Torture & Human Rights
Torture has a profound, immediate and long-term impact on physical and psychological health
Protection from persecution is a fundamental human right.
Article 5 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
Many refugees have experienced the worst of mankind’s inhumanity as a result of persecution and other human rights violations.
Persecution, and the associated acts of violence and torture, are systematically perpetrated, can be state sanctioned and/or part of conflict between groups for reasons of establishing power over people and territory.
Torture is practiced widely, in three-quarters of the world, often with impunity or effectively tolerated by the failure to rigorously prevent it occurring or failure to prosecute or punish perpetrators.
The most widely adopted definition of torture is that of the United Nations’ Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention against Torture), with the key elements being:
Torture may:
Many different methods of torture have been used and they continue to be practised and refined. Some methods are peculiar to just one country while many other forms appear commonly practised in a variety and number of countries.
Torturers may try and cover up torture by using increasingly sophisticated methods that do not leave physical scars in an effort to allay the suspicion of an international world.
Common methods of physical torture include:
Psychological forms of torture include:
While torture may be used for a variety of purposes (e.g. to punish, to obtain information or to coerce), a primary reason for its use is as a means of social control.
Governments employ torture as part of state policy in order to deter real or suspected dissidents. Regimes use torture as part of a continuum of repressive measures and suppression of democratic rights. Rarely, if ever, is torture practiced alone; it has become a constituent part of mechanisms for social domination.
Anyone can be a victim of torture and selection is often indiscriminate with individuals targeted for their connections to groups and communities or belief systems that are perceived as in opposition to the perpetrators.
Perpetrators are likely to include people and groups who are part of, and trained by, particular organisations or institutions where they are ordered, conscripted or employed to torture.
Perpetrators may be:
Child soldiers can be forced to kill a family member as part of their recruitment or face death themselves if they do not comply. In such situations, the distinction between perpetrator and victim is a blurred one.
Torture impacts people, families and communities in different ways. It has a profound, immediate and long-term impact on physical and psychological health.
A high percentage of survivors of torture and other traumatic events suffer from extreme levels of depression and anxiety, which manifest in many ways .
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