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GENEVA / US TORTURE
STORY: GENEVA / US TORTURE
TRT: 3:04
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 03 MARCH 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations exterior
03 MARCH 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, Ben Emmerson at stakeout podium
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Emmerson, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism:
“The international community should never turn a blind eye to torture, even when it has definitively stopped and lies firmly in the past. If it does, the potential to re-introduce these insidious and counter-productive interrogation methods lies around like a loaded gun, waiting to be wielded by the next unprincipled and short sighted leader who has failed to grasp the lessons of the past.”
4. Wide shot, Ben Emmerson and camera
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Emmerson, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism:
“To hear President Trump, in the first days after his inauguration, glibly extolling the virtues of torture as a weapon in the fight against terrorism, and confirming his personal willingness to authorise the use of torture if asked to do so, was enough to make the blood run cold.”
6. Med shot, Ben Emmerson and ceiling of Human Rights Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Emmerson, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism:
“To think that the current President of the United States would be prepared for reasons of jingoistic populism to re-introduce what is arguably the single greatest act of lawlessness perpetrated by the Bush administration, to fuel the resentments that stoke the risk of terrorism, and to add hypocrisy to the charges which ISIS levels at the West in its relentless recruitment drives, all this leaves one wondering whether lasting progress in this field is ever going to be possible.”
8. Wide shot, Human Rights Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Emmerson, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism:
“The constant refrain from the Security Council that terrorism must be fought in ways that are compatible with international law, and in particular with international human rights law, rings hollow when the head of State of one of its five permanent members makes irresponsible statements of his willingness to commit and authorise the commission of international crimes in the fight against torture.”
10. Med shot, camera crews and journalists
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Emmerson, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism:
“We are in a situation where we have the first ever democratically elected head of state in the world who positively advocates torture and that is a state of affairs which lays down a gauntlet; it lays down a precedent. It enables other states to point to the position of the United States President and say, well, ‘there is one of the permanent members of the Security Council, whose head of state is prepared to say that he will authorise the use of torture in the first against terrorism, why shouldn’t we?’”
12. Close up, Ben Emmerson
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Emmerson, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism:
“The individuals responsible, including those in the most senior positions within the Bush administration, who authorised or participated in this international criminal conspiracy, because that is what it was, have been sheltered from justice and enjoyed complete impunity for their crimes.”
14. Pan right, Human Rights Council
UN Human Rights expert Ben Emmerson told media in Geneva that U.S. President Donald Trump’s support of torture in the fight against terrorism “was enough to make the blood run cold.”
In a parting salvo after a six-year term as the Special Rapporteur on human rights while countering terrorism, Emmerson stressed to reporters in Geneva today (03 Mar) that torture produced unreliable intelligence, violated the principles of democracy, undermined the rule of law and ultimately increased rather than reduced the risk of terrorism. The comments were made as part of a passionate plea for the international community not to abandon its human rights standards in name of fighting terrorism.
Emmerson said the international community should never turn a blind eye to torture, “even when it has definitively stopped and lies firmly in the past” adding that if it did “the potential to re-introduce these insidious and counter-productive interrogation methods lies around like a loaded gun, waiting to be wielded by the next unprincipled and short sighted leader who has failed to grasp the lessons of the past.”
Emmerson said Trump’s willingness “to re-introduce what is arguably the single greatest act of lawlessness perpetrated by the Bush administration” for “reasons of jingoistic populism” leaves one wondering whether lasting progress in the field of torture was ever going to be possible. He said Trump’s statements enables other states to point to his position on the matter and say “well, there is one of the permanent members of the Security Council, whose head of state is prepared to say that he will authorise the use of torture in the first against terrorism, why shouldn’t we?”
The Human Rights expert also highlighted what he called ‘the failure of relevant States, and especially the United States, to take effective action to bring to justice those who were responsible for the secret detention, rendition and torture programme operated by the Bush-era CIA. He said those who were responsible for the “international criminal conspiracy” had been “sheltered from justice and enjoyed complete impunity for their crimes.” The Special Rapporteur concluded that those responsible should by now have been prosecuted and subjected to penalties commensurate with the gravity of their crimes.
Special Rapporteurs are independent human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective.
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