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RIGHTS: Torture Widely Viewed as “Immoral”

Mirela Xanthaki

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 24 2008 (IPS) - A new poll on the official use of torture shows that people worldwide oppose it, but more than one-third also say an exception should be made if it can extract information from “terrorists” to “save innocent lives”.

While 35 percent agreed with this exception, just nine percent favoured allowing governments to use torture in general.

The poll results were issued by the University of Maryland’s Programme on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), in collaboration with a worldwide network of research centres, in advance of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on Jun. 26. The poll was conducted in 19 nations, with 19,000 people responding to questions regarding the acceptance of the use of torture, as well as on the continuing prevalence of torture worldwide.

The nations surveyed were China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Russia, Mexico, Britain, France, Poland, Spain, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Egypt, the Palestinian territories, Iran, Turkey, Thailand and South Korea, together representing 60 percent of the world population.

Respondents were presented with an argument in favour of allowing the torture of potential terrorists who threaten civilians: “Terrorists pose such an extreme threat that governments should now be allowed to use some degree of torture if it may gain information that would save innocent lives.”

In 14 nations, a majority or plurality rejected this argument in favour of the unequivocal view: “Clear rules against torture should be maintained because any use of torture is immoral and will weaken international human rights standards against torture.”

Those who favoured an exception for terrorists were also asked whether governments should generally be allowed to use torture. On average across all nations polled, just 9 percent said there should be no rules against torture.

China and Turkey had the largest percentages (18 percent in both) in favour of the idea that governments should generally be allowed to torture, while France and Britain (4 percent in both) had the lowest.

Out of the 19 nations included in the poll, 14 had a majority of people favour an unequivocal rule against torture, even in the case of terrorists who have information that could save innocent lives. On average across all nations polled, 57 percent opt for unequivocal rules against torture. The highest support for that was noted in Spain (82 percent), Britain (82 percent) and France (82 percent), followed by Mexico (73 percent), China (66 percent), the Palestinian territories (66 percent), Poland (62 percent), Indonesia (61 percent), and the Ukraine (59 percent).

Four nations lean toward favouring an exception in the case of terrorists – India (59 percent), Nigeria (54 percent), Turkey (51 percent), and a plurality in Thailand (44 percent).

However, large majorities in all 19 nations favour a general prohibition against torture. In all nations polled, the number saying that the government should generally be able to use torture is less than one in five.

In Azerbaijan (54 percent), Egypt (54 percent), the United States (53 percent), Russia (49 percent), and Iran (43 percent) a majority or plurality supported the ban on all torture.

The State of the World Report 2007 issued by Amnesty International highlights a number of governments believed to use torture. “The idea that torture by governments is basically wrong is widely shared in all corners of the world. Even the scenario one hears of terrorists holding information that could save innocent lives is rejected as a justification for torture in most countries,” said Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org.

“Further,” Kull adds, “since such a scenario is exceedingly rare, this poll suggests that virtually all torture used by governments is at odds with the will of the people.”

As Yvonne Terlingen, Amnesty International’s U.N. representative, noted at a press conference here Tuesday, “Only last week, the Human Rights council adopted a consensus resolution in Geneva which reaffirms the absolute prohibition of torture.”

No circumstances can justify torture and no country openly agrees on torture, she said.

A 2006 poll conducted by PIPA found similar results, although there have been some dramatic shifts in specific countries. While in 2006, only India had a modest plurality favouring the exception of terrorists, Nigeria, Turkey and Thailand with a plurality now agree with that sentiment.

A substantial increase in support for using torture in the interrogation of terrorists was also seen in Egypt (from 25 percent to 46 percent) and the U.S. (from 36 percent to 44 percent).

At the same time, there has been an increase among those favouring a complete ban on torture in countries like Mexico, Spain, China, Indonesia, Britain and Russia.

The WorldPublicOpinion.org poll is part of a larger study on human rights issues being completed in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The study included other polls on topics like racial discrimination, women’s rights, freedom of the press, democracy and governance.

Although there is very little confidence that governments are actually respecting the will of the people and there is a widely held belief that powerful interests are trumping the will of people, Craig Mokhiber from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights talked about the “enormous strategic value of this survey”.

“It allows us to see where we are going wrong, where additional attention needs to be paid in terms of governmental accountability and emerging threats,” he said.