" The Law of the Land: U.S. Implementation of Human Rights Treaties "
Most of you are probably aware of this upcoming Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing, but for those of you who are not, I enclose the following information.
This hearing will consider implementation of already-ratified human rights treaties. Please, please submit a statement from you or your group's perspective.
Link to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee.
Please email this video and what other info you wan to those on the Subcommittee
http://judiciary.senate.gov/about/subcommittees/humanrights.cfmlink to the date and time hearing
http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/***************************************
Here is what Chuck wrote;
Senate Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law
Dear Committee Members:
"We have met the enemy and he is us." That is the first thing that came to my mind when I heard your subcommittee was holding a hearing to examine United States implementation of ratified human rights treaties. My comments will only be with respect to the Convention Against Torture.
As you know, the United States ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) in 1994. That same year, implementing legislation was passed in the form of a Federal Torture Statute (18 U.S.C. Secs. 2340 and 2340A-B). I shall raise two issues concerning the implementation of CAT.
First, it is not clear to me why the statute limits the torture to acts committed "outside the United States" (18 U.S.C. Sec. 2340A (a)). Nothing in the treaty suggests this type of implementing legislation. To rely on states to implement the treaty by passing their own torture statutes to cover their respective jurisdictions is to abnegate the responsibilities of the United States -- the signatory and ratifier of CAT -- under the clear terms of the treaty.
Second, and of greater import, the well-known Pogo quotation above is right on point in describing the actions -- and lack of action -- of members of your subcommittee and the Senate Judiciary Committee as a whole.
The official policy of "legalizing," authorizing, ordering and committing torture began in 2002. The eight-year federal statute of limitations will soon begin to expire on these crimes, yet not one single person has been charged. The coming year is crucial if we are really serious about implementing the CAT. If not, we are about to become a nation that officially sanctions torture.
Make no mistake about it, we have tortured people. The evidence is overwhelming. Major General Antonio Taguba wrote in a 2008 preface to a "Physicians for Human Rights" report that "the Commander-in-Chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture." FBI interrogator, Ali Soufan, reported "borderline torture" to his superiors in Washington. Judge Susan Crawford, the convening authority for the Guantanamo military commissions, said earlier this year, "We tortured Qahtani. His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case
." (The Washington Post, January 14, 2009).
As you know, under the CAT, it is no justification for torture that the perpetrator acting in an official capacity was seeking information, was inflicting punishment, or was merely attempting to intimidate those being torture. (CAT, Article 1).
The CAT also requires President Obama and Attorney General Holder to investigate allegations where there is a "reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed." (CAT, Article 12). So far, with respect to this issue, neither of them seems to recognize we are a nation of laws.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has oversight responsibility for the Justice Department. Your committee should be insisting that Attorney General Holder make it a priority to investigate and prosecute these serious and credible allegations of torture and conspiracy to torture. In attempting to avoid Constitutional applications to the detainees, e.g., habeus corpus, the Bush Administration frequently argued the detainees were outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. That is precisely where the Federal Torture Statute's jurisdiction lies. Furthermore, when it comes to conspiracy to torture, the conspiracy need not have occurred outside the United States. (18 U.S.C. Sec. 2340A (c). This statute is eminently enforceable, and it boggles the mind to try to explain why no prosecutions have occurred thus far.
With respect to the implementation of the Convention Against Torture, your subcommittee need only look inward, not outward. Pogo was right: "We have met the enemy and he is us."
Sincerely,
Chuck
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