In her 2007 Report speech, Secretary General Irene Khan described how “powerful governments… deliberately fomented fear to erode human rights.”
In my job at Amnesty International I think a lot about torture. I think about how governments are able to make people think that torture is acceptable — at least in some circumstances. And I think about the people I have met who have been tortured - and the disconnection between their experiences and what government officials try to argue.
Over the last year, as I have read and listened to the arguments about how torture is justified in some circumstances, I began to wonder whether the people making those arguments ever imagined it could happen to them. That they could be arbitrarily arrested, effectively disappeared, spirited away to another country, doped, hooded, handcuffed or diapered. All without any hope that someone would even know enough about what happened to them to demand their whereabouts or their release.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that pundits and politicians who defend torture - and allow the accompanying violation of human rights and due process - are people who believe that their power and privilege means it won’t happen to them.
This is why respect for the rule of law trumps any argument in defence of torture. Government officials may claim with absolute certainty that they know who the “bad guys” are, but those claims can only be verified through due process and fair trial proceedings. In short, torture is about abuse of power.
As Vladimir Bukowsky wrote in a powerful column in the Washington Post: “Torture, which includes CID [cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment], has historically been an instrument of oppression - not an instrument of investigation or intelligence gathering.”
This is how politicians use fear to divide. They tell me the only way I can be safe is if someone who is identifiably different can be tortured in order to protect me. I feel safe from torture because I don’t fit the description of those who are a threat and I am told that their dehumanization is critical to my protection. This is a portrayal of a world built on fear and divisions that leads to persecution based on race, ethnicity and religion.
What we desperately need are principled leaders who envision a world based on the universality of rights, freedom from fear and insecurity and governmental power constrained by human rights standards and the rule of law.
Widney Brown is a Senior Director at Amnesty International, and works on international law, policy and campaigns
Fear must be countered by hope, by self belief, knowing that all things are within our grasp, including possitive evolving our global society
What we desperately need are principled leaders who envision a world based on the universality of rights, freedom from fear and insecurity and governmental power constrained by human rights standards and the rule of law.
No truer words can be spoken, what we need, what united we can demand is The Global Peace Council. Taking our most wisest leaders of the planet, those who have won the Nobel Peace Prize, and giving them the power globally to oversee all important issues of ecconomics and eccological needs, this is the future we need, this is the future we have the right to demand, peacably, together, united, showing we can be the change we desire to see
many years ago i used to send letters to oppressive govs and cards to those wrongly imprisoned,is there anything i can do in a similar way today?this may seem futile but it did make you feel you were in some way helping.i dont run a newspaper or do anything where i can make a major impact but if i can do something i would appreciate it.my heart really goes out to those in Africa,they do seem to have less privelige be it because of there skin colour or there lack of oil or some other commodity that is sort after.if you can advise me it would be appreciated,thanks
Amnesty International
Widney Brown
I thank you for your courage to write about the human rights violation of coercive control, domestic violence in targeting abused women and children and the illegal use of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment that continues in the United States. The attempt to silence individuals that are opposed to the illegal human rights violations of the current Bush administration.As we celebrate United Nations day today may we begin to hold those accountable for the human and civil rights violations within our own country. May we expose those that believe that torture and violence are a way to silence those who will not be silenced in the United States.I thank you for your report from Madrid Spain on the Council of Europe Campaign to Combat Violence Against Women Including domestic violence.As a domestic violence activist your words mean so much to a protective mother trying to expose the judicial and political corruption in the courts and in our commnunities.
thank you.