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Human
Rights in International Law |
Torture is
nothing new; the concept and implementation have been around for much, if not
all, of human history. Whether
it be torture for information or pure pleasure, humans have used pain as a
powerful way to force their individual will upon their fellow man. What has changed, though, and what
makes torture so shocking today is that, with the global community within
which the world currently lives—in a world with the Internet,
television, paper news, and global telephone lines, nothing is isolated;
nothing is truly Òover there.Ó Additionally,
the interconnectedness of people across the world means that global citizens
can no longer truly claim that they know nothing about the suffering of
others. If there truly was
intent to know, if there truly was caring, information is easily and readily
obtained. Along with the
accessibility of information and the emergence of a global community, a moral
commitment to other global citizens has emerged. Almost every aspect of life is tied to another place on
Earth: food is imported,
products are manufactured overseas, national borders have become porous,
culture has crossed political borders.
Countries can no longer stand alone and neither can their
citizens. More than ever, people
across the globe must come together as a community for the safekeeping of
this world for future generations. While there
are many threats to those to come, allowing torture to still exist in todayÕs
world is one of humanityÕs most pressing issues. Not only is torture abhorrent and morally wrong, torture
embodies everything that is corrupt, evil and derelict in a free global
society. The acceptance and
tolerance of torture suggest corruption on the part of government officials
who allow the practice and who let their moral sense and humanity go by the
wayside. Allowing torture suggests the absolute lack of morality, when life
is not accorded the respect and dignity it deserves; allowing torture lets
loose the bestiality of man that we have strived to repress and not justify. In honor of
the lives that have been given and in honor of those who labored to shape our
world into a place where people should not have to be afraid, this website
does not feature acts of torture.
Instead, this website shall strive to present information on what has
been implemented in order to protect oneÕs rights, what one can do
immediately to help, and then a current example of an infraction upon the
citizens of the global community. |
