Fight Impunity, Fight Torture

(Vatican Radio) Looking ahead to the UN's International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on June 26th, Pope Francis on Sunday condemned torture as a mortal sin and called on Christians to do their part in abolishing all types of torture and in supporting victims and their families. 

In the lead-up to the International Day which sees the participation of hundreds of organizations across the world that are committed to the abolishment of torture, Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni spoke to Victor Madrigal-Borloz, Secretary General of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims.

Listen to the interview…

IRCT – Madrigal-Borloz explained – is a membership organization that represents the global movement for the rehabilitation of torture victims. “It encompasses 144 centers in 74 countries that provide health-based rehabilitation for persons who have been subjected to torture in over 130 countries” he said.   

Madrigal-Borloz says that the practice of torture is much more widespread than most would imagine, “for every person that our movement is able to provide rehabilitation for, there are probably dozens that are being generated every day throughout the globe” he said.

Some of the most obvious examples – he says – are in relation to the Syrian crisis, the Egyptian situation, land rights organizations in Latin America, political dissidents in Eastern Europe which most certainly are the regions and situations which generate hundreds of thousands of victims of torture every year.

Madrigal-Borloz  says torture continues to be perpetrated in various ways: “it can either be the result of systematic state policies to repress dissent or to crush the will of collective movements, but it is also the result of lack of capacity in the hands of state agents that handle day to day operations in policing such as interrogations” he said. 

“It is also present in hospitals where patients who are dealing with disability are subjected to repression and various sorts of mistreatment”.

Madrigal-Borloz says an international day such as the one we observe on June 26 is important to bring visibility to the issue: “It is incredibly important that we realize that this is something that continues to happen” he said.

Having a day – he says – in which we pause and reflect on what each of us can do to bring torture to an end is incredibly important for the victims of torture and for the fight against torture.

So, what can we do? Madrigal-Borloz says the first thing that we have to do is to be aware that this is something that is very much a current reality. He says we have to be vocal in relation to our governments in assuring that the right capacities are being created in the state institutions . 

“We have to be active in understanding that unless justice is implemented in all of these cases we will probably see torture happen again. And we need to make sure that our politicians understand that the fight against torture should be part of every political agenda, of international dialogue between nations, not only at the international fora but also in bilateral relations”.

Madrigal-Borloz speaks of the theme of the observance this year which is “Fighting Impunity” and explains how when accountability exists we attack the root of the problem. “Part of the root of the problem is when people who torture believe they can get away with it” which – he points out – “is what happens in many regions of the world”.

“We think that fighting impunity is very much attacking the cycle that perpetuates torture”.

Madrigal-Borloz speaks of Pope Francis’s condemnation of torture and points out that they carry enormous weight: “I think they carry the weight of something that should make sense to all of us as individuals and to all of us as collective social constructions” he said.

“The horrible reality of torture is that as long as it is fuelled by cycles of impunity and lack of access to justice, it will continue to come back to haunt our society.”