Special Report: Torture
Links to much of the information ResponsibleConsumer.net previously posted on torture are no longer valid. Additional research is needed to find the information again; please stay tuned.
U.S. Army Field Manual Bans Some Interrogation Techniques
2006 September 6 Associated Press report says the new U.S. Army Field Manual bans some specific interrogation techniques used against detainees in the war on terror. These techniques have been criticized in the U.S. and abroad as violating the Geneva Convention against torture. The manual establishes rules for all the armed services, but not the CIA. On this same day President Bush acknowledged for the first time that the CIA has been holding terror suspects in secret prisons outside of the United States. He said 14 prisoners have been transfered from these prisons to the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba, which has also been criticized for human rights violations and keeping information about detainees secret.
China has a program of forced labor for prisoners, which the government says is aimed at reforming prisoners through "re-education". Former prisoners say the program is aimed at enforcing totalitarian control through political propaganda and allowing no time for independent thinking. Controversy exists over how many prison-produced products are sold as exports. Human rights groups mainly object to the fact that people can be held in labor camps for up to four years based on vague charges by police, without trials or access to lawyers, and there are many reports of torture. Reform efforts are hindered by lack of access by independent monitors; even the International Red Cross is not allowed to visit the facilities.A 2006 June 5 Los Angeles Times article, available from CommonDreams.org, says that its proposed new Army Field Manual guidelines for soldiers do not include prohibition of "humiliating and degrading treatment". Prohibition of humiliating treatment is a requirement of the Geneva Convention, which the United States has signed. The article says the State Department "fiercely opposes" the decision by the Pentagon and the White House to omit the prohibition. The Army Field Manual was established as the source for rules of detainee treatment by legislation sponsored by Senator John McCain that prohibits torture, but not humiliating treatment. The Pentagon decision to omit the Geneva protection will not become final until the guidelines become public. Debate continues about what is/is not humane, whether all Geneva conventions should be strictly applied in the war on terror, and whether prohibition of humiliating treatment restricts interrogators too much from getting needed information from detainees.
Torture in U.S. Prisons
2009 January 26 United Nations review of U.S. interrogation techniques
2006 May 5 BBC News report says Amnesty International submitted a report to the U.N. Committe that said actions of the U.S. betrayed its words regarding torture.