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8.

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Government leaders should make it clear that torture will not under

any circumstances be tolerated.

Governments should ensure that acts of torture are punishable offences under criminal law.

During the training of security personnel it should be made clear that torture is a criminal act.

All reports of torture should be impartially and effectively investigated and the findings made public. Complainants and witnesses should be protected from intimidation.

Those responsible for torture should be prosecuted no matter where

the crime was committed or where they are. There should be no safe
haven for torturers.

Confessions or other evidence obtained through torture should never

be invoked in legal proceedings.

In some countries torture occurs in secret centers after

victims are "disappeared." Prisoners should not be held in secret
detention.

Torture often occurs when victims are unable to contact people
outside who might help them. Thus, incommunicado detention should
be strictly limited and prisoners should be allowed access to
relatives, lawyers, and doctors.

Detainees should be informed of their rights, including the right
to lodge complaints about their treatment. There should be regular,
independent inspections of places of detention.

Authorities responsible

for detention and interrogation should be separate.

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10.

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The physical and psychological effects of torture can last a lifetime. Victims and their dependents should receive financial compensation, appropriate medical care, and rehabilitation.

International agreements containing safeguards and remedies against torture should be ratified.

12. Governments must use all available channels to intercede against other governments accused of the ill-treatment of prisoners. Intergovernmental mechanisms to expose and abolish torture should be established. Governments should ensure that military, security, or police transfers or training do not facilitate the practice of

torture.

Because torture is so widespread, some people view it as a regrettable, but ultimately incurable disease. This was once a common attitude towards slavery, which is now all but extinguished throughout the world. The same fate is possible for torture. All that is lacking is the political will to halt this calculated assault on

human dignity. Governments can stop torture--in their own countries and abroad.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT

Congress has exercised its moral and political responsibility to enact legislation that incorporates human rights into United States foreign policy. Congress must now use its authority to insist that the United States government uphold these laws. Past and present administrations have expressed great loathing for violations of human rights, but a chasm still divides this rhetoric from the reality that links the United States to repressive regimes without corresponding evidence of efforts to combat effectively their repressive practices. The time has come to close that gap and renew our commitment to government that protects rather than brutalizes its citizens.

1. Congress should reaffirm through a concurrent resolution its absolute condemnation of torture, accepting the United Nations definition. This resolution should also reaffirm that the practice of torture is a gross violation of internationally recognized human rights that triggers the implementation of the legislation that links human rights violations and U.S. assistance programs. Further, where credible allegations of the practice of torture are made, this resolution should place the burden on the offending government to clear its name through the adoption of specific efforts directed to the eradication of torture such as those incorporated in Amnesty International's twelve-point program referred to above. This resolution should insist that the United States government

use its good offices to combat torture. This is especially important
in those cases where it has been decided that security considerations
ultimately override human rights considerations in United States foreign
policy.

2. Congress should pass legislation that increases the State Department's responsibilities with regard to torture. Ambassadors should play an aggressive role in disassociating the United States government from human rights violations. They should investigate allegations of torture, paying close attention to the questions of secret and incommunicado detention and access of family, lawyers, and doctors to detainees. Ambassadors should meet with human rights groups in these countries to hear their testimony. They should use their influence to intervene in individual cases brought to their attention. They should report semi-annually on this specific aspect of their work and in their annual Department of State country reports include an analysis relating the twelve-point program to conditions in these countries.

such action can save lives.

Based on our experience, we know that

United States legislation charges Congress with the responsibility of refusing aid to a government guilty of gross violations of human rights, unless the Administration determines that extraordinary circumstances exist that necessitate the continuation of assistance.

3. While the human rights legislation is a pledge of Congressional faith in the values upon which this nation was founded, it

is sorely ineffective.

Again and again, we see aid programs going ahead in countries with patterns of gross human rights violations. Once the American dollars have been spent, we often see no discernible progress in the eradication of torture and other abuses.

New legislation should mandate that if the Administration recommends that aid be given to a country in spite of its flagrant disregard for human rights, a full accounting of the extraordinary circumstances that warrant this must be submitted to Congress automatically--instead of by request--along with the specifics of how the United States is combatting in that country those specific human rights violations that go to the security of the person.

4. Congress must take upon itself the responsibility for determining whether a government's human rights abuses call for aid cuts within the framework of existing legislation and to recommend other means by which the United States government can use its influence to combat this practice. To do this effectively, the legislature should have the capacity for independent data gathering to corroborate or challenge the Department of State's country reports, to undertake onsite investigations and to intervene in individual cases where appropriate. We recommend that it The focus appropriate adequate funds and hire staff for this purpose. should be on the human rights violations defined in 502B: "torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges and trial, causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and clandestine detention of those persons, and other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of the person."