Talking about torture inevitably makes people feel uncomfortable. The tactics, the cruelty, the imagined pain and suffering are terrible to think about. But we need to start discussing torture much more than we do. Because we have to stop it. And to stop it we need to talk about it. Otherwise it remains hidden, in the shadows. And if left in the shadows torture will never end.
Consider Claudia Medina’s case. Claudia was taken from her home in Veracruz, Mexico in the middle of the night. She was beaten, kicked, sexually assaulted, given electric shocks, and tied to a chair and left in the scorching afternoon sun on a navy base. Accused of being part of a criminal gang, she signed a statement she was not allowed to read and was paraded in front of the media. She later told the court she had been tortured. All but one of the charges were dropped and she was released. Almost two years later, there has been no investigation into her torture.
The global ban on torture is unambiguous. But torture is commonplace; in fact epidemic in many countries. And sadly, instead of consistently rejecting torture in other countries, too often Canadian policy gives it a nudge and a wink. That complacency must give way to resolute leadership.
It is universally banned; and it is never excused. Yet the new campaign to Stop Torture launched by Amnesty International last month points to torture in 141 countries, on every continent, over the past five years. That extends beyond those countries most readily associated with torture, such as Syria, Iran or China. For instance, during the campaign Amnesty International activists across Canada will push to end high levels of torture in Mexico and the Philippines. Recently Amnesty International has initiated urgent action on torture in Colombia, Angola and Barbados. The wrenching reality is that torture rears its head in so many parts of our world; and not just where it would be most readily expected.
Few human rights protections are stated so unequivocally: in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, numerous other UN treaties, declarations and resolutions, and countless national constitutions and laws. No one shall be subjected to torture. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever may be invoked as a justification for torture. And not just internationally, there are countless national laws and constitutions which firmly reject torture, including Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Governments had good reason for that unconditional ban. Torture strikes at the essence of human dignity that is at the very heart of human rights. Excusing it for any reason – combatting terrorism, fighting crime or waging a war – only deepens the divisions and marginalization, and furthers the cycles of revenge and repression, that fuel human rights abuses and insecurity.
Governments also knew the ban made sense because torture doesn’t work; people will say anything to bring it to an end. And they realized that creating any exceptions was a dangerous slippery slope. There is no such thing as a little torture. Once it is allowed in one situation it’s use only grows.
The reasons it continues are many. People are tortured as punishment. They are tortured to force a confession, implicate someone else or obtain information. Torture is used to spread fear, keep people silent, and terrorize entire communities. It is often an extension of discrimination and misogyny. Torture frequently stems from misunderstanding and hate.
The techniques are multitude. The imagination of cruelty knows no bounds. From brutal physical mistreatment to agonizing psychological methods; torture leaves emotional scars, debilitating injuries and often leads to death. No one is spared: men and women, the young and the elderly.
In all of this, torturers are greatly aided by the secrecy that keeps their crimes hidden and the impunity that shields them from punishment.
Safeguards are needed to pierce the secrecy, such as by making sure lawyers and doctors can play their role, standing between torturers and their victims. Political will is needed to shatter the impunity that denies justice to Claudia.
To make that happen, we need global champions. Surprisingly, no state truly leads the effort to eradicate torture. Why isn’t Canada playing that role?
Canada should be that champion simply because it is such a vital human rights concern. We should do so also because torture increasingly strikes frighteningly close to home. It is no longer a faraway issue happening in faraway lands. A growing number of Canadians have experienced torture around the world, including in Syria, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China and Sri Lanka. On any given day a Canadian is held somewhere in the world where the risk of torture is very real.
And it goes further than that. We also face the disturbing recognition that Canadian actions have contributed to torture in many countries. Numerous judicial inquiries and court rulings have made that very clear, including the cases of Maher Arar, Abdullah Almalki, Muayyed Nureddin, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati, Omar Khadr and Abousfian Abdelrazik. It was the central concern with Afghan prisoner transfers. And it remains a glaring human rights loophole in Canadian immigration law, which allows deportations to torture in exceptional cases. Canadians suffer the consequences of torture; but also Canadians are sometimes part of the problem of torture.
The Canadian connection to overseas torture is back in the news this year with further revelations about Ministerial Directions on torture and intelligence information. The directives authorize the use in Canada, in exceptional circumstances, of intelligence that was likely obtained through torture in other countries. And intelligence can be shared with foreign agencies, even when that will likely cause torture. That goes against one of the key recommendations to come out of the judicial inquiry into Maher Arar’s case. The UN’s expert Committee against Torture has called on Canada to bring the Ministerial Directions into line with the international ban on torture. But Canada hasn’t budged and shows no signs of planning to make any changes.
Meanwhile Canada rebuffs a groundbreaking UN treaty that is meant to prevent torture through a system of national and international prison inspections. The treaty, an Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, has been around since 2002. Over 70 countries are on board, including France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and other close Canadian allies. But despite promises at the UN in 2006 and 2009 to consider ratification, Canada has not done so. Last year Canada told the UN that there are no current plans to ratify the Optional Protocol. That makes it difficult to persuade other countries – where torture is rampant – to sign on. Why should they do what we are not prepared to do ourselves?
We must press for the laws and safeguards that will prevent torture. We must refuse to give a nod to torture anywhere, anytime. We must sign on to all relevant international treaties. As long as torture continues, anywhere – we all remain diminished by it; and we all remain vulnerable to it. We must stop torture; now.
Guest Blogger: Alex Neve, Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada
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“The earth is God’s and all that is in it” reads a Biblical verse in Psalm 24. While on a visit to Peru I heard some Peruvians express that verse in a variety of ways as they critiqued mining operations in the northern Peruvian Andes Mountains. The sacredness of the land is a seed planted in the hearts of the Peruvian people and in the country’s soil since the Inca Kingdom dominated vast areas of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Peruvians today continue to acknowledge the sacredness of the land offering prayer and gifts to mamapacha and mamacocha, the goddesses of earth and water. However, they are also finding their voice to speak out and to protest environmental damage caused in the extraction of their natural resources. In 2012, concerned Peruvians protested with a “Great National Water March” to call attention to the contamination of lakes and rivers surrounding mining projects. 
