Opponents of cloaking the Senate report on CIA interrogation practices in secrecy have won support from a top panel of United Nations human rights experts. They said significant secrecy would embolden torturers in other countries and should be rejected.
In an open letter to President Barack Obama, seven rapporteurs to the UN Human Rights Council said, “Lasting security can only be achieved on the basis of truth and not secrecy.”
“As a nation that has publicly affirmed its belief that respect for truth advances respect for the rule of law, and as a nation that frequently calls for transparency and accountability in other countries, the United States must rise to meet the standards it has set both for itself and for others,” it noted.
“If you yield to the CIA’s demands for continued secrecy on this issue, those resisting accountability will surely misuse this decision to bolster their own agenda in their countries.”
“We hope that as President of a nation that helped draft the Convention Against Torture – and as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate – you will recognize the historic nature of your decision and side with those in the United States and around the world who are struggling to reveal the truth and to bring an end to the use of torture.”
A less than transparent and full report “will have far-reaching consequences for victims of human rights violations everywhere and for the credibility of the United States.”
The four-year Senate Intelligence Committee investigation examined millions of pages of CIA documents and emails and approved the report in late 2012. A large majority approved release to the public in April 2014.
It has been held back reportedly because the CIA wants changes. The proposed redactions would prevent readers from fully understanding the pattern and extent of violations, according to several members of the Committee.
The UN experts insisted that the report should be clear enough to allow people to understand the facts and honor the right to truth for victims and their families.
Among other things, the CIA is reportedly demanding that pseudonyms created by the Committee for specific CIA officials be deleted in favor of even more generic and vague language, which beyond obscuring names, obscures patterns that are a crucial element of the system of violations that needs to be fully understood and redressed. Such obscurity is against the letter and spirit of the Convention Against Torture.
“Based on our work in many countries around the world, we believe that other States are watching your actions on this issue closely,” the experts said. “Victims of torture and human rights defenders around the world will be emboldened if you take a strong stand in support of transparency.
The Convention Against Torture places an obligation to thoroughly and promptly investigate credible reports of torture, ensure accountability and provide adequate remedies to victims.
Because of those provisions, the experts also insisted on recognition and redress for other violations that took place under the same CIA programs, including secret and arbitrary detention, and enforced disappearances.
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