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Executive Committee Statement
Executive Committee Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology Division 48 August 2005 |
Dear Colleagues,Dr. Ron Levant, president of the American Psychological Association, has acknowledged receipt of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology Division 48 Executive Committee Statement Concerning the Use of Torture With Prisoners. We thank him for his response and we are pleased that the APA Council of Representatives is going to address the issue of the involvement of psychologists in inhumane, degrading, or coercive interrogations and the use of torture either physical or mental in the interrogation of prisoners within the context of the PENS report.
The PENS Report offers a good beginning as an internal APA ethics document towards addressing the involvement of psychologists in the inhumane, degrading, or coercive interrogations and the use of torture either physical or mental in the interrogation of prisoners. However, more action needs to be taken by the APA including the Council of Representatives. The Executive Committee of the Society of the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology Division 48, therefore, reiterates its Call for Action as outlined in the Statement Concerning the Use of Torture With Prisoners:
Sincerely,
- Issue a clear statement against the use of inhumane, degrading, or coercive interrogations and the use of torture either physical or mental in the interrogation of prisoners.
- Acknowledge, based on the U.N. Convention Against Torture, that there are no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether induced by a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, that may be invoked as a justification for torture.
- Publicize both within and outside of APA the 1986 resolution concerning human rights and torture.
- Issue a clear statement against the direct or indirect involvement of psychologists in inhumane, degrading, or coercive interrogations including interrogations involving the use of either physical or mental torture.
- Finally, in light of the evidence implicating psychologists in the use of coercive interrogations and torture at Guantanamo Bay, the Executive Committee of Division 48 calls on the leadership of APA to pursue through whatever organizational and legal means possible an investigation of these charges.
The Executive Committee
Society of the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology Division 48To download a copy of this statement in PDF, click here.
Resources concerning the use and effects of torture
Opinions expressed by the voting members of the Executive Committee of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence (Division 48, APA) may not reflect the opinions of other members of the Society or the American Psychological Association (APA). This is not a general membership-vote policy or position statement for either the Society or the APA.
Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology Division Page
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