Tuesday 7 May 2013

A form of justice or human rights violation?

Torture under Article 5 of The Universal  Deceleration of Human Rights is prohibited. Stated "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"

 This form of international law is legally binding for all countries, however to what extent is this true? 

In this blog I will briefly explore two sides of torture, one; the use of torture for justice, the other; a human rights violation.

To begin with it is essential to point out that in some cases torture is used as a secretive method of justice (especially in cases of the ticking time bomb theory). 
Lets say for instance, an individual has planted a device to cause maximum damage to the public. This individual has been arrested and is being questioned by Police Officals. The defendant fails to comply with the questions resulting in failure of retaining information about the location of the device. What is best cause of action?Torture? Is it right to interrogate and torture an individual for the safety and greater good of society? 
One would assume so, hurting the individual would mean he/she would reveal the location of the device, confess to the crimes committed and the world would be a little better to live in (for a while until something else goes wrong). 


Lets switch the thought process: How certain can one be that the defendant is the prime suspect, maybe he matches a similar description given and/or was just simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. It could even be that the defendent may confess to crimes as result of being tortured. In some cases defendents are forced to sign documents that are written in a language they have no knowledge about. 
Some have and are being tortured (as you read) for the fact that they are suspects, some havent even been through a trial; some prisioned and tortured for many years for a crime unknown to them. Some prisoners that are tortured on a regular basis have also been given the authority to leave due to a non existing conviction and trial but are unable to leave (Guantanamo Bay suspects).

So what impact does Article 5 have of on the world? Does it mean one can torture a suspect if it is beneficial to society or does it mean; under any given circumstance torture is not a form of punishment/interrogation to be used. 

Clearly the ticking time bomb theory is an exception. If the use of torture brings the world to safety then surely it could be justifiable, but then a human has no right to violate or disregard another humans right of freedom against the use of torture.

Now its for you to decide which you think is the appropriate side of the argument.