more, similar such acts.

And now, everyday, new stories of abuse and torture are beginning to surface.

Psychological and psychical torture such as this occurs regularly throughout the world today. It is still very much a contemporary issue. We went into Iraq and found evidence of state-sponsored torture. And evidence of such would likely be found in most of the other hundred countries accused.

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Bibliography –

1. BBC News. “Iraqi inmate: ‘Treated like dogs’”. May 6th 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3689371.stm. May 6th 2004.

2. BBC News. “Many abuse inquiries under way”.May 6th 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3686427.stm. May 6th 2004.

3. BBC News. “Report into Baghdad prison abuse”. May 5th 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3684825.stm. May 6th 2004.

4. Edwards, Peters. Torture. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c1996.

5. Evans, Malcolm. Preventing Torture: A Study of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. New York : Oxford University Press, c1998.

6. Masci, David. “Torture”. April 2003. Global Issues: Selections from the CQ Researched (3rd edition). Washington, DC: CQ Press. c2004.

7. Van Bueren, Geraldine. Childhood Abused: Protecting Children Against Torture, Cruel, Inhumane and Degrading Treatment and Punishment. Brookfield, VT : Ashgate, c1998.

8. Yahoo News. “U.S. Troops Said to Mistreat Elder Iraqi”. May 5th 2004. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=518&u=/ap/20040505/ap_on_re_eu/britain_iraq_us_prisoner_abuse. May 6th 2004.