US News
Amnesty International says US creating \'climate of torture\'
By DPA
May 3, 2006, 19:00 GMT

London - Amnesty International accused the US government of \'creating a climate in which torture can flourish\' through the alleged inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners and detainees both in the US and in American detention sites around the world.

In a report published Wednesday in London, Amnesty said the US government had failed to take \'effective legal and other measures to prevent torture and to provide appropriate punishment for those who commit torture.\'

The report has already been sent to members of the UN Committee Against Torture, who will be examining the US compliance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment on May 5 and 8 in Geneva.

The US is planning to send a 30-strong delegation to Geneva to defend its record.

In its written report to the Committee, the US government has asserted its unequivocal opposition to the use or practice of torture under any circumstances - including war or public emergency.

\'Although the US government continues to assert its condemnation of torture and ill-treatment, these statements contradict what is happening in practice,\' said Curt Goering, Senior Deputy Executive Director Of Amnesty International USA.

\'The US government is not only failing to take steps to eradicate torture it is actually creating a climate in which torture and other ill-treatment can flourish - including by trying to narrow the definition of torture,\' it said.

The Amnesty report describes how measures taken by the US government in response to widespread torture and ill-treatment of detainees held in US military custody in the context of the \'war on terror\' had been far from adequate.

It reviews several cases where detainees held in US custody in Afghanistan and Iraq have died under torture. To this day, no US agent had been prosecuted for \'torture\' or \'war crimes,\' it noted.

\'While the government continues to try to claim that the abuse of detainees in US custody was mainly due to a few \'aberrant\' soldiers, there is clear evidence to the contrary,\' Amnesty said.

\'Most of the torture and ill-treatment stemmed directly from officially-sanctioned procedures and policies - including interrogation techniques approved by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld,\' it said.

The US last appeared before the Committee Against Torture in May 2000.

Practices criticized by the Committee six years ago - such as the use of electro-shock weapons and excessively harsh conditions in \'super-maximum\' security prisons - had in some cases been exported for use by US forces abroad. These had served as a model for the treatment of US-held detainees in the context of the \'war on terror,\' said Amnesty.

\'The US has long taken a selective approach to international standards, but in recent years, the US government has taken unprecedented steps to disregard its obligations under international treaties,\' said Amnesty.

\'This threatens to undermine the whole framework of international human rights law - including the consensus on the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,\' the Amnesty report said.