The Torture of Prisoners by the US Government

An Issue of Human Rights

BACKGROUND OF ISSUE: 1. Definition of human rights: 2. How human right are being affected

in the world.

WHAT IS HAPPENING? Recognizing that the lives of individuals,

their well-being and sense of security continue to be scarred by torture on a daily basis, and that torture is reported with growing frequency from all regions of the world.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

In Germany they first came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me — and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Pastor Martin NiemoellerA German Anti-Nazi activist, 1960

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE? Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Geneva Convention

The United States signed the Geneva Convention in 1882 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.

CASE STUDY: The Torture of Prisoners by the US Government

Why did we choose this area?

The treatment of prisoners is an essential part of human rights. All human being have rights, even those accused of criminal behavior.

We cannot fight terrorism using state terror Jing Zhou USA

More than 100 detainees have died in U.S. custody since 2002.

27 of these cases were suspected or confirmed homicides

In at least seven cases detainees were tortured to death.

Human Rights First (HRF)

The world changed with the events of September 11th. After that date many of the policies that protected the treatment of US prisoners were changed or abandoned. The US government has been accused of using techniques such as beatings, simulated drowning called water boarding, rape and even murder.

In addition the US government began a policy of transporting prisoners to location not on US soil in order to avoid restrictions on the treatment of prisoners.

“After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush administration considered

Guantanamo Bay a suitable place to hold men suspected of links to the Taliban and al Qaeda, contending that U.S. laws do not apply there because Guantanamo is not part of the United States. Lawyers for the detainees have challenged that interpretation ever since.” http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2005/06/24/afx2110388.html

Essentially the United States, a country which was founded on the principals of human rights as stated in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence is now turning against the principals and beliefs on which it was created.

Former US President Jimmy Carter states,

"Our country for the first time in my life time has abandoned the basic principle of human rights," Carter said. "We've said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we've said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime to which they are accused." http://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/10/carter.torture/index.html

You Tubes on Torture of US Prisoners

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCUydXTFgNQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpEzkL-iAbU

Amnesty International Based on this organization we propose to

begin our own human right club at SAS called Students for Justice (SFJ)

What Do You Think? What are the basic human rights that

everyone deserves?

In your groups come up with at least three

I determine that the 'Taliban detainees are

unlawful combatants and…do not qualify as prisoners of war under Article 4 of Geneva……

Geneva does not apply to our conflict

with Al Qaeda…

Al Qaeda detainees do not qualify as prisoners of war.

February 7, 2002

President George Bush

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.

Thomas Jefferson

What can we do

as a community?

US citizens can write to their state representatives

Non US citizens can speak up through organizations like Amnesty International

Join Model United Nations to see how the UN works and how we can have a voice through the Youth Assembly

Join organizations such as GIN (Global Issues Network) to focus on spreading the message through other schools

Why should

we do

anything?

It has long been recognized that an essential element in protecting human rights was a widespread knowledge among the population of what their rights are and how they can be defended. 

-- Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Sixth UN Secretary-General, 1992-1996

The more people who know this is taking place, the more likely it is that we will speak up

We can work together to say that human rights must be protected at all times

Students For Justice (SFJ)

ACTION PLAN: What Will We Do?

Students for Justice (SFJ)

OUR AIM To raise awareness in the school community

of the torture of prisoners by the US government with the purpose of encouraging our community to join together with global communities to stop the torture of prisoners by the US government

Our Message

We need to raise awareness because the more people who know this is taking place, the more likely it is that communities will speak up. The US government is elected by the people. If people speak up and are supported by communities around the world, we can work together to say that human rights must be protected at all times

Look at our wiki for ideas

www.studentsforjustice.com

Our Goals SHORT TERM GOALS Learning more about this issue ourselves Raise awareness of the torture of US

prisoners here at Pudong

LONG TERM GOAL To continue to fight for the rights of prisoners

through high school, college and as an adult

Elie WieselThis is the duty of our generation as we

enter the twenty-first century -- solidarity with the weak, the persecuted, the lonely, the sick, and those in despair. It is expressed by the desire to give a noble and humanizing meaning to a community in which all members will define themselves not by their own identity but by that of others.

SPEAK UP