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October 20, 2014

Report: Obama Administration Considers Sidestepping U.N. Torture Ban Overseas 
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The Obama administration is reportedly considering a move that would
continue the Bush-era policy of ignoring the United Nations torture
treaty overseas. In 2005, the Bush administration disclosed it had
secretly interpreted a U.N. ban on "cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment" as not applying to any CIA or military prison outside of the
United States. President Obama, then a senator, opposed Bush's policy
and proposed legislation to undermine it. The United States now faces a
hearing before the Committee Against Torture at the United Nations next
month. And according to The New York Times, "President Obama's legal
team is debating whether to back away from his earlier view" and
"[reaffirm] the Bush administration's position that the treaty imposes
no legal obligation to bar cruelty outside U.S. borders."

 

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