Torture is torture, and waterboarding is not an exception – UN expert urges the US not to reinstate it
GENEVA (30 January 2017) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, has appealed to US President
Donald Trump not to reconsider the acceptability of waterboarding and other methods of torture used as interrogation
techniques.
“Without any doubt, waterboarding amounts to torture,” said the independent expert tasked by the Human Rights Council
with monitoring and reporting on the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment around
the world.
“Any tolerance, complacence or acquiescence with such practice, however exceptional and well-argued, will inevitably
lead down a slippery slope towards complete arbitrariness and brute force,” Mr. Melzer cautioned.
“I urgently appeal to President Trump to carefully consider not only US legal obligations, doctrine and tradition, but
also the consolidated legal and moral views of the entire international community before allowing the re-introduction of
methods or interrogation that are more closely associated with barbarism than with civilization. I remain open to engage
in a direct and constructive dialogue with the President.”
The Special Rapporteur noted that the US has always publicly affirmed its belief in the rule of law and respect for
truth, and called on the Government to live up to the standards the nation has set both for itself and others.
“If the new Administration were to revive the use of torture, however, the consequences around the world would be
catastrophic,” he warned. “Should Mr. Trump follow through on all of his pledges, more countries are likely to follow
his lead and get back into the torture business – an ultimate disgrace for all of humanity.”
Three reasons why not to reinstate it
“First, waterboarding is a form of torture and, contrary to popular belief, torture simply does not work,” Mr. Melzer
emphasized.
“Torture is known to consistently produce false confessions and unreliable or misleading information,” he said. “Faced
with the imminent threat of excruciating pain or anguish, victims simply will say anything –regardless of whether it is
true– to make the pain stop and try to stay alive.”
The expert recalled the 2014 US Senate Intelligence Committee Report, which concluded that the CIA’s use of enhanced
interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, was ‘not an effective means of acquiring intelligence or gaining
cooperation from detainees’, a conclusion echoed by countless law enforcement agencies and scientific studies worldwide.
“Second, even if torture did work, that does not make it legally or morally acceptable,” he added. “Let us be clear: if
you are looking for military advantage in war, you can argue that chemical weapons ‘work’, or terrorism ‘works’ as
well.”
“However, all civilized peoples of this world have stood together to outlaw such abhorrent practices because, just as
torture, they irreparably destroy the humanity and integrity not only of the victim, but also of the perpetrator and,
ultimately of society as a whole,” Mr. Melzer underscored.
“Third”, the expert stressed, “the use or incitement of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment has been absolutely prohibited in treaty law, such as the Convention against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Geneva Conventions.”
The Special Rapporteur noted that the prohibition is absolute and breaches amount to internationally recognized crimes
and, in armed conflict, even to war crimes.
“In my view”, the human rights expert concluded, “the universal recognition of the absolute nature of this prohibition
may well constitute the most fundamental achievement of mankind.”
ENDS