Misblog

The United Nations and United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued contrasting and dichotomous statements on torture.

The United Nation's Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak said that individual torturing nations must be required to pay all the costs resulting from their torturing¹.

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia, after detailing nine men's torture (Arkan Mohammed Ali v Rumsfeld, Pappas, Karpinski, Sanchz - No. 05-cv-1377 through 1380):

• hung upside-down and slapped until they lost consciousness
• stabbed with knives
• subjected to electric shocks
• deprived of sleep by loud noises and bright lights
• grabbed by aggressive dogs

said that United States law does not permit them to require the United States pay for the costs of their torturing.

-----notes-----

1. Typically wealthier nations pay the costs of torture incurred by poorer nations via United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture.

Nowak believes there would be less torture if nations were made to pay their own costs of torturing.

I wonder what, if any, correlation exists between a nation's wealth and absence or presence of torture?

Technorati Tags: torture, un, manfred nowak, rumsfeld, aclu, human rights first