Torture Remains the World's Dirty Secret, Amnesty Says
by Micah Luxen (United Nations)Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, May 13 (IPS) - Alfreda Disbarro is awaiting trial in her native Philippines, charged with the sale and possession of illegal drugs. According to her sworn affidavit, while in police custody, she was in so much pain that she couldn't eat, had difficulty breathing and kept vomiting. According to her same affidavit and testimony, Disbarro was arrested violently in October 2013 and taken to police headquarters where she was forced to admit her guilt via methods of torture – enduring punches to the stomach and face, blows by a club and wooden stick, fingers to the eyes, and being forced to eat a mop. Disbarro's sister alerted the Commission on Human Rights. The resulting examination by a doctor reported marks of injury over her body. Disbarro remains in custody.
Amnesty International is marking the 30th anniversary of the U.N.'s Convention Against Torture with the grim news that stories like Disbarro's and the practice of torture is still common in many countries. Torture, according to Amnesty, is physical or mental pain or suffering that is inflicted intentionally for a particular purpose, such as trying to obtain information or to punish a person for who he or she is or what he or she is alleged to have done. The London-based human rights watchdog started a new campaign as a result, called Torture in 2014: 30 Years of Broken Promises[link:http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/amnesty-international-global-crisis-torture-exposed-new-worldwide-campaign-2014-05-13|..
Of the 141 countries Amnesty works with, every one reported torture or other ill-treatment in the past five years. In addition, a survey of 21,000 people from 21 countries reveals fear of torture is present in all of these, and found that the majority of people believe governments should make clear laws against torture. "It's virtually everywhere, in one way or another," Michael Bochenek, Amnesty International's senior director for law and policy, told IPS.
"There may be differences in degree – there may differences in whether a particular state has a systematic or pervasive use of torture, versus something in another country that's more episodic. But it's not just repressive states that use torture." Bochenek says the primary responsibility to end torture falls on governments, but that citizens can demand increased accountability on the part of their own government.
Read more: http://www.globalissues.org/news/2014/05/13/18670
Worldwide campaign: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/amnesty-international-global-crisis-torture-exposed-new-worldwide-campaign-2014-05-13