1997 June 26

International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

 

This day was selected as the annual International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

This day was selected for two reasons. First, on this day in 1945, delegates from 50 nations sign the United Nations Charter. Second, on this day in 1987 the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT) went into effect, after having been adopted on December 10, 1984. The United States ratified the Convention Against Torture on October 21, 1994.

The Convention Against Torture became a major controversy in the War on Terror when the administration of President George W. Bush maintained that the practices of the CIA did not constitute torture. See the notorious “torture memo” of August 1, 2002, and the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA’s practices (April 10, 2014).

Learn more about the International Day: http://www.un.org/en/events/torturevictimsday/

Read about the fight against torture from Physicians for Human Rights

Read the Convention Against Torture: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CAT/Pages/CATIndex.aspx

Learn more about torture:  Alfred W. McCoy, A Question of Torture (2006)

And more about anti-torture measures from Human Rights Watch

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