Torture still exists

In the 50-page report titled “Torture in 2014: 30 Years of Broken Promises” released this week, Amnesty International noted that police forces in countries including Myanmar, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, at times torture individuals during interrogation and pre-trial detention, often forcing detainees to “confess” to a crime. Sometimes prisoners are even tortured to death. 

According to the report, torture “is used to extort money in places such as Myanmar and Nepal, where poor and marginalised people are unable to bribe their way out of being tortured.”

In 2014, 30 years after the UN adopted the 1984 Convention Against Torture - which commits all governments to combating the abuse - Amnesty observed that in at least 23 Asia-Pacific countries torture or ill-treatment is still rife. Given the secretive nature of the abuse, the true number is likely to be higher.

“Torture is a fact of life in countries across Asia. The problem isn’t limited to a few rogue states, but is endemic throughout the region,” said Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director Richard Bennett.

“Asian countries must stop paying lip service to their commitment to end torture. Signing up to the international treaties is important but not enough. It must be backed up with concrete action.”

Amnesty has called upon governments in Asia-Pacific to put in place protective mechanisms to prevent and punish torture, such as impartial medical examinations, prompt access to lawyers and courts, independent checks on places of detention, effective investigations of torture allegations, the prosecution of suspects and proper redress for victims.

The global movement, committed to end grave abuses of human rights, said that many countries in the Asia-Pacific region are widely missing the mark when it comes to preventing and punishing torture. China and North Korea are among the region’s worse culprits. Punishments such as flogging are still allowed in some countries and investigations into the use of torture are extremely rare. 

Abuse in police detention has also been documented in the Philippines, where in January 2014, a “torture roulette wheel” was discovered in a secret police intelligence facility. 

The roulette wheel presented a list of torture positions: a “30-second bat position” for example, meant that the detainee would be hung upside down like a bat for 30 seconds. Forty-four detainees reported being tortured in the facility. Ten police officers involved in the abuse are since believed to have been relieved from their posts but no one has been prosecuted. 

Flogging is still allowed in the Maldives where courts impose such sentences to individuals found guilty of “fornication.” 

In some countries, activists are tortured as punishment for their legitimate work defending human rights. 

In Vietnam, dozens of activists are held in extremely harsh conditions to prevent them from promoting human rights. Some have been beaten, denied adequate food and health care and held in isolation for long periods of time. 

Authorities in China also punish activists for their work, including denying them medical treatment, even when their lives depend on it. In March 2014, Cao Shunli, aged 52, died from organ failure in a hospital in Beijing after officials at the prison she was held in for five months repeatedly prevented her from receiving the medical treatment she needed. 

Amnesty has launched a two-year global campaign titled “Stop Torture.” It says that in a number of Asia-Pacific countries the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is routine - and accepted by many as a legitimate response to high levels of crime.

The vast majority of people in Asia-Pacific believe that there should be clear laws against torture, but in China and India almost three quarters of respondents (74 per cent) felt torture was sometimes necessary - the highest numbers in any of the countries polled.

In Indonesia, Pakistan and South Korea the majority of respondents feared they could be tortured if taken into custody.