Torture

About: Torture is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 8173 publications have been published within this topic receiving 109895 citations.

Religion, Empire, and Torture: The Case of Achaemenian Persia, with a Postscript on Abu Ghraib

Abstract: How does religion stimulate and feed imperial ambitions and violence? Recently, this question has acquired new urgency, and in Religion, Empire, and Torture, Bruce Lincoln approaches the problem via a classic but little-studied case: Achaemenian Persia. Lincoln identifies three core components of an imperial theology that have transhistorical and contemporary relevance: dualistic ethics, a theory of divine election, and a sense of salvific mission. Beyond this, he asks, how did the Achaemenians understand their place in the cosmos and their moral status in relation to others? Why did they feel called to intervene in the struggle between good and evil? What was their sense of historic purpose, especially their desire to restore paradise lost? And how did this lead them to deal with enemies and critics as imperial power ran its course? Lincoln shows how these religious ideas shaped Achaemenian practice and brought the Persians unprecedented wealth, power, and territory, but also produced unmanageable contradictions, as in a gruesome case of torture discussed in the book's final chapter. Close study of that episode leads Lincoln back to the present with a postscript that provides a searing and utterly novel perspective on the photographs from Abu Ghraib.

The Healing Power of Symbolization in the Aftermath of Massive War Atrocities: Examples From Liberian and Sierra Leonean Survivors:

Abstract: In the aftermath of war atrocities, symbolization—a process whereby an experience or emotion that has been unexpressed is given form—can provide survivors with a sense of relief and solace and can attenuate isolation by permitting traumatic experiences to be shared with and acknowledged by others. This article focuses on creative methods of symbolization used in a trauma counseling program for Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees in the refugee camps of Guinea. The program, developed by the Center for Victims of Torture, integrated contemporary expressive therapy techniques with indigenous healing practices (e.g., songs, cultural stories, drama, drawing, dance/movement, letter-writing, rituals). A case example of the treatment of a war-traumatized Liberian boy is presented. The psychological harm of war atrocities is exacerbated by silence. Conversely, as victims find ways of giving form to their experiences—verbally, nonverbally, or via a combination of the two—psychological and social repair become poss...

Walking Away from Nuremberg: Just War and the Doctrine of Command Responsibility

Abstract: In September 1994, Lawrence P. Rockwood, then a counterintelligence officer with the U.S. Army's Tenth Mountain Division, was deployed to Haiti as part of Operation Restore Democracy, the American-led mission to oust the regime of Raoul Cedras and reinstall President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Shortly after arriving in-country, Captain Rockwood began receiving reports of human rights abuses at the local jails, including the murder of political prisoners. He appealed to his superiors for permission to take action but was repeatedly turned down. Eventually, after filing a formal complaint with an army inspector general, he set off to inspect the jails on his own. The next day, Captain Rockwood found himself on a plane headed back to the United States, where he was tried by court-martial, convicted on several counts, and discharged from military service. In this book, Rockwood places his own experience within the broader context of the American military doctrine of "command responsibility" - the set of rules that holds individual officers directly responsible for the commission of war crimes under their authority. He traces the evolution of this doctrine from the Civil War, where its principles were first articulated as the "Lieber Code," through the Nuremberg trials following World War II, where they were reaffirmed and applied, to the present. Rockwood shows how in the past half-century the United States has gradually abandoned its commitment to these standards, culminating in recent Bush administration initiatives that in effect would shield American commanders and officials from prosecution for many war crimes. The Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prison abuse scandals, the recently disclosed illegal CIA detention centers, the unprecedented policy of tolerating acts considered as torture by both international standards and U.S. military doctrine, and the recent cover-ups of such combat-related war crimes as the Haditha massacre of November 2005, all reflect an "official anti-humanitarian" trend, Rockwood argues, that is at odds with our nation's traditions and principles.

Principles of Treatment and Service Development for Torture and Trauma Survivors

Abstract: Undoubtedly, torture is one of the most traumatic threats to psychic integrity that any human being can undergo. Systematic assaults on the integrity of the personality are used by repressive regimes to incapacitate the individual in order to intimidate the family and the wider community. Torture aims to destroy the victim’s sense of identity and to engender feelings of “debilitation, dependency, and dread” (British Medical Association, 1986). The wider goal of this process is to render political leaders and social militants powerless, to prevent further political opposition to the ruling regime, and to act as a strong deterrent to potential opponents in the community (Ugalde & Ziwi, 1989). Techniques which deliberately induce a sense of helplessness in conjunction with feelings of guilt and shame combine with physical, sexual, and psychological violence to paralyze the psyche and dissipate opposition to the status quo.