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PRESS RELEASE
Asian Legal Resource Centre -- ALRC
ALRC-PL-14-2004

Statement on 'The undermining of the absolute prohibition on torture' received by Commission on Human Rights

(Geneva, 31 March 2004) -- The written statement of the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) on 'Deaths in custody in Malaysia' (E/CN.4/2004/NGO/31) was distributed today at the 60th Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

The full text of the statement follows.

This year, ALRC submitted 30 written statements to the Commission, on topics as diverse as caste discrimination in Nepal, food scarcity in Myanmar, custodial deaths and torture in India, extrajudicial killings in Thailand, policing in Pakistan, the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, and impunity in Asia.

The complete list of statements, with full texts and links to the original versions, can be viewed on the ALRC website, at http://www.alrc.net/mainfile.php/60written/.

Asian Legal Resource Centre -- ALRC, Hong Kong

1. As the Asian Legal Resource Centre first warned during the fifty-ninth session of the Commission (E/CN.4/2003/NGO/146), in recent years the absolute prohibition against torture has been dangerously undermined. In the more developed democracies of the West, particularly in the United States, there have been serious attempts to dilute legal provisions on torture refined by centuries of international jurisprudence. For the United States, this is part of the propaganda war against terrorism. As a result, dictators, military regimes and other ruthlessly violent political groups are now readily justifying their disregard for the absolute prohibition on torture.

2. The argument that torture is necessary and justified has not only corrupted intellectual debate but also has resulted in increased torture throughout the world. Inevitably, extrajudicial killings are also increasing in many countries, justified one way or another, be they "encounter killings" of alleged criminals, killings of purported drug dealers, or killings of "suspected terrorists".

3. When the absolute prohibition of torture is slighted, other principles are undermined: these include the notions of fair trial and independence of the judiciary. It is no surprise that there have been some calls to abolish the Geneva Conventions. Others, such as the Malimath Committee in India, have suggested abandoning established principles of fair trial as a means to deal effectively with increasing crime figures.

4. Behind these disturbing developments is a growth in new notions on punishment. Deterrence as a method of social control, irrespective of the guilt or innocence of the accused, has been revived as a common premise. Another is that law enforcement agencies should not be overburdened with the difficulties associated with proof, but should be liberated from fears of being punished for abuse of authority. Together these amount to an ideological defense of impunity. Principles relating to certainty of guilt and punishment, developed during a centuries-long arduous battle against the draconian powers of investigators and prosecutors, are rapidly evaporating.

5. The Asian Legal Resource Centre wishes to draw the attention of the global human rights community to understand that the very fabric of the values we defend is now under threat. This attack is unprecedented: it is not an attempt to relativise human rights on cultural or other grounds, like those that have come before, but rather a large-scale effort to abandon completely human rights as inconvenient and irrelevant.

6. In the fight against this assault on the foundations of human rights, absolute principles, such as the prohibition on torture, should be openly and strongly defended. All persons concerned with the protection and promotion of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment need to revive debate on the most basic principles it represents. A global campaign in favour of the Convention is now imperative. The defense of the physical integrity of everyone, irrespective of whatever allegations may be made against them, is essential if the whole body of human rights thought is to be reasserted and enriched.