June 26: International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

(Clearwsidom.net) June 26 is International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

Since its creation in 1945, the United Nations has worked to eradicate torture. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in its Article 5 proclaims that "no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".

On 10 December 1984, the UN General Assembly (Resolution 39/46) adopted the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. This Convention, which entered into force on 26 June 1987, obliges States to make torture a crime and to prosecute and punish those guilty of it. It notes explicitly that neither higher orders nor exceptional circumstances can justify torture.

It was an important step to acknowledge that torture, and all forms of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, are absolutely and universally illegal. Proposed by Denmark, the UN General Assembly in December 1997 marked the historic date - 26 June - as International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

Sources:

The United Nations
International Federation of ACAT (FI.ACAT)
Intuition in Service

Understanding Torture

The human rights organization, Christians Against Torture (CAT) interprets torture as:

"Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions." (Article 1)

Torture may include:

* systematic beatings
* being deprived of sleep for several days
* being subjected to electric shock
* being submerged head first in foul water
* being confined to mental hospital on other than medical grounds
* being given sophisticated drugs
* starvation
* exposure to extreme temperatures
* electric shock treatment
* live burials ...

Victims of torture are often caught up in government suppression of dissent, they are not charged with any criminal offence and they may be the wives or young children of suspects. They suffer, physically and mentally, long after release.

Effects of torture may include:

* serious injury and/or paralyses
* destroyed minds
* emotional scars
* death
* disappearance - a terrible form of torture for those left behind ...

Torture is not just an expression of sadism, practiced by those who deal with prisoners. It becomes an institution, part of the system, authorized by governments, connived by officials at every level, and accepted as a "necessary evil".

Sources:

The United Nations

Christians Against Torture

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