You will prepare and submit a term paper on Should Use of Torture Be Permittable. Your paper should be a minimum of 500 words in length.

You will prepare and submit a term paper on Should Use of Torture Be Permittable. Your paper should be a minimum of 500 words in length. Fundamental rights are the most basic rights a human inherits from the time he or she is born in to this world. No international or any domestic state law allows torture. Although it is argued that use of torture should be permissible if it is based on a rational of harm minimization, but even for such reasons use of torture remains universally prohibited mainly due its violation of basic human rights of freedom and speech.

Prohibition of torture holds a special place in the international law jus cogens, which is a 'peremptory norm’ of general international law. It is such a law that is binding on all states. Article 14 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) clearly states that no one can be compelled to testify either against himself of anyone else. Torture goes against the basic human right of freedom of speech and right to life. It is a totally barbaric an inhuman thing that should not be practice in a civilized society. Human rights also talks about equality that would apply here because just because a person is suspected of being guilty no one has the right to take away his or her right of life, freedom and speech. Secondly usually a person being tortured is not yet convicted of being guilty of it may also lead to the torture of a completely innocent person. Even if the person is guilty torture is unacceptable as the person should be punished for the crime and not tortured.

Torture of any kind physical or mental is inhuman and leads to many negativities in society. Carl Jung a Swiss psychotherapist and psychiatric said “The healthy man does not torture others - generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers” this saying truly sums up the negative impacts on the society caused by torture.

Sometimes it is argued that the goal of saving multiple innocent lives should over ride the person’s right of not being tortured. In the book Torture: When the Unthinkable is Morally Permissible the author talks about the point of view of Dershowitz who said that torture should be legalized if it is for the protection of innocent lives (Mirko Bagaric). It is further discussed that torture does not prove to be a successful technique in getting the information as people being tortured do not often divulge the information needed from them to further prove the point the author talks about a famous persuasive article written by Philip N. S. Rumney which shows by research that torture does not always lead to the correct information required as the person being tortured will say what you want to hear to save himself. Plus there are many other ways for interrogation like offering them incentives for the information they provide.

Torture in any case is not a practice of a civilized society as it is against the basic human rights and creates a lot of negativity in the society it does not only effect that single person but the impacts are felt on the whole society. Therefore using torture is unacceptable in all and any case as it is stated in the international law that is binding on all states.

Works Cited

Mirko Bagaric, Julie Clarke. Torture: When the Unthinkable is Morally Permissible. The New York University Press, n.d.

Works Cited

Pollitt, Katha. “Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls.