Friday, June 20, 2008 Law needed for torture to be considered crime
TORTURE is not considered a crime, said a lawyer from the Free Legal Assistance Group (Flag).
“No it’s not (a crime), because there is no law… There is no crime if there is no law penalizing that crime,” said lawyer Theodore Te in yesterday’s seminar on the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
It is even more difficult to identify how many torture cases there are in the country because there is no unanimous understanding how to describe torture, he said.
“There is no unanimity of understanding what torture is, so any number (of torture cases) is misleading because we are not sure kung ano talaga ang nangyayari,” Te told Sun.Star Cebu.
He said that to date, there are only two recorded torture cases in the country.
Te said there might be more cases that don’t directly mention torture because there is no clear understanding of what torture is.
Tormentors
With this, it will be difficult for victims of torture to file cases against their tormentors.
While the Philippines is a signatory to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT), it still has to pass an anti-torture law.
Effective
The Convention advises states to take effective measures to prevent torture within their borders.
The convention describes torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purpose 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.”
This year, the committee on human rights is calling for the passing of House Bill 2619, the Anti-Torture bill, as it has been called off for years.
Chairperson Lorenzo Tañada III said the right to no torture is a “basic human right.”
Lobbying
Tañada said yesterday the Committee on Human Rights has been lobbying for the passing of the anti-torture bill since the 10th Congress.
This shall be the fourth time that the bill will be presented in congress, Tañada told Sun.Star Cebu.
Tañada hopes that the government will finally pass the anti-torture bill into a law.
“It’s more of sincerity. Kung sincere talaga ang government to comply with its international commitments or is it just an image it wants create so that the international community will think we are serious on our advocacy on human rights,” said Tañada. (EPB)
