PRESS CONFERENCE ON SUPPORT FOR TORTURE VICTIMS

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE ON SUPPORT FOR TORTURE VICTIMS

Torture is an instrument of power that aims to break down courageous people, Dr. Inge Genefke told journalists today at a Headquarters press conference to commemorate International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Its aim was to silence people, rather than induce them to speak, and its victims included torture sufferers, their spouses and children, and the entire society in which they lived, she explained. It was a most efficient weapon against democracy, and a cause of suffering to millions of people.

Today – 26 June -- marks the third annual commemoration of the International Day, which was declared by the General Assembly in December 1997 with the aim of supporting efforts to eliminate torture and promoting the application of the International Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Dr. Genefke is Secretary-General of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims -- an umbrella group for more than 220 centres for torture victims around the world. She was joined at the briefing by Bacre Waly Ndiaye, Director of the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Dr. Allen Keller, Director of the Bellevue Hospital/New York University Programme for Torture Survivors, and torture survivor Omoyele Sowore.

Eleven years ago, her organization had commenced advocating for the establishment of this international day of commemoration, she said. The Assembly had responded to the call three years ago and, since then, a number of special themes had been promoted for worldwide observance of the day. Last year's theme -- in response to the established fact that "justice heals" -– had been the end of impunity. This year, activities were underway in more than 80 countries. The International Rehabilitation Council had launched its observance in Kosovo.

Torture has always existed, she continued, and she did not think the incidence of it was growing. However, awareness of torture was growing. That was a significant achievement, given neither victims nor perpetrators were comfortable speaking about it. Among the major achievements of the 26 years of the International Rehabilitation Council's existence was that, where once there was silence, now torture was on the international agenda. What remained was to ensure the 190 countries that had ratified the Convention against Torture took that commitment seriously, and acted to implement it.

Mr. Ndiaye explained that the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner had a threefold message for the international day. First, people must express their moral outrage at the continued use of torture. In the past year, the Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Torture had received complaints that torture was practiced in more than 70 countries. Among the most common practices were electric shocks to private parts or extremities, beatings on the soles of the feet, suspension by limbs, scalding with boiling water, death threats and mock executions, and detention in solitary confinement or in psychiatric institutions. The Rapporteur also identified life-threatening prison conditions as tantamount to torture.

Torture Press Conference - 2 - 26 June 2000

The Rapporteur advised governments to change their legislation, reform their prison systems and to train their law enforcement officials, medical practitioners and judges, in order to put an end to such practices. The High Commissioner's office sought to translate the recommendations into reality, by offering technical assistance to States in drafting effective legislation and training government officials. It also conducted public awareness campaigns on torture and actions that could be taken to address it.

The second message was a call for a renewed commitment to address torture, he continued. The necessary international instruments existed, and torture was clearly a banned activity. The International Convention for the first time clearly defined torture as an international crime. Wherever it may have been committed, the crime of torture must not go unpunished. Beyond any declaration or treaty, the crime of torture was covered by the most binding area of customary international law, and therefore was binding on all States. United Nations monitoring mechanisms were in place to check governments’ performance, and those mechanisms were open to both victims and their advocates.

The third message was of solidarity with the survivors of torture and their families, he said. One manifestation of United Nations solidarity was the Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, established in 1981, which made about $7 million in grants in the last year to 130 organizations assisting some 50,000 victims and family members. The main contributor to the fund was the United States, which had pledged donations of about $5 million every year until 2003.

The three key pillars of solidarity were restitution, rehabilitation and compensation, he explained. The healing process required the end of impunity for perpetrators of torture, so he called on all States to donate to the Voluntary Fund, support the International Criminal Tribunals and subscribe to the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, so that to impunity could be ended.

Dr. Keller said that the United Nations Voluntary Fund had "breathed life" into his programme for the survivors of torture. At present the Bellevue/New York University Programme received about five requests for assistance from torture victims a week. Those requests came from people from many different places. Recently requests had, not surprisingly, come from people from Kosovo and Sierra Leone.

The youngest victim the Programme had treated was a six-year-old girl from Albania, he said, suffering from severe burns and trauma as a consequence of having her arm plunged into boiling water by thugs who were trying to intimidate her parents. What torture did, in addition to the physical suffering, was destroy an individual's dignity and their sense of trust. Torture treatment centres around the world tried to restore this sense of trust and their hope, so they could get on with their lives. There had been a tremendous growth in the number of torture centres around the world. Unfortunately, there was tremendous need. It was estimated that there may be some 200,000 torture survivors residing in the United States.

In addition to caring for torture survivors, it was critical that people spoke out against torture and advocated on behalf of survivors. Torture must be condemned and those facing imprisonment and persecution must be supported. He explained that immigration laws must also be examined. A 1996 United States law allowed for the immediate deportation of those that arrived in the country without valid travel papers. Torture survivors were unlikely to have such papers, as they were often issued by the very authorities that perpetrated the torture. As a

result, survivors faced the risk of being returned to the places they had escaped from, or incarcerated for months or years while their asylum claims were processed. Those draconian measures could and must be repealed.

Working with torture survivors reminded him of the potential for cruelty and suffering in the world, but also of the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit, he said. It was in honour of survivors and those at risk, that others must speak out against torture, and work to end the assault on human dignity.

Mr. Sowore, a Nigerian torture survivor, explained that he had been injected with poison, detained eight times and expelled from university. Today his family was still traumatized. On several occasions the Nigerian Government had advised his family that he was dead. Torturers must be exposed, and the blindfold must be removed from torture. Those responsible for inflicting injuries on their fellow human beings must be brought to trial, and not within the boundaries of the countries that perpetrated torture, so that people like him could see justice done. The man who led the attack on him in 1994 was still a police officer in Nigeria. He held no hope that he could receive justice in Nigeria today. Those who tacitly or directly supported torture should also be subject to sanctions, he added.

Nigeria had not ratified the Convention, he said. Its representatives attended the United Nations every day. They should prevail on the Government to ratify the Convention. He asked why Nigeria had waited one day longer than its return to democracy in May 1999 to ratify the Convention, if it had no intent to torture its citizens again.

Torture was not only an act of power, he concluded, it was an act of cowardice.

In response to a question about how much effort must be put into training those who may be induced or instructed to carry out torture, Dr. Genefke said that working to change attitudes, particularly of police, was extremely important. That torture was a good way to gain information was a myth. It was a bad method of investigation, and led to both innocents in prison and the guilty on the streets. The Council was actively engaged in trying to institute change. Human rights courses around the world must also include anti-torture components. Silence about torture was conspiracy with the torturers.

Dr. Keller added that education was a key in addressing torture, not just in the systems where torture took place, but also for people likely to come into contact with torture's victims, like immigration and refugee service providers.

Mr. Ndiaye explained that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had programmes in some 60 countries that had asked for assistance in human rights training, which included components on torture.

Mr. Sowore added that the providers of instruments of torture should also be addressed. Most torturers acquired their instruments from developed countries, he noted.

In response to another question, Mr. Ndiaye stated that torture was clearly an instrument of repression and many high-profile cases involved political actors. However, the overwhelming majority of victims of torture were the poor, criminals and those disconnected from the opportunity to live a decent life. As long as the international community failed to address the problem of the poor, the marginalized and the vulnerable, it was contributing to a vicious circle of brutalization that marred the chances of all people living a dignified life.

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