Defining and documenting threats in the context of ill-treatment and torture

Threats are a common feature of detention and interrogation settings and have long been regarded as a routine procedure. Despite their prevalence and propensity to amount to ill-treatment and torture, threats have not been systematically and thoroughly analysed in case documentation processes. Given a lack of understanding, threats have unduly been considered a form of “torture-lite” at best by some juridical actors. However, its effect as an instrument of coercion can be devastating – engendering states of fear and anxiety and forcing its subject to act against their will. There is an important lack of theoretical reflection on what threats are, what types exist and how they impact the survivor. In this editorial, we aim to partly fill this gap from a medical and psychological perspective, providing a framework of understanding that will hopefully improve conceptual and practical assessment, documentation and qualification

Debility, dependency and dread: On the conceptual and evidentiary dimensions of psychological torture

Background: Psychological torture is deployed to break and obliterate human resistance, spirit and personality, but it is rarely afforded sufficient attention. Deficiencies in conceptualising, documenting and adjudicating non-physical torture mean that it is frequently left undetected and uncontested by the public, media and the courts, bolstering impunity for its perpetrators. A review of the current literature to map conceptual and evidentiary shortcomings from an inter-disciplinary perspective is therefore warranted. Method: The relevant texts were identified through a systematic full-text search of databases, namely HeinOnline, HUDOC, UNODS and DIGNITY´s Documentation Centre, with the keywords `psychological torture´, `mental pain and suffering´, `severity´, `humiliation´, `interrogation techniques´, and `torture methods´. The identified texts, limited to English-language journal articles, NGO reports, court-cases and UN documents from 1950 to date, were then selected for relevance pertaining to conceptual, evidentiary, technological and ethical critique provided therein. Results/Discussion: Evidential invisibility, subjectivity of the suffering, and perceived technological control are the primary ways in which psychological torture methods are designed, and how they manage to evade prosecution and consequently be perpetuated. Cognisant of the need for further research, pertinent questions highlighting the need to develop approaches, sharpen standards and use a medical/psychological/legal interdisciplinary approach are suggested

Protocol on medico-legal documentation of threats

Introduction. The use of threats remains prevalentin law enforcement practices in manyparts of the world. In studies with torture survivors,credible and immediate threats havebeen considered a distinctly harmful methodof torture. Notwithstanding this prevalence,there is a considerable degree of difficulty inlegally substantiating and establishing harmsproduced by threatening acts. It is also generallydifficult to clearly identify the harmsthat go beyond the fear and stress inherent(therefore not unlawful) in law enforcementpractices. We present a Protocol on Medico-Legal Documentation of Threats. The aimof the Protocol is to improve documentationand assessment of harms so that stronger legalclaims can be submitted to local and internationalcomplaints mechanisms.Methods. The Protocol has been developedbased on a methodology initiated by the PublicCommittee against Torture in Israel (PCATI),REDRESS and the DIGNITY - Danish Instituteagainst Torture (DIGNITY) involving:compilation and review of health and legalknowledge on threats; initial drafting by thelead author; discussion among the members ofthe International Expert Group on PsychologicalTorture; pilot-testing in Ukraine by localNGO Forpost; adjustments were made accordingto the results of the pilot study.Results. We present the final Protocol anda Quick Interviewing Guide. This Protocol iscognisant of the significance of the specificsocial, cultural, and political contexts in whichthreats are made and might be subjected to adaptationsto specific contexts. We hope that itwill improve the documentation of threats asa torture method or as part of a torturing environment,as well as inform efforts on theirprevention more broadly

Documentation of torture in children and young adults: Time to reflect

Documenting torture in children and young adults (ChYA) is a challenge. Less than 3% of academic papers on documentation and rehabilitation of torture victims are focused on children and youth. In the Delphi study on research priorities in the sector (Pérez-Sales, Witcombe, & Otero Oyague, 2017), five lines were proposed regarding torture in children, which covered: developmental disruptions related to the torture of relatives; developmental deficits related to infant torture; the effect on caregivers of torture/kidnapping of their children; the impact of torture on identity and worldviews among adolescents; and transgenerational trauma. The latter was considered among the 40 top research priorities. In this editorial, we briefly review: aspects related to the notion of torture as applied to ChYA; specific ethical problems in forensic documentation; and challenges in consistency statements. By doing so, we aim to outline key challenges that researchers and practitioners ought to pursue

Mental Torture: A Critique of Erasures in U.S. Law

Both international and federal law criminalize mental torture as well as physical torture, and both agree that “severe mental pain or suffering” defines mental torture. However, U.S. law provides a confused and convoluted definition of severe mental pain or suffering—one that falsifies the very concept and makes mental torture nearly impossible to prosecute or repress. Our principal aim is to expose the fallacies that underlie the U.S. definition of mental torture: first, a materialist bias that the physical is more real than the mental; second, a substitution trick that defines mental pain or suffering through a narrow set of causes and effects, ignoring the experience itself; third, a forensic fallacy, in which the due process requirements of specificity in criminal law become wrongly identified with defining characteristics of the crime of torture (an understanding that loops back to corrupt the law); and fourth, a mens rea requirement that excludes all mental torture not committed with the sadistic intention of causing long-lasting harm. Our article begins with an analysis of the concept of mental pain and suffering, as well as a factual discussion of U.S. practice. We also examine the legislative history of the definition in U.S. law. We demonstrate that it derives from political concerns that other countries might accuse U.S. law enforcement personnel of torture. We conclude by examining the specific evil of mental torture: the merciless attempt to break down and occupy the personality of the victim

Learning from the past to face the challenges ahead: Celebrating 30 years of Torture Journal

This Editorial walks us through the 30 years of the Torture Journal in commemoration of its anniversary. Moreover, it introduces the reader to this issue 2021(3)

Political Security in Ethiopia: Situations and Legal Contests

Political security is the main integral component of human security and which is referring to the prevention of government repression, systematic violation of human rights and threats from militarization. Ethiopia has endorsed human rights from UDHR and by its FDRE, (1995) constitution in which such rights are accounts one third of the contents of the constitutions. The paper was aimed at examining the situations of political security and its challenge from legal perspective. It was investigated through qualitative research approach, secondary sources of data were highly employed, the time framed focused since 2005. According to the finding of the research the political security situations of Ethiopia characterized by torture and ill-treatment, political repression and enforced disappearances which are made by legal and institutional mechanisms by declaring different proclamations like Antiterrorism proclamation (ATP), Mass Media Proclamation (MMP), and Charity and Society proclamation (CSP) which are highly prohibiting the civil liberties and political rights of citizens’ of Ethiopia. Keywords: Political security, torture, political repression, disappearance DOI: 10.7176/IAGS/72-01 Publication date:May 31st 201