Pinochet is dead

Yesterday, the dictator notorious for his apparatus of state-sponsored torture, Augusto Pinochet, died on the anniversary of Human Rights Day. Families of his victims remember him and his deeds. The most harrowing account of the layers of degradation that were institutionalized by Pinochet is the story told by Luz Arce in her memoir. The history of the victims of Pinochet and his supporters is documented at the siteMemoria viva. Michelle Bachelet (her pictured with her father) and her mother were detained and tortured at the Villa Grimaldi, along with thousands of others. Now she is the President of Chile.

Every month I contribute a small amount to the Center for Victims of Torture.
The following was printed in yesterday's Star Tribune by their acting executive director to mark the occasion of International Human Rights Day.

"Ruth Barrett-Rendler: Again it's time to back up words on human rights
After 9/11, some U.S. leaders condoned the use of torture. Citizens can help end it.

Ruth Barrett-Rendler
Today is the 58th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the then-fledgling United Nations. For the United States, the essential player was Eleanor Roosevelt, who thought, wrote, cajoled and lobbied the declaration into existence.

But Roosevelt also recognized that words alone were empty.

Ten years after the declaration was adopted, she presented "In Your Hands," a guide to community action. As she said, "the destiny of human rights is in the hands of all our citizens in all our communities," and urged people to work for human rights, "In small places, close to home ... ."

Americans like to think our country stands for the same values Roosevelt worked to enshrine in the declaration: dignity, equality, freedom from injustice.

Sadly, since Sept. 11, 2001, our leaders have failed to uphold, either in letter or in spirit, the laws and principles that are meant to protect those values. Instead, we have learned, to our shock and sorrow, that they have promoted and condoned the use of torture. They have authorized secret detention and the suspension of due process. They have permitted "extraordinary rendition" -- putting people on planes to be flown to a country where they will be tortured.

At one time, America pushed Iran and China to grant U.N. investigators independent access to prisoners as a way to stop torture. Now we refuse to allow the same access. This means we have lost the moral authority necessary to push repressive regimes to open their prisons. The United Nations special investigator on torture recently reported that several countries justify their mistreatment of prisoners by saying that they are merely following America's example. Our colleagues fighting human rights abuses in other countries have told us much the same.

But there has been progress. And there are new opportunities for more if, as Roosevelt urged, we can commit to working close to home.

In the newly revised "Army Field Manual on Interrogations," most of the abuses that occurred in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay are now explicitly prohibited. Military interrogators fought to reinstate the ban on torture because they know, as we do at the Center for Victims of Torture, that torture is ineffective, producing largely false information that cannot be acted upon.

Legislation passed last year with bipartisan support, including the entire Minnesota congressional delegation, reinforced the standing ban on torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.

And since the recent election, Democrats and Republicans in Congress are showing more grit in confronting administration policy and practice.

Here is where they should start.

First there must be an end to secret detention, abusive interrogations, and "extraordinary rendition," practices already illegal under U.S. law. But without congressional oversight and an end to the secrecy under which these programs have operated, they are likely to continue.

Second, lawmakers must prohibit the use of coerced testimony. Evidence and confessions obtained under torture pervert our entire justice system.

Third, Congress must restore the ability for all detainees to challenge their treatment in court -- habeas corpus. This is a necessary tool to prevent torture. If our laws prohibit torture but we don't provide tools for enforcement, it is a loophole for continued abuse.

Eleanor Roosevelt warned about human rights, "Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."

Let's send a message loud and clear to our state's U.S. representatives and senators: Torture, secret detention or denial of equal justice cannot be justified under any circumstances. We simply will not allow it. This time, it is in our hands.

Ruth Barrett-Rendler is acting executive director of the Minneapolis-based Center for Victims of Torture.