Human Rights: Torture: a Worldwide Epidemic

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HUMAN RIGHTS

Amnesty International details abuses in 98 countries

The victim could be a child of twelve or a man of 60. He could be a factory worker or a missionary. He might have been pulled arbitrarily from a crowd in a demonstration, or dragged away in the middle of the night before the bewildered eyes of his family. Perhaps he stole a loaf of bread, aided a guerrilla or disagreed with the President. Or maybe he did nothing at all.

What these people have in common is that they are the victims of a barbaric practice condoned and often encouraged by governments throughout the world: torture. According to a 263-page study released last week by Amnesty International, a London-based human rights group that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977, torture is now practiced by governments in 98 countries. The product of meticulous documentation, Torture in the Eighties is the most comprehensive report on the subject to date. Its conclusion, in the words of Amnesty's Mark Grantham: "Torture is not an isolated, but a widespread phenomenon. It is an epidemic in the world."

According to the report, the practice is used extensively in South America, Africa and Asia. Amnesty also found evidence that torture had been applied in developed countries. The report cites allegations that police have beaten prisoners in Italy; it also mentions instances of police brutality in the U.S.

In Latin America torture is as commonplace as it is gruesome. Among the worst offenders are Colombia and Peru, where torture has been justified as a way to combat insurgencies. Prisoners in both countries are often deprived of food, subjected to electric shock, or suspended by their arms while handcuffed behind their backs. In Paraguay torture has become an administrative tool to enforce the firm grip of President Alfredo Stroessner, who seized control of the country 30 years ago. Paraguayans who are suspected of belonging to left-wing groups are often held incommunicado in cramped cells without natural light, fresh air, medical attention or much food for days or even weeks.

Police forces in Chile, according to Amnesty, inflict not only routine beatings but also a gamut of abuses referred to in sardonic slang. El telefono (the telephone) consists of blows with the palms of the hands on both ears simultaneously; la parrilla (the metal grill) is an electrical shock administered to the genitals; el submarino or la banera (the submarine or the bath) is a treatment in which the victim's head is held under water almost to the point of suffocation. Says Grantham: "Torture does not occur simply because individual torturers are sadistic. They tend to be servants of a state carrying out a state policy."

In El Salvador, the report notes, journalists, church workers, women, children and teachers have been victims of abuse by various governmental defense organizations and paramilitary units. The methods include sexual abuse, the use of chemicals to disorient people, mock executions and burning of flesh with sulfuric acid.