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Vertaal:
              Het verbieden van Marteling is niet genoeg
Zondag, 25 Januari, 2009
Door Jordanië Paust |?JURIST? Zegt de Bijdragende Redacteur Jordanië Paust van de JURIST van de Universiteit van het Centrum van de Wet van Houston dat President Barack Obama zijn uitvoerende orde zou moeten opvolgen verbiedend marteling en inhumane ondervraging door aan op verdrag-gebaseerde en gebruikelijke internationale wettelijke verplichtingen te voldoen of om vervolging van in werking te stellen of alle personen uit te leveren - met inbegrip van de hoge ambtenaren van de V.S. - redelijk die van eerder bevolen heeft gemachtigd worden beschuldigd, bijgestaan, of begaane marteling en andere oorlogsmisdaden en/of misdaden tegen het mensdom…. Op 22 Januari, 2009, ondertekende President Barack Obama een Uitvoerende Orde bij het Verzekeren van Wettige Ondervragingen, verplicht stellend dat al V.S. de ondervragingen van personen voldoen, minstens, aan de vereisten in het kader van op verdrag-gebaseerde en gebruikelijke internationale wet die in gemeenschappelijk Artikel 3 van de Overeenkomsten van Genève van 1949 en bijgevolg wordt weerspiegeld dat alle personen? in alle omstandigheden menselijk zal behandeld worden.? De orde maakt een lijst onder zijn doeleinden van de behoefte? om de veilige, wettige, en menselijke behandeling van individuen in de bewaring van Verenigde Staten en van het personeel van Verenigde Staten wie in gewapende te bevorderen conflicten worden vastgehouden, naleving van de verdragsverplichtingen van de Verenigde Staten, met inbegrip van de Overeenkomsten van Genève, te nemen te verzekeren en zorg dat de wetten van de Verenigde Staten trouw. worden uitgevoerd? Bovendien, verzekert de Uitvoerende Orde dat alle ondervragingen van individueel? in de bewaring of onder de efficiënte controle van een ambtenaar, werknemer, of andere agent van Verenigde Staten bezat de Overheid, of vastgehouden binnen een faciliteit, gewerkt, of gecontroleerd door een afdeling of een agentschap van de Verenigde Staten, in om het even welk gewapend conflict? zal overeenkomstig de 2006 V.S. worden geleid. Het Handboek van het Gebied van het leger bij de intelligentieinzameling. Het handboek van het Gebied vereist ook dat gemeenschappelijk Artikel 3 een minimumnorm voor behandeling van mensen zal verstrekken. Belangrijk, het militaire handboek - het product van wat definitief een succesvol verzet door militaire advocaten tegen gebruik van onwettige ondervragingstactiek werd - lijst-specifieke tactiek die nooit, zoals het waterboarding, gebruik van extreme koude (b.v., de koud-cel), gebruik van honden, en ontdoende van naakte personen en het hooding moeten worden gebruikt, al tactiek van marteling, wrede en inhumane behandeling die door President Bush voor toegelaten gebruik tijdens zijn werd gemachtigd? programma? van? taai? ondervraging en geheime detentie of gedwongen verdwijning (die zelf een misdaad tegen het mensdom en oorlogsmisdaad) is en als deel van goed gedocumenteerd? gemeenschappelijk, het verenigen? plan to deny Geneva law protections and to use and attempt to justify serial and cascading criminality in the form of coercive interrogation. In fact, last summer it was disclosed that such tactics had been addressed and expressly and/or tacitly approved and facilitated during several meetings of the National Security Council?s Principals Committee in the White House during 2002 and 2003 that were attended by Dick Cheney, his lawyer David Addington, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, John Ashcroft, and others who facilitated their approval and use, including John Yoo. Several lawyers even made a trip to Guantanamo in September 2002 to discuss use of SERE [Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape] tactics and some saw how they were being used against detainees being held in secret detention. In this regard, President Obama?s Order states: ?Executive Order 13440 of July 20, 2007, is revoked. All executive directives, orders, and regulations inconsistent with this order, including but not limited to those issued to or by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from September 11, 2001, to January 20, 2009, concerning detention or the interrogation of detained individuals, are revoked to the extent of their inconsistency with this order.? It would serve transparency and our democratic values to declassify all such directives, orders, and regulations with lawful interrogation tactics and assessments thereof blacked-out if need be, thus leaving for the public eye the unlawful tactics that had been authorized and abetted (since they are unlawful and should never be used again), most of which are known publicly anyway. What President Obama has done is necessary to reassure the world that there is a new U.S. commitment to the rule of law, reaffirm that no one is above the law, and reclaim U.S. respect and integrity. Importantly, what the President has done is necessary under the United States Constitution. Our Constitution requires nothing less than that the President ?take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,? and it has been known since the Founding that such laws include treaty-based and customary international law, such as common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Indeed, every relevant judicial opinion since the beginning of the United States has recognized that the President and all within the Executive branch are bound by the laws of war, a point famously reaffirmed by President Lincoln?s Attorney General in 1865 while addressing the need to prosecute war crimes and the lack of congressional power to limit the reach of the laws of war. International laws that President Obama must faithfully execute during an armed conflict include common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions as well as all other treaty-based and customary laws of war, the Convention Against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (which also prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in all circumstances, including in times of relative peace), and related customary international laws. President Obama?s executive order to replace unlawful authorizations and orders during the Bush Administration with the requirement that such laws be faithfully executed by all U.S. nationals and certain other persons covered by the Order is the constitutionally proper and necessary response. What should ultimately follow is presidential execution of treaty-based and customary international legal obligations to either initiate prosecution of or to extradite all persons who are reasonably accused of having authorized, ordered, abetted, or perpetrated war crimes and/or crimes against humanity. For example, Article 146 of the 1949 Geneva Civilian Convention expressly and unavoidably requires that all Parties ?search for persons alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to be committed, … grave breaches [of the Convention] and shall bring such persons, regardless of their nationality, before its own courts? for ?effective penal sanctions? or, ?if it prefers, … hand such persons over for trial to another High Contracting Party.? The obligation is absolute and applies with respect to alleged perpetrators of any status. As a party to the Geneva Conventions, the United States must either initiate prosecution or extradite to another state or, today, render an accused to the International Criminal Court. ?Grave breaches? of the Convention include ?torture or inhuman treatment? and transfer of a non-prisoner of war from occupied territory. Similarly, Article 7, paragraph 1, of the Convention Against Torture expressly and unavoidably requires that a Party to the treaty ?under whose jurisdiction a person alleged to have committed … [for example, torture or ?complicity or participation in torture?] is found, shall … if it does not extradite him, submit the case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution.? There are no other alternatives. As documented in a recent draft law review article on ?The Absolute Prohibition of Torture and Necessary and Appropriate Sanctions,? [to be posted soon on SSRN at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1331159] ultimately President Obama can restore the rule of law, bring an end to seven years of impunity, and restore American honor, integrity, and respect only by adherence to the express and unavoidable constitutional duty of the President of the United States to faithfully execute the laws, including relevant international laws requiring prosecution or extradition of criminal accused. It is not a decision for committees, politics, and compromises, but of law. It is not a decision that may be comfortable, but it is one that President Obama must make at this defining moment in our history that follows well-known serial and cascading criminality never before authorized by a President and Vice President. It is a decision that must be made by President Obama as he begins to define his legacy. Jordan J. Paust is the Mike & Teresa Baker Law Center Professor at the University of Houston, a former U.S. Army JAG officer and member of the faculty of the Judge Advocate General?s School. His book, Beyond the Law: The Bush Administration?s Unlawful Responses in the ?War? on Terror, was published by Cambridge University Press. Have Your Say: Banning Torture is Not Enough Please read our posting guidelines before posting. Alternatively you can discuss this report here. Related News
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