US failed to curb torture of detainees : AI
BRITAIN: The United States has failed to eradicate torture and
ill-treatment of prisoners in its war on terrorism despite the
international outcry over the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and abusive
behavior at other U.S. detention facilities, and is even allowing such
practices to flourish, Amnesty International charged.
The London-based human rights organization made its criticism in a
report to the U.N. Committee against Torture, which will start meeting
in Geneva this week to consider American compliance with the United
Nations convention against torture and other cruel forms of punishment.
"Although the U.S. 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 U.S. 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," he said.
Amnesty International also expressed concern over domestic U.S.
violations of the U.N. torture convention, including use of excessive
force by police and electroshock weapons and abuses against women in the
prison system. The latter allegedly include sexual abuse by male guards
and shackling of women while pregnant and in labor.
In the overseas war on terror, the group charged that no senior
American officials have been held accountable for incidences of torture
or ill-treatment and said legislation passed by Congress in 2005 has
"serious limitations."
One section of that law, it said, refers to "cruel, unusual and
inhumane treatment" banned under the U.S. Constitution as defined by a
series of reservations the United States has expressed regarding the
U.N. Convention against Torture.
The law is a step forward but still could leave the United States
open to employ a narrower interpretation of what constitutes such
treatment than is recognized under the convention, Amnesty said, adding
that the United States should withdraw its reservations to the
convention.
In Afghanistan, which U.S. forces invaded a few months after the
Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to oust the Taliban for harbouring Al-Qaida
militants, hundreds of detainees remain in U.S. custody with no recourse
to due legal process or human rights protection, Amnesty said.
There is no longer an international armed conflict in Afghanistan,
nor is there a clear or recognized legal framework governing U.S. forces
actions in that country, Amnesty said.
In the cases of both Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States has
reportedly improved its procedures for handling prisoners since the Abu
Ghraib scandal. But Amnesty said it continues to receive reports of
torture or ill-treatment of detainees by U.S. troops.
Reported abuses involve alleged use of stun guns on handcuffed and
blindfolded detainees in Iraq in March 2005 and hooding, shackling and
deprivation of food and water at least up until March 2005 in
Afghanistan, the report said.
London, Tuesday, AP. |