The Campaign Against Torture
Areas of Focus
- The US Regime of Psychological Torture
- The Role of Health Professionals in Interrogations and Abuse
- The Abuse of Hunger Strikers in US Detention Facilities
- Detainee Deaths
The US Regime of Psychological Torture
Almost immediately after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Bush Administration began dismantling US anti-torture law and policy. As disclosed by the 2006 report of the Defense Department’s Office of the Inspector General, Pentagon leadership, in collaboration with military psychologists, systematically designed and implemented methods of psychological torture and physical abuse that became “standard operating procedure” for interrogations at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq and Afghanistan. Similar techniques comprise the CIA’s notorious “enhanced interrogation methods.” PHR’s Campaign Against Torture seeks abolition of this regime of abuse and the mechanisms that support it.
Related PHR Documents
- PHR Condemns Bush's Veto of Torture Prohibition; Calls for Congress to Vote to Override
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) strongly condemns President Bush's veto of the Intelligence Authorization Bill, which extends the Army Field Manual's standards for detainee treatment and interrogation to the CIA. PHR urges Congress to override the president's veto.
March 8, 2008 - PHR Urges Attorney General Nominee Judge Mukasey to Pledge Release and Recision of 2005 "Torture Memos"
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) called on Attorney General-Designate Michael Mukasey to pledge that he will order the Department of Justice to release and rescind the 2005 Office of Legal Counsel memos authorizing interrogation techniques...
October 16, 2007 - PHR President Responds to 2005 Justice Department Torture Memo Disclosure - A Letter to the Editor of The New York Times
Only by restoring the rule of law can the United States repair the damage done by the Bush administration's lawless torture policy.
October 5, 2007 - Dr. Allen Keller Testifies Before Senate Intelligence Committee on CIA "Enhanced Interrogation Program"
Dr. Allen Keller, MD, a PHR member and Director of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, testified on September 25, 2007 in closed session at the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's hearing on U.S. interrogation policy.
September 25, 2007 - APA Condemns CIA Enhanced Interrogation Tactics; PHR Urges Bush Administration to Abolish These Techniques
The American Psychological Association's (APA) "unequivocal condemnation" of enhanced interrogation techniques used by the CIA such as water-boarding, mock execution, exploitation of phobias, exposure to extremes of heat and cold reinforces the urgency of abolishing the use of these methods in all intelligence-gathering activities conducted by the US government, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said today.
August 19, 2007 - PHR Urges APA to Prohibit CIA Tactics and End Psychologist Involvement in Interrogations
In a letter sent on August 6, 2007, to Dr. Sharon Brehm, president of the American Psychological Association (APA), PHR responds to a resolution proposed by the board of the APA condemning certain interrogation techniques and psychologists' involvement in them.
August 6, 2007 - Those Who Authorize and Use CIA "Enhanced" Interrogation Tactics Risk Criminal Prosecution
A landmark report released today by two leading human rights groups concludes that U.S. officials who authorize or use "enhanced" interrogation techniques risk violating U.S. law and could face criminal prosecution.
August 2, 2007 - PHR Condemns White House Refusal to Repudiate Methods of Torture
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said that today’s Executive Order from President Bush on CIA detention and interrogations is more equivocation from the White House. ...
July 20, 2007 - Following Groundbreaking Report by Vanity Fair: PHR Condemns Illegal, Ineffective and Unethical CIA and US Military Torture Practices
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) urgently reiterated its call today for the White House and Congress to prohibit the use of all SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) techniques in interrogations by US agencies, especially those conducted by the CIA at the agency’s "Black Sites" and other secret facilities...
July 17, 2007 - PHR Letter to American Psychological Association Regarding Psychologists and Interrogations
PHR wrote to APA President Brehm to express its concerns that neither the APA's policy on human rights nor the PENS Task Force report and recommendations adequately assure guidance to psychologists in interrogation settings.
June 14, 2007 - PHR Letter to Secretary Gates Applauds Declassification of Report on Interrogation Techniques and Calls for Remedial Measures
In a letter sent on May 31, 2007, to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, PHR responds to the recently declassified Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report, "Review of DoD-Directed Investigations of Detainee Abuse."
May 31, 2007 - Physicians for Human Rights on the Resignation of Army Surgeon General Kevin Kiley
"The scandal over the treatment of veterans at Walter Reed is symptomatic of a larger problem: the erosion of the core principals of military medical ethics by the Bush Administration," stated Leonard S. Rubenstein, Executive Director of Physicians for Human Rights.
March 12, 2007 - PHR Decries House and Senate Passage of Military Commissions Act; President Still Bound by Common Article 3 and Detainee Treatment Act—PHR Vows to Hold Administration Accountable to Geneva Conventions
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) condemned yesterday’s passage by Congress of the Military Commissions Act, which gives President Bush the power to interpret what constitutes a violation of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.
September 26, 2006 - PHR and Seven Leading Health Professionals Call for Prohibition of Abusive CIA Interrogation Tactics in Detainee Treatment and Trial Bill; Congress Must Not Cede Interpretation of Geneva Conventions to President
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is gravely concerned that the agreement reached yesterday, unless further clarified by Congress, would give the Bush Administration the discretion and immunity from prosecution to freely use a whole host of tactics that are clearly torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
September 22, 2006 - PHR Calls on Congress to Reject White House Military Commissions Bill and Amendments to War Crimes Act
As the Bush Administration continues to pressure Congress to pass the President’s version of the Military Commissions Bill, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) called today on the House and Senate to reject the legislation.
September 12, 2006 - Reaction Quotes from Physicians for Human Rights to Speech by President Bush and Release of Revised Army Field Manual
Quotes in reaction to the release of the revised Army Field Manual (DoD Directive 2310.01E—DoD Detainee Program and Army FM 2.22-3—Human Intelligence Collector Operations) by the Pentagon and to President Bush’s speech in support of legislation to prevent prosecution for those who have authorized and used abusive interrogation tactics...
September 6, 2006 - In the Wake of Supreme Court Ruling, US Must Try Detainees Under Uniform Code of Military Justice and Geneva Conventions
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today called upon the President and Congress to try detainees for war crimes in accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
July 5, 2006 - Pentagon's New Medical Guidelines for Detainees May Exacerbate the Problems They Are Designed to Solve
Physicians for Human Rights is concerned that the Pentagon's new medical guidelines for the treatment of detainees significantly deviate from internationally accepted standards...
June 17, 2006 - Physicians for Human Rights Commends Psychiatric Association for Prohibiting Member Participation in Detainee Interrogations
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) yesterday adopted an ethical rule prohibiting psychiatrists from participating in interrogation of prisoners and detainees, a measure strongly endorsed by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)...
May 22, 2006 - PHR Applauds UN Call to End Psychological Torture; New Army Field Manual Must Prohibit Psychological Torture
The UN Committee Against Torture today firmly rejected the Bush administration's distinction between physical and psychological torture, a finding strongly supported by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)...
May 19, 2006
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