Why combat impunity?

Individual accountability upholds respect for human dignity. Torture and other forms of persecution are antithetical to these values, and impunity further undermines them.

Promoting accountability serves as a powerful deterrent against future atrocities. In many countries, gross abuses of human rights often go unpunished. Lack of individual accountability encourages human rights abuses and promotes further disintegration of the rule of law.

States that pursue cases against torturers also perform the crucial function of distinguishing individual responsibility from group responsibility. Legal proceedings against torturers focus blame where it belongs, calling individuals to account for their crimes and absolving communal blame.

Anti-impunity efforts benefit victims by assuaging their feelings of helplessness and defeat, emotions that often permeate victims of repression. Such efforts to hold a torturer accountable can also promote reparations for torture victims, including rehabilitation, restitution and compensation.

Accountability reinforces human rights values everywhere. Such efforts demonstrate that judicial systems are willing to adjudicate human rights cases and combat impunity.

Promoting accountability encourages the search for truth. By pursuing cases against torturers, a public record is created that describes the human rights abuses committed by the perpetrators and the injustices suffered by the victims.

Accountability can further promote social and political reconciliation in countries traumatized by periods of repression and persecution. Victims have an opportunity to tell their stories in public, and a fair and full hearing can help restore their sense of justice. Even if victims do not participate, these proceedings can empower them and facilitate their recovery. Indeed, accountability can serve as an important rehabilitative vehicle for perpetrators as well.

- Excerpted from AI's 2001 report USA: A Safe Haven For Torturers