UN Torture Panel Set to Question US Officials

When it comes to the issue of torture, the US government has a lot to answer for and the UN committee against torture is in charge of posing those questions on the world scene.

"It is the longest list of issues I have ever seen," Mercedes Morales, a U.N. human rights officer who serves as secretary to the U.N. Committee against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, told reporters.

Washington is expected to send a delegation of 30 officials to defend its record at a meeting next month in Geneva of the committee, composed of 10 independent human rights experts.

No matter how they spin it, there is no possible way the US government will be able to convince an international committee of its peers that its record is anything near spotless. There are too many open, documented sources that prove the US has violated numerous articles of the UN Convention Against Torture.

Article 2
1. Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.
2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.
3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.

The US government has no plausible legal defence, despite what Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was able to come up with when he convinced the Bush administration that torture was acceptable. Since Bush opted out of the International Criminal Court however, claiming he did so to "protect Americans", the UN will have to determine a suitable punishment for these violations of the treaty. That may prove to be difficult.

During the May meeting, the other countries under scrutiny along with the US will be "Georgia, Guatemala, Peru, Qatar, South Korea and Togo" - not exactly the best of company.