US Constitution Article VI Paragraph 2: "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which

[struggle4progress]

his Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land ..."

The following was signed by the US 18 Apr 1988 and ratified 21 Oct 1994, unfortunately with the Senate stipulating it was not self-executing

Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment


PART I Article 1
1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions ...

Article 2

1. Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.

2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political in stability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.

3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.

Article 3 ...

1. No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture ...

Article 4

1. Each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law. The same shall apply to an attempt to commit torture and to an act by any person which constitutes complicity or participation in torture ...

Article 8

1. The offences referred to in article 4 shall be deemed to be included as extraditable offences in any extradition treaty existing between States Parties ...

Article 10

1. Each State Party shall ensure that education and information regarding the prohibition against torture are fully included in the training of law enforcement personnel, civil or military, medical personnel, public officials and other persons who may be involved in the custody, interrogation or treatment of any individual subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment ...

Article 14

1. Each State Party shall ensure in its legal system that the victim of an act of torture obtains redress and has an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation ...

Article 15

Each State Party shall ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made.

Article 16
1. Each State Party shall undertake to prevent in any territory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture as defined in article I, when such acts are committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. In particular, the obligations contained in articles 10, 11, 12 and 13 shall apply with the substitution for references to torture of references to other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment ... http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/h_cat39.htm

The following is relevant to Article 14

Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Torture Appeal
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: October 9, 2007

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 — The Supreme Court today turned down the chance to elaborate for the first time in more than 50 years on the “state secrets privilege” by refusing to hear an appeal filed on behalf of Khaled el-Masri, who claims he was abducted and tortured by United States agents while imprisoned in Afghanistan.

Mr. Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, says he was detained while on vacation in Macedonia in late 2003, transported by the United States to Afghanistan and held there for five months in a secret prison before being taken to Albania and set free, evidently having been mistaken for a terrorism suspect with a similar name.

Mr. Masri alleges that he was tortured while in the prison. After investigating the case, German prosecutors earlier this year issued arrest warrants for 13 agents of the Central Intelligence Agency. The German Parliament is continuing to investigate the incident, which has become one of the most public examples of the United States government’s program of “extraordinary rendition.”

Mr. Masri .. damages for treatment that he said violated both the Constitution and international law.

Shortly after he filed the lawsuit in December 2005, the government intervened to seek its dismissal under the state secrets privilege, asserting that to have to provide evidence in the case would compromise national security. That argument succeeded in the Federal District Court in Alexandria, Va., which dismissed the case without permitting Mr. Masri’s lawyers to take discovery. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., upheld the dismissal earlier this year ... http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/washington/09cnd-scotus.html?_r=1

THE PINOCHET EFFECT
Author: Sebastian Brett Editor: Cath Collins
TEN YEARS ON FROM LONDON 1998
http://www.icso.cl/archivos/the-pinochet-effect-english.pdf
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:aIXbvijxUXgJ:www.icso.cl/archivos/the-pinochet-effect-english.pdf+the+pinochet+effect&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=opera

[Abq_Sarah]

1. Unless said treaty violates the US Constitution

Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957)

Just a bit of trivia which wouldn't be applicable in a human rights case involving torture.

[struggle4progress]

2. It seems to me that the Senate attempted to deal with precisely such issues

in some of its reservations, such as The Senate's advice and consent is subject to the following reservations: (1) That the United States considers itself bound by the obligation under article 16 to prevent `cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment', only insofar as the term `cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment' means the cruel, unusual and inhumane treatment or punishment prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth, and/or Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States ... http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/6/cat/treaties/convention-reserv.htm