Psyche, Science, and Society

Psychologists for Social Responsibility joins call to Shut Down Guantanamo!

January 10th, 2008

Psychologists for Social Responsibility, PsySR, are supporting the International Day of Action to Shut Down Guantanamo this Friday, January 11th. Here is the PsySR statement:

PSYCHOLOGISTS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

208 I St. NE, Washington, DC 20002, Tel: 202-543-5347 www.psysr.org

FOR RELEASE: January 11, 2008, 10:00 am
CONTACT: Jill Flores (cell): 512-393-7173; Colleen Cordes: 202-543-5347

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION

PSYCHOLOGISTS IN WASHINGTON, DC
AND ACROSS THE NATION DEMAND TODAY:

– SHUT DOWN GUANTÁNAMO! –

END SIX YEARS OF TORTURE & OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Psychologists for Social Responsibility joins Witness Against Torture, Amnesty USA, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and others today in an International Day of Action to demand the closure of the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay. PsySR and other advocates for justice will gather for a 10 a.m. rally on the National Mall and a march to the Supreme Court. Some participants will march in orange jumpsuits and black hoods, symbolically bringing Guantánamo’s detainees before the high court.

Elsewhere today, in more than 40 other cities around the world, thousands of others will also be speaking out to demand an end to torture and the indefinite, illegal, and immoral detention of men and boys at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo.

It has been six long years since the first hooded, shackled men were brought to the U.S. prison at Guantánamo. Not a single prisoner has been convicted of a charge of terrorism. Many have been released because no evidence was found against them. Yet nearly 300 men remain in indefinite detention without hope of release. Today, PsySR stands with thousands of others against the abuse of prisoners, against the involvement of psychologists in abusive interrogations and abusive detainments, and for law and justice.

Psychologists for Social Responsibility is deeply opposed to the mistreatment, abuse, and illegal detention of prisoners held at US military, CIA, or other sites:

• Denying prisoners due process – such as habeas corpus, legal representation, and access to the International Red Cross – is contrary to the US constitution and international law.

• Interrogation practices that involve torture or other abusive treatment are immoral, unethical, and violate international human rights standards. They threaten national security, generate false information, and fuel terrorism.

• President Bush’s Executive Order of July 2007 allows the CIA to use “enhanced techniques” in interrogations, making likely the further abuse of prisoners and violations of law and morality.

We consider psychologists operating where these practices occur to be complicit, even if unwillingly, in human rights abuses. We consider any psychologist consulting on, designing, or participating in interrogations involving abusive treatment to be in violation of our professional ethics to do no harm.

Psychologists for Social Responsibility, therefore:

• CALLS ON ALL CITIZENS to urge Congress to restore principles of due process, including habeas corpus, for all foreign detainees.

• URGES the American Psychological Association to clarify that psychologists should not participate in any way in national security or military interrogations, due to their secrecy, lack of due process, evidence of torture and abuse, and the fact that they occur in sites operating outside Geneva principles.

• URGES the American Psychological Association to rewrite its Ethics Code to place professional ethics above an employer’s ethics and national law, if the latter sets a lower standard; and to develop legal and career supports for psychologists who refuse to engage in interrogation or who report abuses.

• SUPPORTS the closure of Guantánamo Bay and other secretive detention sites and the transfer of prisoners to sites in the U.S. that transparently observe due process & other international human rights standards & laws.

JOIN PSYSR TODAY – VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.PSYSR.ORG

For more information on the International Day of Action and the campaign to
SHUT DOWN GUANTÁNAMO, please visit www.witnesstorture.org

Entry Filed under: APA, Guantanamo, International Law, Interrogation, Law, Psychology, Rights and Liberties, Torture