History and Hope: The International Humanitarian Reader

Torture

Torture Timothy W. Harding, M.D. Torture has been and remains a constant in human society; its history is closely linked to the evolution of state powers and the exercise of authority.1 In all circumstances , the notion of torture has two essential elements: the purposeful infliction of pain, usually described as excruciating, and an ulterior motive in the interests of the authority responsible for the torture.2 The pain can be either physical or psychological in nature, and most authorities would accept that provoking intense fear through mock executions or threats to family members can be considered a form of acute psychological pain. Furthermore, the notion of humiliation is considered by many authorities as central to the process of torture, being antinomic to the principle of human dignity at the origin of modern concepts of human rights. The most frequently cited motive for torture is the extraction of a confession or the obtainment of information during interrogation. The Japanese word for torture, gomon , is made up of two kanji, the first, rather rarely used in Japanese language, meaning “to flog” or “to beat,” and the second a commonly used kanji meaning “to question.” However, torture is also used as a form of punishment, intimidation, and coercion outside the interrogation process. The use of torture on a large segment of the population, including rape and mutilations, is recognized as a means of intimidation against populations or minorities.3 The word for torture in most European languages is derived from the Latin “to twist” or “to distort,” reflecting techniques of torture involving forcible extension of the body or twisting of limbs, provoking intense musculoskeletal pain. The word can also be taken to reflect the fundamental distortion in the human relationship between the torturer and the tortured person. It should be recognized that, as well as the tortured person’s losing his or her fundamental human dignity and suffering long-term consequences, both psychological and physical, the torturer is also debased and humiliated by his activity. A key question, therefore, is why individuals are prepared to torture. At one time, it was thought that only particularly 69 CH06_2012_016_FUP_Cahill_p069-083.indd 69 CH06_2012_016_FUP_Cahill_p069-083.indd 69 2/13/13 9:09 PM 2/13/13 9:09 PM TIMOTHY W. HARDING, M.D. 70 sadistic individuals were capable of committing torture. However, psychological experiments show clearly that most normal individuals are capable of inflicting even apparently intense pain under experimental conditions.4 It is the perception of the victim and his or her difference and inferiority, as well as dangerousness, that allows individuals with a normal psychological makeup to commit acts of torture . A striking example is the systematic rape of civilian women by soldiers during armed conflict, for example when the Japanese Imperial Army entered Nanking in 1937,5 or, by Serb forces during the war in Bosnia. In both instances, there was an open permissiveness and even encouragement by senior military officers, as well as a perception of Chinese or Muslim women as racially inferior. Brief Historical Review Paradoxically, it is easiest to provide a well-documented account of torture in early civilizations in ancient Greece and Rome, as well as in the Middle Ages in Europe up until the eighteenth century, than in the modern world.6 This is because torture was openly practiced and was part of judicial procedure, both during investigation and as part of punishment. In both ancient Greece and Rome, slaves were systematically tortured if they were involved in a judicial procedure, whether as accused or simple witnesses, in order that their testimony could be heard in court. The earliest debates about torture come from Roman times, when both Seneca and Cicero criticized the torture of free men as being likely to lead to false confessions: “Even the innocent may lie when tortured.” This is a utilitarian and legalistic argument against torture, rather than a moralistic or humanitarian opposition. Saint Augustine is often cited as the first to oppose torture on the grounds of its moral perversity. However, even his opposition is centered on the risk of punishing a person for a crime falsely confessed under torture. He did not take a clear position against the humiliation and infliction of pain during criminal procedures or as part of punishment. The late Middle Ages and the period of the Reformation and CounterReformation saw an institutionalization and reutilization of torture; many woodcuts of this period give explicit details of torture instruments and methods. The use of torture was...