Showing papers on "Torture published in 1990"

Testimony as ritual and evidence in psychotherapy for political refugees

Abstract: Testimony as a ritual both of healing and of condemnation of injustice would seem to be a universal phenomenon. The concept of testimony contains both connotations of something subjective or private, and of something objective, judicial, or political. When political refugees give testimony to the torture to which they have been subjected, the trauma story can be given a meaning, can be reframed: private pain is transformed into political dignity. In the context of testimony, shame, and guilt connected with the trauma can be confessed by the victim and reframed. In the transcultural meeting between the political refugee and the Western therapist, the common goal of creating evidence against repression becomes both a meeting place and a joint point of departure. The testimony method is demonstrated by two case histories.

Psychological sequelae of torture: A descriptive model.

Abstract: Torture is one of the most important preventable causes of psychological morbidity. Amnesty International (1987) has reported the use of “brutal torture and ill-treatment” in over 90 countries in the 1980s. In some countries torture has been applied on such a widespread scale and in such an arbitrary manner that whole populations are affected. In Kampuchea under the Pol Pot regime, for example, genocide and torture took place on a massive scale; indeed, merely wearing spectacles became for many a capital offence (Amnesty International, 1983). Similar reports abound from many other countries and regions.

The Elementary Forms of Conflict Management

Abstract: Conflict management is the handling of grievances, including litigation, mediation, arbitration, negotiation, beating, torture, assassination, feuding, warfare, strikes, boycotts, riots, banishment, resignation, running away, ridicule, scolding, gossip, witchcraft, witch-hunting, hostage-taking, fasting, confession, psychotherapy, and suicide.1 Although diverse, its many varieties reduce to a smaller number, each arising under distinctive conditions.

Transitional Governments in the Breach: Why Punish State Criminals?

Abstract: Like a number of other governments, the administration elected in Argentina in 1983 is confronting the issue of bringing military violators of human rights to trial. Throughout the 1980s, the shift to democratic administrations from dictatorial regimes in which basic liberties were regularly violated has been a pattern in Latin America. Human rights organizations and progressive political sectors urged the governments of Brazil and Uruguay to set up trials for officers charged with serious offenses (murder, torture, abduction, rape). Chile may be heading in the same direction, given the results of the 1988 referendum. The political campaign of former President Alfonsin of Argentina, however, can be singled out for its emphasis on respect for individual

Political violence and the struggle in South Africa

Abstract: Notes on Contributors - Editorial Introduction: The Time of the Comrades: Reflections on Professional Discourses and Political Commitment - South Africa: The Epidemiology and Culture of Violence S.Marks & N.Andersson - The Concept of Violence J.Degenaar - Discourses on Political Violence A.du Toit - The Shooting at Uitenhage, 1985: The Context and Interpretation of Violence R.Thornton - Symbolising Violence: State and Media Discourse in Television Coverage of Township Protest, 1985-7 D.Posel - From Biko to Wendy Orr: The Problem of Medical Accountability in Contexts of Political Violence and Torture M.Rayner - Detention and Violence: Beyond Victimology D.Foster & D.Skinner - State Violence in South Africa and the Development of a Progressive Psychology L.Swartz, K.Gibson & S.Swartz - Political Oppression and Children in South Africa: The Social Construction of Damaging Effects L.Swartz and A.Levett - Crowds and their Vicissitudes: Psychology and Law in the South African Courtroom N.Chabani Manganyi - Violence and the Law: The Use of the Censure in Political Trials in South Africa D.M.Davis - Sentencing in Cases of Public Violence C.Plasket - Images of Punishment in the People's Courts of Cape Town, 1985-7: From Prefigurative Justice to Populist Violence W.Sch rf & B.Ngcokoto - Index

Death Work: A Study of the Modern Execution Process

Abstract: Part One: Executions past and present. Executions past: antiquity to the 20th Century. Executions present: the 20th century American experience. Part Two: Waiting to die. A study of modern death rows. Death row: conditions and confinement. Living and working on death row. Part Three: In cold blood: a study of modern executions. Death work: a modern execution team. Death watch: the final hours. An execution and its aftermath. Part Four: Moral considerations. A modern instance of torture. Punishing murderers: choosing life over death.

The United Nations Convention against Torture: A Handbook on the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. By J. Herman Burgers and Hans Danelius. Dordrecht, Boston, London: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1988. Pp. xii, 271. Dfl.155; $84.50; £44.95.

Abstract: This book is an essential resource for those for whom it was primarily written: \"people who will have to work with the Convention [against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment] in the exercise of their functions, such as diplomats, magistrates, law enforcement officials, military officers and lawyers\" (p. v). It was written with the knowledge, expertise and authority of two of the key participants in drafting the Convention: Hans Danelius, at the time the legal chief of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was the principal author of the text that Sweden offered and that was accepted as the working document in the drafting process, throughout which he was active as Sweden's representative; and Herman Burgers, of the Netherlands delegation to the UN Commission on Human Rights, was chairman/rapporteur of the working group set up by the Commission to draft the Convention during the last three (decisive) sessions of the working group.

The Phoenix Program

Abstract: "An important work." -John Prados, author of President's Secret Wars "This definitive account of the Phoenix program, the US attempt to destroy the Viet Cong through torture and summary execution, remains sobering reading for all those trying to understand the Vietnam War and the moral ambiguities of America's Cold War victory. Though carefully documented, the book is written in an accessible style that makes it ideal for readers at all levels, from undergraduates to professional historians." -Alfred W. McCoy, author of The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade

Therapy with Victims of Political Repression in Chile: The Challenge of Social Reparation

Abstract: This article describes the work of a mental health team confronting the individual and social consequences of human rights violations by the military government in Chile from 1973 through 1989. It examines three forms of repression—torture, disappearance, and death—and the consequences these have had for victims and family members. Damage to victims is conceptualized in terms of “extreme traumatization,” and psychotherapeutic work with the victims has required radical rethinking of the nature of the therapeutic bond that is necessary with these patients. Grief processes have special relevance in this work, as does the relationship between the personal experience of repression and the sociopolitical context. An illustrative case study of therapy with a torture victim is presented. Finally, the article emphasizes the importance of societal reparation for the psychological recovery of the victims and the consolidation of a stable democracy in Chile.

Human Rights in a Changing World

Abstract: Part I A Decalogue for Five Billion Persons: 1 The Emergence of Human Rights onto the World Stage 2 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 40 Years On 3 Are Human Rights Truly Universal? Part II The Great Outrages Againt Humanity: 4 How Does the International Community React to Genocide? 5 The Savage States - Torture in the 1980's 6 Descent into Hell - Notes on Apartheid 7 The "Forced Disappearance" in Argentina - Barbarism and After 8 A "Contribution" by the West to the Struggle Against Hunger Part III Human Rights Today: 9 The Present Value of Human Rights 10 The Impact of Human Rights on the International Community 11 What Should We Do? Appendices: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) The Main International Organizations Active in the Field of Human Rights - A Practical Guide

The Invasion of Panama Was A Lawful Response to Tyranny

Abstract: The Grenada and Panama interventions contributed to the momentum of popular sovereignty. Not only did the United States remove tyrannical leaders from those two countries, but more importantly it set an example that has undoubtedly shaken other ruling elites that enjoy tyrannical control in their own countries. For even if some of those entrenched elites regard themselves as secure against popular uprising in their own countries (usually by the application of torture and brutality against political dissidents), they cannot now feel totally insulated against foreign humanitarian intervention. Thus, Grenada and Panama may very well act as catalysts in the current global revolution of popular sovereignty. In this respect, as well as on their own merits, the two interventions underscore the unraveling of statist conceptions of international law. The arguments of Professors Farer and Nanda, struggling to conform to the tautological jargon of statism, already seem anachronistic. Tags: Transboundary Use of Force, Article 18 of the OAS Charter, Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, U.S. Intervention in Panama 1989-1990

Sex, Dissidence and Damnation: Minority Groups in the Middle Ages

Abstract: For the potentates of medieval Europe (of both Church and State) dissent struck at the roots of their ordered settled world. To allow a single heretic or free spirit to escape just punishment would, they believed, doom the whole structure of society to decay and dissolution. So dissent was extirpated, first by reason, then by argument, and then with increasing savagery. Dissent was to be removed from the face of the Earth by fire and the sword, by strangulation and the ultimate refinements of torture. But why was the danger felt to be so great and so immediate, from a small minority of mostly poor and powerless individuals? Jeffrey Richards has looked at the persecuted lives of heretics, witches, Jews, prostitutes, lepers and homosexuals, and discovered a common motive for their sufferings. The chief link is sexual abberance. The Church sought to tighten and regulate even the most intimate details of human life, but without much success. Tacitly, unofficial sexual practices were tolerated. But progressively, deviance was seen as having a malign influence not just in an individual life, but in the world at large. At a time when the Second Coming was expected, men and women were expected to lead godly lives - anything less was an outrage. And as the power structures of society solidified, the deviants became convenient scapegoats. The rise of Islam, the spread of disease, especially the Black Death, were laid at their door. They became the scapegoats for a fearful world. Jeffrey Richards charts the shifting perceptions of sex, dissidence and damnation throughout the Middle Ages, and enables readers to form their own judgements.

Psychology and Torture

Abstract: Torture - a brief overview, PSuedfeld psychological consequences of torture - a need to formulate new strategies of research, BMelamed et al the effects of torture and other captivity maltreatment - implications for psychology, BEEnghdal and REEberly the psychology of torture and torturers, EStaub psychologists as victims, administrators and designers of torture, PSuedfeld the "Hooded men" - victims of psychological research? SKennedy treating victims of torture - psychology's challenge, JBouhoutsos

Group treatment of exiled survivors of torture

Abstract: A model for time-limited group treatment of exiled survivors of torture is presented and the importance of placing such traumatic experiences in a sociopolitical context is emphasized. The model is illustrated by descriptions of work with a group made up of Central and South American refugees. Therapeutic techniques are proposed that focus on symptoms of torture-related post-traumatic stress disorder, allowing group members to attain gradual psychological reorganization.

Psychological Sequelae of Torture

Abstract: Although much has been written about the history and methods of torture, and moving testimonies have been produced by individuals and groups of survivors, there have been few attempts to produce an explanatory model which systematically deals with the common physical and psychosocial sequelae. Never has this been more important (Pilisuk & Ober, 1976). Torture is prohibited by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights ([UN]) and the Convention against Torture (UN, 1984), yet it is widely used by state authorities throughout the world as an instrument of interrogation and systematic repression (British Medical Association, 1986). (1987a) has reported the use of “brutal torture and ill-treatment” in over 90 countries in the 1980s.

Women as Torture Victims

Abstract: This paper reports a retrospective study of the frequency, severity, modalities and mental health consequences of torture in 28 Latin American refugee women in Toronto. The data on these women and a comparison group of male torture victims were retrieved from case records in a hospital outpatient clinic. The results support the hypotheses implicit in the scanty literature available that the frequency and effects of torture in women differ from those found in men. In female victims, as in their male counterparts, the severity of the torture was related to the degree of their political involvement. However, torture was more frequently sexual, and its consequences more often affected the women's sexual adaptation.

Apartheid medicine. Health and human rights in South Africa.

Abstract: Human rights and health care under apartheid in South Africa were studied. Human rights violations, such as detention without charge or trial, assault and torture in police custody, and restriction orders, have had devastating effects on the health of persons experiencing them. These violations have occurred in the context of a deliberate policy of discriminatory health care favoring the white minority over the black majority. South Africa's medical societies have had mixed responses to the health problems raised by human rights violations and inequities in the health care system. The amelioration of health care for all and prevention of human rights violations depend on ending apartheid and discrimination and greater government attention to these problems.

The psychological effects of political repression on chilean exiles in the u.s.

Abstract: Interviews with 32 Chilean refugees elicited descriptive findings on the effects of detention and torture and subsequent exile in the U.S. It is suggested that exile for this group constitutes a continuation rather than a cessation of their suffering. Marital problems, economic hardship, and loneliness are recounted by the adults, while teachers and parents report adjustment and behavioral difficulties among the children. The influence of sociopolitical factors on these outcomes is discussed.

Renaissance Execution and Marlovian Elocution: The Drama of Death

Abstract: J NTERPRETATIONS OF violence in Christopher Marlowe's plays have emphasized biographical, literary, and philosophical roots over social and historical conditions. Marlovian violence, the argument goes, reveals the playwright's dramatic immaturity, derives from his slavish imitation of Senecan sensationalism, and symbolizes the characters' aspiring minds. Yet we can add to these views of Marlowe's explorations in staged violence if we glance out his window at the contemporary public political rituals. His numerous references to official methods of persecution-from boiling to pressing, from branding to beheading-are both projections of character and revisions of the corresponding Tudor social practices: public executions and their kin, torture.' It is evident that Marlowe's titular figures-Tamburlaine, Barabas, Faustus, and Edward-are fascinated not only with what can be done by a willful ruler but also with what can be done to another's body; displays of torture impressed themselves on Marlowe and provided him with a dramatic vocabulary for expressing his characters' fates. It is not equally evident, however, that the plays serve the state; Marlowe's figures, after all, assume that they challenge orthodoxy. To solidify their positions, stabilize their power, and universalize an image of themselves, Tudor monarchs tried to organize unambiguous, "divinely sanctioned" public punishments by controlling the interpretive play of trials and executions; in these events, as in the de casibus tragedies familiar at the time, God (not the monarch) saw the truth, brought it to light, preserved the innocent, and punished the guilty. Such entertainments attract Marlowe because they provide ready-made elements for dramatizing tragedies of will. What he does with those

National Security Law

Abstract: This thorough revision preserves the features that earned the book such widespread use: - a cohesive thematic framework for an examination of law and process for using American force abroad, intelligence gathering, counterterrorism, homeland security and related civil liberties concerns, and access to sensitive government information in a democracy - a rich, well-balanced selection of primary materials, including judicial opinions, executive orders, executive branch legal memoranda, statutes, and legislative history - descriptive text that provides context and informative historical and background information - current and comprehensive coverage of the very latest developments in the war on terrorism, torture, the Iraq War, the USA Patriot Act, and related issues - an extensive Teacher's Manual -- more than 400 pages, with detailed explanations and analysis -- completely revised to correspond to the Fourth Edition - the expertise of a highly respected author team Changes for the Fourth Edition update content and simplify teaching: - full treatment of important issues and developments in the aftermath of 9/11, including the USA Patriot Act and its amendments, the Iraq War, detention without process, torture, extraordinary rendition, the Department of Homeland Security, border and transportation security, military commissions, intelligence reform legislation, and more - significant new cases, such as Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, Padilla v. Rumsfeld, U.S. v. Al-Arian, Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft, U.S. v. Moussaoui, People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran v. Department of State, Rasul v. Bush, Doe v. Ashcroft, and Tenet v. Doe - the middle chapters of thebook are reorganized to facilitate the treatment of intelligence gathering and detention - new coverage of the law of armed conflict - issue notes on breaking issues of law and policy faced by national security professionals

The Development of the New South Wales Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (Startts): The First Year:

Abstract: Many immigrants to Australia are refugees, some of whom have experienced acute stress and trauma, including torture, prior to or during their escape from their home countries. In response to a growing recognition that the health care services may not be meeting the needs of these people the NSW Department of Health funded the establishment of a community-based rehabilitation service for traumatised refugees. This paper provides an overview of the recent history of the service, some of the organisational and staffing issues faced during its first year, some characteristics of the first 200 clients, principles of treatment, clinical, nosological and therapeutic issues and relationships with other agencies.

Women as victims of torture.

Abstract: This is a retrospective study on the effects of torture on Latin American refugee women in Toronto. Thirty-six cases of female torture victims are reviewed. The cases are divided in 2 groups, according to whether they experienced physical and psychological torture or only psychological assaults. Both groups are compared in terms of demographic characteristics, social and/or political involvement prior to the traumatic experiences, symptoms for which they sought psychiatric intervention and recovery rates. The symptoms presented by all women are consistent with those described in the literature for torture victims, regardless of their sex. The main findings are that women who experienced direct physical and psychological violence more frequently had persistence of symptoms than women who experienced only psychological violence.

Health profile of applicants for refugee status (admitted into Quebec between August 1985 and April 1986).

Abstract: Refugees requesting asylum when in Canada are termed "Applicants for Refugee Status". The present epidemiological study of a large series of these refugees by the Community Health Department of St-Luke's Hospital in Montreal provides a picture of their social and health profiles. The refugees came from developing countries with serious internal conflicts. On the whole, their state of health was satisfactory. However, in some cases specific diseases were detected which were often connected with their geographical origin. These diseases, which included treponematosis, intestinal parasitosis and nutritional deficiency should in future give rise to health care programs specially adapted to the sub-populations concerned. As regards the problem of torture, both its underestimation and inadequate psychological follow-up among refugees are of great concern and call for special training in treating the effects of torture on its victims. Language: en

Night and Fog

Abstract: Imprisoned in a series of Nazi camps where filth, silence, and torture were ever present, Arne Brun Lie watched his friends weaken and die. For decades, he was haunted by his past. Finally, he set sail from Boston to Norway, where he was able to make peace with that past, perhaps even with the German people.

Victims of torture.

Abstract: There are millions of people in the world today who have survived torture. In this article two psychiatrists working in London at the Middlesex Hospital and the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture describe the nature and common sequelae of torture.