Ask Amnesty

From Martin:

Amnesty International has said that the United States has weakened its moral authority to oppose torture by granting asylum and/or citizenship to 150 known torturers. I would like to know more about this. Who are they and why would we welcome them here? Thank you.

The short answer to your question is that the investigation and prosecution of persons accused of having committed grave human rights abuses in other countries is not a priority for the United States government, and therefore lacks the sufficient resources, coordination, legislation, and proper procedures to be carried out in an effective and consistent manner. In addition to the lack of political will, US government complicity in abuses that occurred in other countries may in some cases serve as a disincentive to bringing alleged perpetrators to justice.

In April 2002, AIUSA released a report “United States of America: A Safe Haven for Torturers.” The report describes how the United States has failed to take action against human rights abusers living in the country.

While the report identifies several alleged perpetrators, there is no precise figure on the number of human rights abusers living in the United States. This is not surprising.

• First, perpetrators generally do not publicize their presence. They seek to maintain a low profile, even in this country.
• Second, immigrant communities are often hesitant to publicize the existence of torturers in their midst. Fear of retribution deters many victims from coming forward when they discover a perpetrator is living in their local community.
• Third, the United States has failed to develop an effective strategy to combat impunity.

The Justice Department has not made this issue a high priority, allowing perpetrators to remain undetected and go unpunished. There are no appropriations for coordinating investigations into suspected human rights abusers -- funding is leveraged from other budgets. Furthermore, there is no established procedure for torture victims to follow if they want to provide information about suspected torturers to any US government agency; nor for that matter, has any agency made public the data relating to the overall number, conduct, and result of investigations.

For each torturer identified, it is likely that many others have eluded detection. Many of these individuals entered the United States by falsifying information on their immigration documents. Others entered legally and overstayed their visas. Some are living here with the tacit approval of the United States, which in some cases is alleged to have been complicit in the human rights abuses the perpetrators committed.

AIUSA has called on the United States government to establish and adequately fund an office within the Justice Department with the exclusive mandate to investigate anyone who is credibly accused of being responsible for torture and other grave human rights abuses. It should either prosecute alleged perpetrators or extradite them to countries that will prosecute in accordance with internationally recognized fair trial standards and without recourse to the death penalty. No one should ever be returned/sent to a country where they would likely face ill-treatment, an unfair trial, or the death penalty.