The campaign brings New Yorkers into close proximity with an issue that sometimes seems very distant. Most torture victims live in China, or Africa, or anywhere but here. Torture victims from all over the world tried to put words to unspeakable torment at Reckoning with Torture last week, one of the many events put together for the campaign by the John Jay College branch of Amnesty International.
“When you’re literally 20 feet away from the person who had to endure that, it really brings it home,” said Celinet Duran, president of the Amnesty International club and a humanities and social justice senior.
“Torture is something that causes agony, suffering, torment, cruelty. There are souls behind the faces of those who endure such pain—agony—souls and stories.” These opening words were from Reckoning with Torture, a stirring performance in the Gerald W. Lynch Theater on the college’s campus last week that set a solemn tone for the activities.
Sharon Hope, in the role of Amina, drew tears from the audience with a monologue describing months of captivity—locked in a small room packed tightly with other women, united in suffering though divided by differences in dialect, standing in their own waste and being led out to be raped. In the theatrical reality that was not based on a specific experience, an American woman appears to deliver them from suffering, leaving the audience with a sense of hope.
Where one finds suffering, one finds good people speaking out against it. Amnesty International (AI) is known for its tremendous efforts to free prisoners of conscience and uphold the U.N. Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. The John Jay College AI club is no different, as students like Duran and club Vice President Crystal Angerville work to bring to light the atrocities executed away from the public eye.
Reckoning with Torture held up cases of torture that occurred in Guantanamo Bay and other American operations as warnings that Americans must remain aware of the issue that isn’t really as distant as we might think. Three former Guantanamo detainees gave video testimonials.
Manfred Nowak, former Columbia professor and current U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, gave a special address at the event. He said that the American government was uncooperative in the investigation into the Cuban-based American prison, where suspected terrorists were sent for interrogation. Nowak has interviewed thousands of torture victims across the world to present a report at the annual session of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Nowak has looked at cases of torture around the world. Speaking in a one-on-one interview with The Epoch Times, he described the current situation in China for Falun Gong practitioners, a major group of people persecuted and tortured for their faith:
“Practicing Falun Gong by itself might mean that you end up either in prison, or in a re-education through labor camp. That might last three years without any kinds of charges," said Nowak. "They were subjected to very tough re-education measures. Not that much has changed."
In a 2006 report on China to the U.N., Nowak noted that Falun Gong practitioners made up 66 percent of that country's torture cases that his office was concerned with.
Torture takes many forms and is experienced in varying degrees all over the world. Angerville, a psychology student at John Jay College, is investigating the suffering experienced by victims of domestic abuse. Duran says that torture is perpetuated by American television shows such as 24, in which interrogations are carried out in an excessively violent manner. Many have experienced injustice at the hands of groups such as the KKK, said Duran.
The month-long event features speakers from around the world including experts in the fields of law and social sciences, as well as film screenings and more. John Jay College AI aims to reach a variety of audiences by offering a diverse program and accommodating everyone’s schedule with events occurring a few days a week. For more information on the event, please visit Humansagainsttorture.webs.com.
“Even if we influence one or a few individuals, the effort was worth it,” said Duran.
Correction: A previous version of this article contained an incorrect quote by Manfred Nowak. When speaking about relative numbers of incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners, Nowak actually told The Epoch Times that they made up the "big majority of the detainees" in a reeducation through labor camp he had visited. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
