Newswise — WASHINGTON - The U.S. government should withdraw its restrictions to portions of the U.N. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and “join the community of nations who accept common standards of decency and respect for the inherent dignity of all persons,” according to the American Psychological Association.
APA President Susan H. McDaniel, PhD, and Interim CEO Cynthia D. Belar, PhD, sent a letter to President Obama asking him to withdraw the United States’ reservations and understandings regarding the treaty.
“Decisive action by the U.S. government toward achieving this goal would send a strong signal to the global community that the U.S. -- both now and in the future -- is committed to safeguarding the welfare of national security detainees in its custody,” they wrote in the letter, dated Feb. 12.
The United States ratified the Convention against Torture in 1994 subject to five understandings related to torture and two reservations related to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The former include an interpretation that an act must be “specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering.” The reservations redefine cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as those acts prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth and/or Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Consequently, this term has limited, if any, applicability to foreign detainees in facilities outside of the U.S., the APA officials wrote.
“This became apparent when treaty understandings for torture were interpreted to provide a legal justification for the use of ‘enhanced’ interrogation techniques by the U.S. government during the Global War on Terror,” they wrote. “These practices were well documented in the recent report of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about the CIA’s detention and interrogation program and widely viewed by the international community as constituting the torture of foreign detainees.”
The letter noted that the Obama administration has taken steps to prevent further abuses of national security detainees, including passage of the Detainee Treatment Act in 2005 and a companion provision in 2015, along with the issuance of three executive orders by Obama on his first day in office to ensure lawful interrogations and humane detention practices. Moreover, the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush granted the constitutional right of habeas corpus to detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
However, the U.N. Committee against Torture has raised concerns that the U.S. position creates loopholes that could be interpreted as allowing torture or other ill treatment of detainees.
“Based on these serious concerns, APA is requesting that the U.S. government withdraw its interpretive understandings and reservations to the [convention] to become a full co-signor of this vital treaty,” the APA officials wrote. “By so doing, the U.S. would join the community of nations who accept common standards of decency and respect for the inherent dignity of all persons. Moreover, such an act would help to ensure the safety of detainees held in conflicts around the world.”
The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA's membership includes more than 122,500 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.
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