Advocates for U.S. Torture Prosecutions Shadow Report to the United Nations Committee Against Torture

FULL REPORT Here

Shadow Report to the United Nations Committee Against Torture

on the Review of the Periodic Report of the United States of America

Advocates for U.S. Torture Prosecutions

Dr. Trudy Bond, Prof. Benjamin Davis, Dr. Curtis F. J. Doebbler, and

The International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School

Summary:

Since the United States last reported to the Committee Against Torture in 2006, even more

evidence has emerged confirming that civilian and military officials at the highest level created,

designed, authorized, and implemented a sophisticated, international criminal program of torture.

In August 2014, President Barack Obama conceded that the United States tortured people as part

of its so-called “War on Terror,” yet the United States continues to shield senior officials from

liability for these crimes, in violation of its obligations under the Convention Against Torture.

Recommended Questions:

1. Why has the United States not prosecuted senior officials for authorizing conduct it admits was torture?
2. Were the following people ever criminally investigated for their role in torture, and why have they not been prosecuted?
3. Former President George W. Bush
4. Former Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the Department of Justice lawyer John Yoo
5. Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor Dr. James Mitchell

Suggested Recommendation:

1. That the United States promptly and impartially prosecute senior military and civilian

officials responsible for authorizing, acquiescing, or consenting in any way to acts of

torture committed by their subordinates.

Advocates for U.S. Torture Prosecutions

2

1. Reporting Organization

Advocates for U.S. Torture Prosecutions is a group composed of concerned U.S. citizens,

residents, and students—scholars, legal and health care professionals, and law students1—who

have sought for years to use what modest levers we have to end the U.S. program of torture put

in place post-9/11, to obtain justice and redress for those harmed, and to seek accountability for

those responsible.2 We are joined in our submission by supporting organizations and individuals

from across civil society.3

1. Summary of the Issue
2. The U.S. Government’s criminal program of torture was authorized at the highest

levels.

Since the United States last reported to the Committee in 2006, even more evidence has emerged

confirming that civilian and military officials at the highest level created, designed, authorized,

and implemented a sophisticated, international criminal program of torture between 2002 and

7. Just this past August, President Obama conceded that the United States tortured people as

part of its so-called “War on Terror,”4 yet the current administration continues to shield senior

officials from liability for these crimes, in violation of its obligations under the Convention

Against Torture.

The techniques in question, sometimes styled as interrogation techniques and sometimes as

detention procedures, included near-drowning (“waterboarding”), sleep deprivation for days, and

forced nudity.5 They have caused many people intense suffering, including severe mental harm6

and, in some cases, death.7

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   

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