The Military Commissions Act, the Torture Law
The Military Commissions Act of 2006, what we survivors of
torture have come to know as the 'Torture Law,' has frightened nearly everyone in
the US
who works to eradicate torture. Even groups who never before
worked on the issue of torture have begun campaigning to reform the Military
Commissions Act.
Numerous international organizations of human rights
attorneys have made reforming the Military Commissions Act a top priority.
Numerous politicians in the US Congress have made reforming the Military
Commissions Act a top priority.
In all the clamor, the voices of torture survivors have not
been heard. Our understanding of the debate surrounding torture and the Military
Commissions Act reaches a deeper, more intimate level than all the arguments of lawyers and
politicians—and one thing we know is that the Military Commissions Act must be repealed. Not reformed—repealed.
Why Repeal? Because the Framework, Not the Details, Is What Matters
As survivors of torture, many of us recall the most
frightening words we ever heard—words that were more terrifying even than the
rapes, the burns, the beatings, and the psychological torture that we would
come to know too well. We all heard the same words—and still hear them
sometimes, when we wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat:
"Scream as loud as you
want—it won't matter. Nobody's listening."
It did not matter if we were tortured during the cold war, a
civil war, or a brutal dictatorship. It did not matter if we were tortured in a
clandestine prison in Ethiopia,
Saudi Arabia, or Guatemala. We
were all told the same thing.
The reason it sent chills through our bones is simple: you
are helpless when your captors act with impunity.
As Paul Magno said, in an excellent article for Sojourner's
magazine, "Why should we repeal the MCA? Because this law enables abusers,
torturers even, to do whatever they like with impunity, even if it says
otherwise."
The Creation of the Campaign
Most of The Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition's
(TASSC's) work is dedicated to helping other survivors in the painstaking
lifelong process of healing and learning how to trust people again. Although we
have been active in speaking out against torture, through our Truth Speaker's
program, we had no experience in building a grass roots campaign to repeal a
law.
We began with a petition. The original director of the
Campaign, Paul Magno, organized the collection of thousands upon thousands of
signatures demanding a complete repeal of the Military Commissions Act, the
Torture Law. Every month a group of survivors hand-delivered the petitions to
Nancy Pelosi's office and worked to set up a meeting with the recently elected
leader of the House.
We worked to build coalitions with other organizations.
TASSC humbly reached out to other organizations, our partners in our struggle
to create a torture-free world, and asked them to endorse the campaign. Over a
hundred organizations, some with tens of thousands of members, signed on.
We felt as if we were moving forward and gaining initiative.
But Too Many Were Willing to Compromise on Torture
The feelings of progress proved to be an illusion. Nancy
Pelosi never met with us. Almost all of the large human rights organizations
refused to sign on to the Campaign. Perhaps compromised by their relationships
with members of congress, perhaps compromised by the role they played in
crafting the Torture Law, they were not willing to demand the full and unconditional
repeal.
The law, they pointed out, wasn't as bad as Bush wanted. The
law didn't explicitly endorse torture. The law could be fixed, they claimed, but
we would never get enough support to repeal it.
We were told that torture survivors didn't understand the
law, and elite human rights attorneys and politicians did. We were told it is a
complicated issue.
But it is a lot less complicated to survivors of torture.
The Torture Law removes the survivor's hope of someday being able to prosecute
torturers. The Torture Law hides torture. The Torture Law creates an air of
impunity that always leads to torture. For us, there can be zero tolerance for
torture.
The Website
We do not, and probably never will, have the resources of
the large human rights organizations. But survivors of torture understand
torture like nobody else, and we believe that survivors can be the most
effective voices speaking out against torture. Our voice must be heard.
We have created a number of tools to help the public and the
media understand why this Torture Law must be repealed.
- A
growing section of fact sheets, thanks in part to the National Security
& Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law.
- Tools
to allow people to sign the petition or contact congress online.
- A
Perspectives section, where we have begun to collect articles explaining
why a complete and unconditional repeal is the only honorable response.
- Information
about a billboard design competition we are organizing to help the public,
and Congress, realize that repeal is the only way to restore our honor and
our system of justice.
Survivors need your help. With the website, and your help, we can bring the Torture
Law to an end. We have built the tools. Please get involved today. Together we
can create a torture-free world.
Subjects:
Campaign |
Survivor's Voices |
TASSC International |
TortureLaw.org
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