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From Article VI of the US Constitution: Under the US Foreign Assistance Act: Article 2, Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 6, UDHR: Article 9, UDHR: Article 10, UDHR: |
CHENEY ENDORSES TORTURE DESPITE LEGAL BANS, UPROAR PROMPTS PLEDGES NOT TO TORTURE US vice president Dick Cheney has publicly announced his support for an explicitly banned method of torture. In a radio interview with Scott Hennen of Fargo, North Dakota, the vice president said that mock drowning is "a no brainer", claiming the procedure has been a "very important tool", despite its being specifically illegal under American law, both written and in judicial precedent, and formally banned by the Pentagon. [Full Story] IT'S NOT JOHN McCAIN'S COMPROMISE TO MAKE It was quite rightly John McCain's fight to demand that the US government never, under any circumstances, sanction or engage in torture. That doesn't mean he is ethically free to compromise on how much abuse is tolerable or whether due process can be pushed aside in favor of extreme interrogations and rigged prosecutions. Allowing any information obtained via banned abusive techniques to be presented as evidence, or sanctioning past cases of torture, erodes US constitutional principles and violates a basic moral obligation each human individual has to all others. [Full Story] SECRET PRISONS & COERCIVE INTERROGATIONS UNDERMINE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY Until 12 days ago, the Bush administration maintained that there were no secret CIA-run "black-sites", extralegal prison camps where accused terror suspects were held incommunicado and beyond any judicial process. On 6 September, Pres. Bush admitted to constructing and managing the prison system through the CIA, and now his government is demanding that Congress sanction a system which circumvents Constitutional law and permits "alternative" methods of coercive interrogation, presently banned under international law. [Full Story] GENERALS, REPUBLICANS REVOLT AGAINST BUSH TORTURE POLICY Roughly three dozen retired generals, including former Sec. of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell, have come out in opposition to the White House's latest attempt to transform the legal meaning of the Geneva Conventions ban on torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners. Senate leaders, behind John McCain (R-AZ) have also joined the rebellion, passing a measure that upholds the standing definition of the Geneva constraints on coercive interrogation. [Full Story] BUSH ADMITS TO SECRET JAILS WITH 'ALTERNATIVE' INTERROGATIONS Pres. Bush has acknowledged the existence of a secret network of CIA-run prisons, where an "alternative set of procedures" was used to extract information given up "unwillingly" by top terror suspects. The revelation suggests that some facilities existed on European soil, renewing allegations that have long been denied by European and US officials, and provoking calls for a probe into possible human rights violations. [Full Story] SUPREME COURT FINDS GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEES' RIGHTS DENIED BY BUSH MILITARY TRIBUNALS Pres. Bush's efforts to assume new powers in personally judging accused al-Qaeda co-conspirators "enemy combatants", then crafting a unique, extralegal war crimes tribunal system, where certain rights are denied the defendants, have been rejected by the Supreme Court. The Bush administration must now file criminal charges, either in civilian criminal court or before a standard military court martial. [Full Story] AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR EU GOV'TS TO BE HONEST ABOUT INVOLVEMENT IN RENDITIONS A new report by the human rights organization, entitled Partners in Crime, accuses 7 EU member states of collaborating in extrajudicial detentions and renditions to third countries or prison facilities where torture may be used. The report follows up on a Council of Europe investigation, headed by Swiss senator Dick Marty, which found that 14 EU states had been complicit in extralegal detentions and prisoner transfers. [Full Story] EUROPE INVESTIGATION SAYS EU GOV'TS LIKELY KNEW OF RENDITION NETWORK, TORTURE 'OUTSOURCING' Prelminary findings from the Council of Europe's investigation into human rights abuses and a secret CIA network of extralegal detention facilities report high probability that European governments knew what US forces were doing on their soil and in neighboring countries. [Full Story] BUSH AGREES TO McCAIN'S FULL BAN ON TORTURE, INHUMANE TREATMENT OF TERROR SUSPECTS President Bush has announced his support for Sen. John McCain's proposed ban on cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of detainees in the "war on terror". The White House had opposed the ban, and the vice president had actively lobbied Congress to include an exception for the CIA. Sen. McCain repeatedly refused to weaken the ban, and both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly to support it as written. [Full Story] SERIOUS LEGAL PROBLEMS INHERENT IN GHOST FLIGHTS & 'EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION' The principal legal problem relating to alleged "ghost flights", secret interrogations and the policy of "extraordinary rendition" is the extralegal nature of all three techniques, designed to operate beyond the scope of ordinary legal constraints. Rendition is "extraordinary", because it evades the normal legal channels for processing criminal allegations, charges and suspects across international borders. [Full Story] RICE STAKES OUT "NUANCED" POSITION ON ABDUCTIONS, TORTURE Amid growing concern relating to press reports of undisclosed CIA flights through or over European nations, US Sec. of State Rice has sought to defend US policy. She affirmed that "The US does not permit, tolerate or condone torture under any circumstances", but admitted the US might make mistakes in the "war on terror", without specific reference to the alleged abduction of a German citizen who was later cleared. [Full Story] WHY THE McCAIN ANTI-TORTURE AMENDMENT MUST BECOME LAW Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain's anti-torture amendment proposes that "No individual in the custody or under the physical control of the United States Government, regardless of nationality or physical location, shall be subject to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment"... at a time when the US system of laws is in dire need of a clear definition of official policy on torture limits. [Full Story] SECRET CIA LANDINGS RAISE CONCERNS IN EUROPE Authorities on the Spanish island of Mallorca began complaining of alleged secret landings by CIA-linked planes, after a prominent local figure charged that, according to an unnamed source, at least 10 such stopovers occurred in early 2004, in the last months of the Aznar government. The flights are said to have been carrying "detainees" whose legal condition is considered a violation of international human rights laws. [Full Story] WASHINGTON POST REPORTS SECRET GLOBAL NETWORK OF EXTRAJUDICIAL CIA INTERROGATION CAMPS Dana Priest, a Washington Post writer, reported yesterday astounding revelations about the existence of a global network of secret CIA-managed prisons which appear to violate numerous provisions of international law. The so-called "black sites" are said to exist or to have existed in at least 8 countries, including in eastern Europe, a fact which has sparked outrage across the continent. [Full Story] SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS DUE PROCESS RIGHTS FOR DETAINEES In a ruling today, the Supreme Court upheld due process rights for all detainees. The ruling reinforces the essential Constitutional role of the Judiciary branch in the adjudication of accused crimes, whether against domestic law or national security. The ruling permits the Bush administration to hold American citizens as enemy combatants without charge, but detainees must have access to attorneys and be allowed to challenge their detention. The designation of enemy combatant will be assessed by the court system, like any other charge of criminal activity. [Full Story]
The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment —based in part on the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which was adopted by the General Assembly on 9 December 1975— was formally adopted by the UN in 1984 and entered into force on 26 June 1987. Under Part I, Article II, Section 1 of the treaty, "Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction." [emphasis added] the US Constitution specifically requires that ratification of any treaty binds the standards of the US system of laws to those of the ratified treaty. Some legal clauses relevant to stories in this special section can be found below: Under Article 1 of the Convention against Torture: Under Article 2 of the Convention against Torture: Under Article 4 of the Convention against Torture: |
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