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(1) instructions

(A) to examine allegations of the practice of torture, particularly allegations concerning the existence of secret detention, extended incommuni

cado detention, and restrictions on access by

family members, lawyers, and independent medical personnel to detainees; and

(B) to forward such information as may be gathered, including information regarding any efforts made by the host government to reduce and eliminate the practice of torture, to the Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs for analysis in preparing the De

partment's annual country reports on human rights practices;

(2) in the case of a chief of mission assigned to a country where torture is regularly practiced, instructions to report on a periodic basis as circumstances require to the Assistant Secretary of State for Human

Rights and Humanitarian Affairs regarding efforts

made by the respective United States diplomatic mis

sion to implement United States policy with respect to

combating torture;

(3) instructions to meet with indigenous human rights monitoring groups knowledgeable about the

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practice of torture for the purpose of gathering information about such practice; and

(4) instructions to express concern in individual cases of torture brought to the attention of a United

States diplomatic mission including, whenever feasible, sending United States observers to trials when there is

reason to believe that torture has been used against the accused.

(c) The Secretary of Commerce should continue to en10 force vigorously the current restrictions on the export of 11 crime control equipment pursuant to the Export Administra12 tion Act of 1979.

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(d) The heads of the appropriate departments of the 14 United States Government that furnish military and law en15 forcement training to foreign personnel, particularly person16 nel from countries where the practice of torture has been a 17 documented concern, shall include in such training, when rel18 evant, instruction regarding international human rights 19 standards and the policy of the United States with respect to 20 torture.

Chairman FASCELL. The gentleman from Michigan.

Mr. BROOMFIELD. Mr. Chairman, first of all I would like to ask permission to put my own remarks about the resolution in the record, following your comments.

Chairman FASCELL. Without objection.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Broomfield follows:].

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM S. BROOMFIELD ON H.J. RES. 605

Mr. Chairman, when one thinks of human rights violations, torture stands out as one of the most brutal and uncivilized acts that human beings can inflict upon each other. Difficult as it is for most of us merely to comprehend, torture is all too horrifyingly real for its unfortunate victims in nearly one hundred countries worldwide. While the existence of physical and emotional cruelty is rarely acknowledged by governments, it continues to inflict almost unimaginable suffering on victims of every age, religion, ethnicity, and sex.

The issue of torture must be addressed energetically and presistently by our government, our religious leaders, our educational institutions, and our people. Wherever it can do the most good, it must be raised in quiet diplomacy, and in harsh public denunciation. Allegations of torture must be given thorough investigation and no government guilty of either practicing or tolerating the practice of torture should be immune for our strong recrimination.

I believe our consideration of H.J. Res. 605 will firmly indicate Congressional determination to give this issue the continued attention that is necessary to reduce and ultimately eliminate the practice of torture. Furthermore, this resolution will give the President yet another instrument with which to fight for an end to torture. As a cosponsor of this measure, I urge my colleagues to support its adoption by the Committee.

Mr. BROOMFIELD. I am in support of the resolution.

The State Department, in a letter to the chairman of the committee, recommended two changes in the first two paragraphs. If the clerk would read the changes, I would appreciate it.

Mr. FINLEY. Amendment offered by Mr. Broomfield. Beginning on page 1, strike out the first two paragraphs of the preamble and insert in lieu thereof the following: "Whereas international human rights organizations have investigated and reported on the use of torture in many countries throughout the world; Whereas the Department of State in its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices has reported that torture is all too frequent in many countries of the world."

Chairman FASCELL. Are those both amendments considered en

bloc?

Mr. BROOMFIELD. Yes.

Chairman FASCELL. Is there any discussion on the amendments? If not, all those in favor signify by saying "aye"

All those opposed, "no."

The "ayes" have it. The amendments are agreed to.

The gentleman from Iowa, Mr. Leach.

Mr. LEACH. Mr. Chairman, I will be very brief and indicate the minority is fully supportive of this particular approach, as is the administration. I would hope that it would be adopted.

Chairman FASCELL. Without objection, the resolution, as amended, is agreed to, and all appropriate steps will be taken to bring it to the floor.1

[Whereupon the committee proceeded to other matters.]

H.J. Res. 605, as amended, was passed by the House of Representatives on Sept. 11, 1984, by voice vote. On Sept. 21, the Senate agreed to H.J. Res. 605, as amended, by voice vote.

APPENDIX 1

BRIEFING PAPER BY AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ENTITLED "AGAINST TORTURE," APRIL 1984

While government representatives universally and collectively condemn torture, more than a third of the world's governments have used or tolerated torture or W-treatment of prisoners in the 1980s. Political suspects and other prisoners face torture in police stations, secret detention centres, camps and military barracks.

In a major new report, Torture in the Eighties, Amnesty International cites allegations of torture and N-treatment in some 98 countries-documenting complaints by victims in every region of the world, from security headquarters in Spain to prison cells in Iran, from secret police centres in Chile to special psychiatric hospitals in the Soviet Union.

The report cites cases involving systematic torture during interrogation-electric shocks, severe beatings and mock executions; harsh prison conditions; the participation of doctors in the process of torture; and punishments such as floggings and amputations.

The report is part of Amnesty International's continuing campaign against torture and it spells out a global program for the abolition of this abuse.

Thousands upon thousands of Amnesty International volunteers around the world are working together to eradicate torture and end cruelty to prisoners. In the next two years they will be taking part in a special drive to try to rid the world of these violations of human rights.

This briefing paper is part of that drive. It is based on the introductory chapters of Torture in the Eighties and examines the Institution, process and agents of torture and touches on action which can be taken to prevent it by victims and their families, national groups and international organizations. It also includes a comprehensive list of safeguards and remedies, drawn up on the basis of Amnesty International's own experience, together with the text of the United Nations Declaration against Torture.

TORTURE

IN THE EIGHTIES

[graphic][subsumed][merged small]

Introduction

At the detention centre on the Cyprus
coast it was well past midnight when a
military vehicle stopped abruptly outside.
It had driven across the island from
Nicosia through the night. Two men went
straight inside. One was the colonial
Governor, the other his military
commander.

"We walked... straight into the
room where the interrogation was
taking place", wrote the governor
years afterwards. "We could see
no sign of ill-treatment. Nor could
we see any indications of force
having been used on the villagers
who had been interrogated earlier.

But our visit that night was known
throughout the island by the next
morning. Our night visit did more
than all the circulars to prevent the
use of torture in the Cyprus
emergency."

It was a demonstration of political will.
The scene was Cyprus during the closing
months of the Greek Cypriot insurgency
in the late 1950s. Soldiers and civilians
had been killed and intelligence informa-
tion from captured insurgents was con-
sidered essential if their campaign of
violence was not to disrupt movement
toward a political settlement of the long-
standing Cyprus dispute involving

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Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Allegations of torture had been brought to the Governor that night. He was not especially surprised. In 1956 Greece had brought a complaint against the United Kingdom before the European Commission on Human Rights concerning whipping and collective punishments. There had also been allegations of brutality during interrogation. Fact-finding by the commission continued and on hearing the new allegations concerning torture in a village on the opposite side of Cyprus from his headquarters in Nicosia, the Governor and his military commander set out for their ride through the night.

Clearly, in the 1980s, finding the political will to investigate and prevent torture is in most cases far more complex than the prerogative of a single former colonial commander.

Revulsion at the extermination camps of the Second World War led to a convention outlawing genocide for all time and today's torture chambers demand a similar international response. The torture and ill-treatment can be stopped. The international framework for its abolition exists. What is lacking is the political will of governments to stop torturing people. It is as simple and as difficult as that. Amnesty International hopes that its continuing campaign against torture will contribute to creating this political will so that our generation can banish torture from the earth.

Edwin Lopez, Philippines: tortured with electric shocks during interrogation.

[graphic]

Women prisoners in Evin Prison, Iran. One mother who was tortured while being held bere screamed that she was ready to confess when she could no longer stand the agony of ber three-year-old daughter being made to watch.

Torture most often occurs during a detainee's first days in custody. These vulnerable hours are usually spent incommunicado, when the security forces maintain total control over the fate of the detainee, and deny access to relatives, lawyers or independent doctors. Some detainees are held in secret, and the authorities may deny that certain detainees are held, making it easier to torture or kill them or to make them "disappear".

The suspension of habeas corpus and other legal remedies, trials of political detainees in military courts and the lack of any independent means to examine and record a prisoner's medical condition allow the security forces to conceal evidence of torture from lawyers, civilian magistrates, independent doctors and others who would be capable of taking action against their illegal activities.

Further incentives are trial procedures that do not exclude from evidence statements extracted under torture or during long periods of incommunicado detention, a government's refusal to investigate allegations of torture, its peremptory denial that torture occurs in the face of mounting evidence such as deaths in custody, its obstruction of independent domestic or international investigations, the censorship of published information about torture, and the immunity from criminal and civil prosecution given to alleged torturers.

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