The right to be free of torture is one of the most fundamental human rights recognized by the global community today. It is UUSC's firm position that any government-sponsored acts of torture under any circumstances are profoundly immoral, unjustified and illegal. We are committed to bringing such practices to an end.

The information below can help you get started in learning more about the issues surrounding the use of torture, whether mental or physical, direct or "by proxy." For more information about the STOP Campaign, e-mail stoptorture@uusc.org or call 800-388-3920.

The definition of torture

According to the U.N. Convention against Torture, "torture" is any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether mental or physical, is intentionally inflicted on a person by any government official or agent. This also includes acts of torture inflicted at the request of, or with the consent of, government officials.

The U.S. Constitution
 
From Human Rights Watch website:

No single provision of the U.S. Constitution expressly prohibits torture as a means to extract information, secure a confession, punish for an act committed, intimidate or coerce, or for any reason based on discrimination, but there is no question that torture violates rights established by the Bill of Rights.

U.S. courts have located constitutional protections against interrogations under torture in the Fourth Amendment's right to be free of unreasonable search or seizure (which encompasses the right not be abused by the police), the Fifth Amendment's right against self-incrimination (which encompasses the right to remain silent during interrogations), the Fifth and the Fourteenth Amendments' guarantees of due process (ensuring fundamental fairness in criminal justice system), and the Eighth Amendment's right to be free of cruel or unusual punishment.

In numerous cases, the U.S. Supreme Court has condemned the use of force amounting to torture or other forms of ill treatment during interrogations, including such practices as whipping, slapping, depriving a victim of food, water, or sleep, keeping him naked or in a small cell for prolonged periods, holding a gun to his head, or threatening him with mob violence. Torture would also violate state constitutions, whose provisions generally parallel the protections set forth in the federal Bill of Rights.

The Geneva Conventions

They also ban cruel and degrading punishment. The Conventions prohibit the torture of both prisoners of war and non-POWs. The torture of any non-POW is specifically prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention. Moreover, the Convention against Torture bans the torture of any human being under any circumstances, even during times of war; so does the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.

U.S. statutory law

The use of torture by U.S. agents or officials outside the United States is a felony, under both the Anti-Torture Statute (18 U.S.C. 2340) and the Federal War Crimes Act. The Cornell Law School website has more information.

Humane interrogation methods do work

Those that work best are the tried and true methods that skilled police and FBI personnel have been using for decades, such as careful questioning and investigations, cross-checking facts, sharing information, following up on contradictions, using "good cop/bad cop" teams and positive incentives, and slowly winning over the suspect and engaging him or her in dialogue. Intriguingly, some Middle Eastern countries report that the use of a local Muslim religious leader with a terrorist suspect has had excellent results.

Abu Ghraib was not an anomly

The torture methods used there were practiced by CIA agents, Special Ops members and military intelligence officials all over Iraq and Afghanistan and in Guantánamo. The methods were also discussed and authorized by high-level Pentagon, CIA and White House officials. Tellingly, the same torture methods have been used for years in Latin America, Central America and Vietnam — wherever U.S. intelligence networks have operated in the past. The hooded and wired Iraqi in the notorious Abu Ghraib photograph is posed in what specialists call the "Vietnam" position. It is highly improbable that the young MPs came up with these same sophisticated methods on their own by sheer coincidence.

"Extraordinary rendition"

"Extraordinary rendition" is the current U.S. practice of transferring or deporting detainees to another country known for its use of torture. As one U.S. official has stated, "We don't kick the [expletive] out of them here. We send them to other countries so they can kick the [expletive] out of them."

*Often, U.S. intelligence officers will accompany a prisoner and even provide a list of questions to be asked during "interrogation." Money pipelines to such nations are said to be well oiled with U.S. funding.

The case of Maher Arar is one example. Arar, a citizen of Canada, was seized in New York's Kennedy airport as he awaited a flight home. He was sent to Syria where he was tortured severely for nearly a year.

"Ghost prisoners"

These are prisoners who are secretly held and interrogated by the CIA in undisclosed locations. No one knows who they are, why or where they are detained, or what torture methods may have been used on them. They have not been properly reported to the International Red Cross. One such ghost prisoner, for example, was the dead man packed in ice in the notorious Abu Ghraib photograph.

Who has been prosecuted for Abu Ghraib

To date, just MPs directly involved have been tried. No CIA or military intelligence official who gave the torture orders has been tried, nor have charges been brought against any higher-level U.S. officials in Washington, D.C.

The downside of U.S. use of torture

If we cast aside the Geneva Conventions as "quaint and obsolete" then our own servicemen and women will have no protections if they fall prisoner. For this reason, the torture policies were vehemently opposed by many military leaders, including Colin Powell. Secondly, the use of such harsh methods will greatly increase hatred against American citizens. We are already seeing this in Iraq. Instead of protecting us, these practices endanger us.