Friday, May 05, 2006



Fronting up on torture

The US goes before the UN Committee Against Torture today to present its first regular report since the beginning of the "war on terror". As mentioned previously, the Committee is concerned about reports that the US is rendering prisoners to abusive regimes for torture, and holding and torturing them in "black sites" in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and will be asking some tough questions on the US legal position and on the lack of accountability of high-ranking officials for what seems to be a clear policy of torture and abuse. The Americans aren't taking this lying down, of course - they know that an adverse report would be hugely damaging to their already tattered reputation on human rights - and are sending a team of thirty people to argue their case. It will be interesting to see what they have to say, and what the Committee eventually decides. But the fact that they're being forced to front up at all is a huge step towards accountability.

What's ironic is that this accountability is being demanded by the UN and the international community rather than the US legislature or the American people. But the former are too supine and the latter simply too uncaring (or charitably, ignorant) to demand their government explain fully what it is doing in their name. In the case of torture, the American democratic system seems to have failed utterly to protect human rights - and that is something that should worry us all, because if it can happen there, in the "home of freedom", then it can damn well happen here as well.

5 comments:

Great post, 2nd paragraph I mean.

We constantly criticise the US politicians and public for their failings in letting this kind of stuff happen. But a great big missing thread in our discussion is the question: "what exactly is it about the American bureaucracy, political system, and society, that enables this stuff to happen? And how can we structure our own bureaucracy, political system and society to avoid these things?"

I guess I'm scared that the US, and Australia, provide scary little portraits of our future. I hope like hell that there is something 'fundamentally different' about NZ that will prevent the dirtier aspects of those countries appearing here...but I doubt it - I suspect we're on the same road as them (roughly speaking) albeit with a lag.

How many bureaucratic decisions, and government policies, here are predicated on the question "what works overseas"..? Perhaps we should also ask what lies behind the problems we see overseas, and actively govern to avoid these.

Posted by Anonymous : 5/05/2006 11:42:00 AM

lets hope that the UN don't ask to tougher questions other wise they might get thrown out like this guy

it really is quite sad that the adminstration has completly closed themselves off from anyone who respectfully disagrees with them.

Posted by Anonymous : 5/05/2006 12:09:00 PM

Good call. I see The Zaoui case as an example that an activist public still has a little sway here.. the govt would still like to adopt the expedient but morally repugnant approach but being held in the public eye restrains them a little.

I don't think we can relax for a moment though. For all I think the alternatives are worse, I don't believe Labour has the slightest residual sense of morality.. the one and only restraint on their moral behaviour is their narrow majority and MMP.

Posted by Anonymous : 5/05/2006 12:11:00 PM

New Zealand has the advantage that it has a far more vigorous democracy than the USA or even the FPP UK and Australia. We don't have a military industrial complex and the small size of our country keeps the spoending power of lobbyists down. Simply put, no one has got the money to buy our politicians like they do in the USA and even if they did NZ is to small for a corrupt politician to hide it. Also, our relative isolation means we avoid the worst excesses of the "rule of fear" that governs so much of the authoritarian domestic political agenda in those countries. Finally, our media, whilst quite conservative when push comes to shove, is basically to cheaply run to be controlled like it is in the USA. So as long as we keep our head down and do jsut enough not upset the global bully we will hopefully be able to navigate the currrent troubled waters to a more free "free" world sometime in the future.

Posted by Sanctuary : 5/05/2006 12:51:00 PM

I think our government is quietly hollowing out its commitment to human rights - just look at its immigration proposals for example. I do concede that an ACT-National regime would abandon human rights (except for the elite) even faster, which is why anyone concerned about human rights should never vote for this group of politicians. An even bigger problem is the politician's inability or unwilligness to hold the bureaucracy to account for human rights abuses - remember the "lie in unison" memo? result: NZIS = 1, Minister = 0.
The judiciary is equally culpable (with some honourable exceptions). remember the Coutr of Appeal cutting down the damages awarded against NZIS for grossly violating the human rights of a Thai woman visiting NZ to the point where the penalty was laughable? Result= gree light for the bureaucracy to violate human rights and get away with it.

Posted by Anonymous : 5/05/2006 04:05:00 PM