Notorious human rights abusers, including,
among others, Burma, Cuba, North
Korea, Iran, and Zimbabwe, have long sought
to shield their abuses from the eyes of the
world by staging elaborate deceptions and
denying access to international human rights
monitors. Until recently, Saddam Hussein
used similar means to hide the crimes of his
regime. With Iraq’s liberation, the world is
only now learning the enormity of the dictator’s
three decades of victimization of the
Iraqi people. Across the country, evidence
of Ba’athist atrocities is mounting, including
scores of mass graves containing the remains
of thousands of men, women, and children
and torture chambers hidden inside palaces
and ministries. The most compelling evidence
of all lies in the stories told by torture
survivors, who are recounting a vast array of
sadistic acts perpetrated against the innocent.
Their testimony reminds us of their great
courage in outlasting one of history’s most
brutal regimes, and it reminds us that similar
cruelties are taking place behind the closed
doors of other prison states.
The United States is committed to the
worldwide elimination of torture, and we are
leading this fight by example. I call on all
governments to join with the United States
and the community of law-abiding nations in
prohibiting, investigating, and prosecuting all
acts of torture and in undertaking to prevent
other cruel and unusual punishment. I call
on all nations to speak out against torture
in all its forms and to make ending torture
an essential part of their diplomacy. I further
urge governments to join America and others
in supporting torture victims’ treatment centers,
contributing to the U.N. Fund for the
Victims of Torture, and supporting the efforts
of nongovernmental organizations to
end torture and assist its victims.
No people, no matter where they reside,
should have to live in fear of their own government.
Nowhere should the midnight
knock foreshadow a nightmare of state-commissioned
crime. The suffering of torture victims
must end, and the United States calls on all
governments to assume this great mission.
International Day in Support of
Victims of Torture
June 26, 2003
Administration of George W. Bush,
