Showing papers on "Torture published in 2021"

‘It’s Torture for the Soul’: The Harms of Image-Based Sexual Abuse:

Abstract: Beyond ‘scandals’ and the public testimonies of victim-survivors, surprisingly little is known about the nature and extent of the harms of ‘image-based sexual abuse’, a term that includes all non-c...

Schizophrenia, human rights and access to health care: A systematic search and review of judgements by the European Court of Human Rights:

Abstract: Background:Persons with schizophrenia are vulnerable regarding human rights violations.Aims:The aim of this research is to systematically analyse judgements by the European Court of Human Rights (E...

The "double punishment" of transgender prisoners: a human rights-based commentary on placement and conditions of detention.

Abstract: Purpose The incarceration of transgender people is described as a "double punishment" based on lack of gender recognition and ability to gender affirm, and with their experiences and conditions in prison tantamount to torture. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the continued "double punishment" of incarcerated transgender people (in particular trans-women) and identify and describe breaches in human and gender rights and minimum standards of care. Design/methodology/approach There is limited global data on the numbers of incarcerated transgender people, an identified vulnerable prison group. There are inherent difficulties for prison authorities regarding placement, security aspects and management of transgender persons. While the concerns apply to all transgender prisoners, the current literature focusses mainly on transgender women and this commentary reflects this present bias. A socio-legal approach describes and evaluates international human rights' conventions and human rights' law, soft law instruments mandating non-discriminatory provisions in the prison setting and relevant European and domestic case law. Findings Transgender prisoners experience an amplification of trauma underpinned by lack of legal gender recognition, inability to gender-affirm, discrimination, transphobia, gender maltreatment and violence by other prisoners and prison staff. Despite obligations and recommendations in international human rights' instruments and standard operating procedures at the prison level, very few countries are able to fully uphold the human rights of and meet the needs of transgender people in prison. Originality/value This study is important as it highlights the dearth of knowledge exploring human rights discourses and concerns related to the phenomenon of incarcerated transgender persons. It uniquely focusses on European and domestic law and illustrates the inherent tensions between human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity rights and security considerations regarding transgender issues in prisons. Rights assurances centre on the principles of equality, dignity, freedom of expression, dignified detention and the prohibition of inhumane treatment or punishment.

Everyday Lawmaking in International Human Rights Law: Insights from the Inclusion of Domestic Violence in the Prohibition of Torture

Abstract: How is international human rights law (IHRL) made “everyday”, outside of treaty negotiations? Leading socio-legal accounts emphasize transnational civil society activism as driver of norm change, but insufficiently consider power dynamics and the legal-institutional environment. This article sheds light on these dimensions of IHRL by reconstructing how domestic violence came to be included in the prohibition of torture in five international and regional human rights institutions. Through process-tracing based on interviews and a vast amount of documentation, the study reveals everyday lawmaking in IHRL as a complex, incremental process in which a wide range of actors negotiate legal outcomes. The political implications of this process are ambiguous, as it enables participation while creating hidden sites of power. In addition to challenging existing models of international norm change, this study offers an in-depth empirical exploration of a key development in the international prohibition of torture, and demonstrates the benefits of process-tracing as a socio-legal methodology.

Human Rights in the Oil and Gas Industry: When Are Policies and Practices Enough to Prevent Abuse?:

Abstract: Multinational enterprises are aware of their responsibility to protect human rights now more than ever, but severe human rights violations, including physical integrity abuses (e.g., death, torture...

Are There Moral Duties toward Refugees? Considerations in Legal Ethics

Abstract: In the political and legal debate surrounding international refugee law, moral considerations play a large and important role. It often turns out, however, that the legal ethical reflection is not rooted deep enough. At first, it is necessary to demonstrate and justify the moral principle, on which the argumentation is based. There are different moral theories, among them the utilitarian, the egalitarian, the eudemonistical, and the deontological approach. These different approaches lead or at least can lead to different results concerning the question of what duties states or their citizens have toward refugees. The article is supposed to show that only the deontological approach is sufficient and appropriate in order to deliver a well-founded refugee ethics on the basis of moral duties and moral rights. The ethics of refugee protection is not an ethics of assistance to needy people, but the ethics of the prohibition of torts, namely, in particular, the violation of human rights. This is only inadequately reflected in international refugee law, because here the damage as such is not in the foreground, from which people flee, but the reasons why they are mistreated by persecutors. The damage-oriented approach clarifies the reasons for the different moral and legal status between persons in need of international protection, who have already reached the territory of the country of refuge and those who have not. The former are qualified as the holder of the subjective right not to be exposed to the dangers they have fled from, while the latter can in principle only appeal to the compassion and humanity of possible helpers. However, the boundary between “inside” and “outside” shifts according to the expansion of the de facto sphere of power of the acting person or state. This may also create a legal position for persons who are rescued by a ship at sea or whose living and travel conditions are essentially determined by the power of a state outside its territory. The damage-oriented approach shows furthermore that the refoulement ban has to be considered not only a mere side-aspect of the right to asylum but its core content. However, the right to asylum, cannot be considered a separate right beside the list of human rights. The refoulement ban is rather an integral part of every (“fundamental”) human right. This shows on the one hand that the separate right to asylum is redundant as long as it is supposed to protect against human rights violations. It is relevant only in the context of protection on reasons of solidarity. Finally, it can be shown that the national and international case law concerning the refoulement ban is insufficient because it is focused only on threatening torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, meanwhile, it neglects the threatening violation of other (“fundamental”) human rights.

Imagining Muslim Women in Secular Humanitarian Time

Abstract: Images are important to campaigns that champion the rights of Muslim women against the gender inequalities that ostensibly inhere in Islam. The force of such images derives in part from the...

Celowość kodyfikacji zbrodni przeciwko ludzkości przez Komisję Prawa Międzynarodowego ONZ

Abstract: The present paper analyses the Draft articles on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity, adopted by the International Law Commission in 2019 and considers the respective role by the Commission in codifying international criminal law. Contrary to genocide and war crimes, crimes against humanity were not codified in the late 1940s. The lack of treaty regulation may be considered problematic, even despite the adoption in 1998 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Therefore, it may be noteworthy to consider the desirability of adopting a separate convention on crimes against humanity.The topic has already been tackled in other activities of the Commission. Despite the frag-mented regulation covering separate particular reflections of the crimes against humanity, such as apartheid, torture or enforced disappearances, it is justified to claim that the core of the crimes against humanity is firmly rooted in international customary law, even if some respective specific questions remain disputable. Considerations undertaken by the ILC may as well prove helpful in establishing a more general convention concerning international crimes. The analysis of the ILC Draft Articles confirms the conformity with obligations arising for states out of the instruments creating international criminal courts and tribunals (including those of mixed hybrid character combining international and domestic elements of jurisdiction and com-position). The Article 2 definition reflects the analogous provision of the Rome Statute as contained in its Article 7. The activities of the ILC seem to complement the substantive part of international criminal law. The 2019 Draft Articles contribute to the implementation of the principle of comple-mentarity, as arising out of the Rome Statute. The main goal of the codification is a development of national laws that prohibit and punish crimes against humanity and the respective domestic ju-diciary’s actions, as well as to establish the framework of cooperation in terms of extradition and judicial assistance. The lack of a treaty framework does not necessarily impose a cogent bar to prosecution under international law as the latter may be of course based on international custom. The associated lack of sufficient precision may prove problematic, first of all because of the legality principle. Finally, the paper also deals with a negative dimension of codification. Choosing a treaty meth-od may be treated as a means to allow undermining its negotiated provisions. But even a reliance on a non-binding instrument may remain meaningful to establish and ascertain the respective norms of international law, similar to a codification treaty. Irrespective of the eventual outcome of the ILC Draft Articles any formulation and systematic consideration of norms in a written form is a welcome enterprise allowing for a legal development, through increasing certainty of law and offering yet another occasion to clarify and develop the existing normative framework. However, reducing the crystallization process to a single particular formula may as well prove destructive for future legal development and its responsiveness to the needs of the international community.

Representing torture in Zero Dark Thirty (2012): Popular culture as a site of norm contestation:

Abstract: The global war on terror (GWOT) is undoubtedly the most recent case where a government authorized ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’, a euphemism for torture. In addition to shocking stories and p...

The impact of torture on interpersonal threat and reward neurocircuitry.

Abstract: Objective:Torture adversely influences emotional functioning, but the neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning its impact are unknown. This study examined how torture exposure affects the neural ...

Gender and judging: evidence from the European Court of human rights

Abstract: How does increasing the number of women on the bench affect the outcome of judicial proceedings? This article evaluates this question in the European Court of Human Rights using a new dataset that ...

Why practices that could be torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment should never have formed part of the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic in prisons

Abstract: In this article, we consider the use of restrictive practices in Australian prisons in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on solitary confinement. We explore the health and human rights im...

Deforming justice: Representing punishment in The Human Centipede III: Final Sequence:

Abstract: We analyze the 2015 horror film Human Centipede III: Final Sequence (HC3), written and directed by Dutch filmmaker Tom Six Engaging with literature on torture porn and body horror, we argue that t

Indigenous Women and the Risk of Reproductive Healthcare: Forced Sterilization, Genocide, and Contemporary Population Control

Abstract: This brief, yet current, commentary discusses the way eugenically guided policies, like the Sexual Sterilization Acts in Alberta (1928–1972) and British Columbia (1933–1973), have impacted Indigenous women’s reproductive healthcare in Canada. Indigenous women from Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Northwest Territories, and Saskatchewan have reported they were coerced into having tubal ligation procedures by their healthcare providers, the most recent account occurring in 2018. These procedures fit the definition of genocide according to the United Nations, and a form of torture as defined by the Criminal Code of Canada. This paper includes an analysis of the legislated and non-legislated policies which aim to control Indigenous women’s reproductive rights and discusses the action the Indigenous community has taken to fight back against racist policies and practices within government and healthcare using activism, storytelling, and a class action lawsuit. The article closes with multilevel recommendations moving forward.

Beyond torture checklists. An exploratory study of the Reliability and Construct Validity of the Torturing Environment Scale (TES)

Abstract: Torture methods have traditionally been quantified using checklists. However, checklists fail to capture accurately both the almost infinite range of available methods of torture and the victims’ subjective experience. The Torturing Environment Scale (TES) was designed as a multidimensional alternative that groups torture methods according to the specific human function under attack. This study aims to do an exploratory assessment of the internal consistency reliability and discriminatory validity of the TES as part of a construct validity assessment in a sample of Basque torture survivors. We applied the TES to a sample of 201 torture survivors from the Istanbul Protocol Project in the Basque Country Study (IPP-BC) to profile torturing environments in detention. To estimate the internal consistency reliability of the scale, categorical omega values were obtained for each subscale of the TES. To assess its discriminatory validity, the “known groups” method was used comparing mean scorings by gender, state security forces involved in the detention, and decade (the 1980s to the present) when the events took place. Men reported more physical pain, while women reported more attacks on self-identity and sexual integrity. The TES also showed significant differences as regards the security forces involved in the detention: Civil Guard (a militarised police) used more manipulation of the environment, threats, fear, pain and extreme pain, as compared to national and regional corps. Finally, although patterns of torture remained mostly unchanged across decades, more recent detentions included more emphasis on psychological attacks: context manipulation, humiliation linked to sexual identity, and attacks to meaning and identity. For all subscales of the TES, categorical omega values ranged from 0.44 to 0.72. The TES may be a useful tool in profiling torturing environments. Its sensitivity to key contextual variables supports the discriminatory validity of the scale. While some of the subscales showed an acceptable degree of internal consistency, others require further analysis to improve reliability. The scale provides unique insights into the profile of contemporary torture. It will allow for future quantitative research on the relationship between different torturing environments and the medical and psychological consequences thereof.

The Thorns of Trauma: Torture, Aftermath, and Healing in Contemporary Fairy-Tale Literature

Abstract: While classical fairy tales do not portray much depth of suffering, many contemporary fairy-tale retellings explore trauma and its aftermath in great detail. This article analyzes depictions of trauma in fairy tales, utilizing as a primary case study the “Beauty and the Beast” retelling A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, arguing that this text provides a scientifically accurate representation of trauma and its aftermath, thereby articulating the real in fairy tales. Further, this article classifies that work as not simply a “dark” fairy tale (a contentious term that invites rethinking) but rather as fairy-tale torture porn, in a nod to the horror genre that foregrounds torture, surveillance, and the disruption of bodily boundaries and safety. However, the text’s optimistic account of healing is uniquely relevant in a time of widespread trauma due to a global pandemic, thereby demonstrating that fairy tales remain germane in contemporary contexts.

Rule of Law, Violence and Exception: Deciphering the Indian State in the Thangjam Manorama Inquiry Report:

Abstract: In this article, I draw on Nasser Hussain’s conceptualizations on rule of law, violence, and exception to read the Inquiry Commission Report on the torture and murder of Thangjam Manorama in 2004. While clearly the Commission strongly condemns the torture and murder of Manorama, it continues to represent one of the most serious tensions that exist in the context of the rule of law and emergency that Hussain mentions in British colonial times. The Commission report attempts to resolve the tension between political exigencies and rule of law by restricting itself to being a procedural effort to deal with what is essentially a political and national security regime that ends up being curiously reminiscent of colonial reports. In other words, rather than recognizing the role of extraordinary laws such as AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) in creating such situations, the report primarily recognizes procedural violations as responsible for the violence against Manorama. The report then ends up being a pat...

Uncovering re-traumatization experiences of torture survivors in somatic health care: A qualitative systematic review

Abstract: Little research has focused on torture survivors' re-traumatization experiences in health and hospital units that treat somatic diseases, though any medical procedure can re-traumatize survivors. This study's purpose was to summarize qualitative research evidence on torture survivors' somatic healthcare experiences and to identify "triggers" or "reminders" that can lead to re-traumatization. The study's search strategies identified 6,326 citations and eight studies, comprising data from 290 participants, exploring encounters with healthcare providers from torture survivors' perspectives, which were included in the present research. Dallam's Healthcare Retraumatization Model was used as a framework for data extraction and analysis. Five main themes were elicited from the findings: (1) invisibility, silence, and mistrust; (2) healthcare providers' attitudes and a lack of perceived quality in healthcare; (3) disempowerment; (4) avoidance; and (5) satisfaction and gratitude. An analysis of the study's findings revealed that torture survivors do not receive adequate healthcare and may experience challenges during treatment that can result in re-traumatization. The findings of this literature review provide a basis for understanding the difficulties that survivors experience in receiving somatic healthcare, as well as an explanation of the re-traumatization process.

Treatment of Migrant Children on the US Southern Border Is Consistent With Torture.

Abstract: * Abbreviations: AAP — : American Academy of Pediatrics border — : US Southwestern border CAT — : United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment CRC — : United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child UN — : United Nations Migrants crossing the US Southwestern border (border) have previously been predominantly male adults from Mexico. However, since 2000, border crossings have increasingly involved families and unaccompanied children. In 2019, over 851 000 persons were apprehended on the border, including 473 682 family members and 76 020 unaccompanied minors, vastly increasing the number of children subjected to immigration policies. To deter migration, the current administration has implemented punitive policies toward children that have affected their physical and mental health, including separation from their families. Under the pretext of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently ordered the deportation of immigrant children without notification of their families.1 The treatment of children at the border constitutes cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment that rises to the level of torture. The prohibition of torture, in particular against children, was codified through the Geneva Conventions (1949) and the Additional Protocols (1977). In addition, it is prohibited by the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT; 1984).2 Articles in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC; 1989), which the United States has signed but not ratified, … Address correspondence to Jeffrey Goldhagen MD, MPH, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Community and Societal Pediatrics, University of Florida – College of Medicine, 841 Prudential Dr, Suite 900, Jacksonville, FL 32207. E-mail: jeffrey.goldhagen{at}jax.ufl.edu

Perception, practice and proximity. Qualifying threats as psychological torture in international law.

Abstract: Background: Fear is a central dimension of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment (hereafter ‘other ill-treatment’), particularly as a part of verbal or non-verbal threats. Adjudicators and policy-makers have grappled, arguably at a greater depth than with other methods of psychological torture, with the circumstances in which fear-based methods amount to torture or other ill-treatment. The pursuit of non-coercive standards of police interrogation has further underscored the need to better distinguish the prohibited from the permitted. Upon this background, this article reviews the existing jurisprudential and social scientific literature in formulating a lens through which fear-inducing methods could be better functionally conceptualised. Method: This article has identified, through systematic full-text search of databases, texts with keywords ‘threat’, ‘fear’, ‘coercion’, ‘intimidation’, ‘distress’, ‘anguish’ and ‘psychological pressure’. The identified texts, limited to English-language journal articles, NGO reports, court-cases and UN documents from 1950 to date, were then selected for relevance pertaining to conceptual, evidentiary and legal critique provided therein. Discussion: Whilst it is broadly recognized that the deployment of fear to inflict violence can amount to torture, methods of threats or coercion are not adequately conceptualized particularly at the lower end, i.e. routine interrogational torture. Here, principles pertaining to the legitimate use of force and minimum level of severity are used as functional guidelines to distinguish the prohibited from the permitted. The power, practice and proximity of state authorities to harm necessarily qualify threats as real, immediate and credible and therefore torturous.

Defining and documenting threats in the context of ill-treatment and torture

Abstract: Threats are a common feature of detention and interrogation settings and have long been regarded as a routine procedure. Despite their prevalence and propensity to amount to ill-treatment and torture, threats have not been systematically and thoroughly analysed in case documentation processes. Given a lack of understanding, threats have unduly been considered a form of “torture-lite” at best by some juridical actors. However, its effect as an instrument of coercion can be devastating – engendering states of fear and anxiety and forcing its subject to act against their will. There is an important lack of theoretical reflection on what threats are, what types exist and how they impact the survivor. In this editorial, we aim to partly fill this gap from a medical and psychological perspective, providing a framework of understanding that will hopefully improve conceptual and practical assessment, documentation and qualification.

Terrorism and the Varieties of Civil Liberties

Abstract: How do government protections, and violations, of its citizens’ civil liberties influence the country’s exposure to terrorism? Existing research remains divided. We contribute clarity to these debates by examining the distinct effects of specific types of civil liberties: 1) physical integrity (e.g. freedom from extra-judicial torture and killing), 2) political liberties (e.g. freedom of expression and assembly), and 3) private liberties (e.g. freedom of thought and religion and property rights). We distinguish these civil liberties dimensions from the role of institutions for political selection (e.g. elections) and horizontal accountability (e.g. checks and balances; executive constraints). We argue physical integrity rights decrease terrorism, by reducing grievances against and increasing trust in the state, while political liberties increase terrorism, by both incentivizing violence among those with extremist goals and protecting their ability to organize. Empirically, we measure a country’s exposure to terrorism using the Global Terrorism Database. We isolate the effects of government actions on these separable civil liberties dimensions from each other, and from the effects of the state’s political institutions, by leveraging the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) data. Our sample covers 177 states from 1970 to 2018. We find evidence consistent with our hypotheses regarding the effects of the distinct component dimensions of civil liberties.

Public perspectives of interventions aimed at building confidence in the Nigerian police: a systematic review

Abstract: Police-public relations in Nigeria has been marred by issues of distrust, torture and violence. This study adopts a systematic review to fill a gap on the interventions relied on to improve public ...

"Teaching them that pain exists": dilemmas regarding memory transmission and entrepreneurship in adult children of former political prisoners 40 years after the coup d'etat in chile

Abstract: The present study sought to identify and understand the memory transmission and entrepreneurship processes conducted by children of victims of politically motivated imprisonment and torture during ...

The (de)legitimation of torture: rhetoric, shaming and narrative contestation in two British cases:

Abstract: Existing studies on democracies’ involvement in torture emphasise how governments have been able to circumvent the international anti-torture norm and shape public discourse on the issue through po...

Foreign Dictators in U.S. Court

Abstract: It’s almost impossible to sue a foreign government in U.S. courts. The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the court-created “act of state” doctrine, and other common law immunities shield foreign officials and governments from most lawsuits. For instance, courts have dismissed claims against China, Cuba, Venezuela, and Russia over allegations of torture, detentions, and election interference. Yet, foreign governments have unfettered access to U.S. courts as plaintiffs. And foreign dictatorships, including Russia, China, Turkey, and Venezuela, have leveraged this access to harass political dissidents, critics, and even newspapers in the United States. These doctrines create an asymmetry at the heart of this Article: foreign dictators and their proxies can access our courts as plaintiffs to harass their opponents, but their regimes are, in turn, immune from lawsuits here. This Article exposes this asymmetry and argues that U.S. courts and Congress should make it harder for foreign dictators to abuse our legal system. The Article offers three novel contributions. First, the Article provides the first systematic assessment of foreign dictatorships in U.S. court. While much of the literature is siloed by substantive area of law—focusing on contexts like human rights or property expropriations—this Article treats dictators as a trans-substantive category of litigants, worthy of special analysis. Second, the Article exposes how foreign dictators are increasingly taking advantage of U.S. courts and comity doctrines, especially as plaintiffs. In a misguided effort to promote harmonious foreign relations, courts have provided foreign dictators an array of protections and privileges that dictators are eagerly exploiting. Finally, the Article demonstrates that there is no historical, constitutional, or statutory obligation on U.S. courts to give foreign dictators these legal protections and unfettered access to our courts. Because of that, I offer four concrete proposals to both stymy dictators’ access to U.S. court as plaintiffs—through a proposed foreign sovereign anti-SLAPP statute—and weaken the protections that dictators enjoy as defendants. Simply stated, U.S. courts should not be instruments of foreign authoritarian oppression.