NOT ONLY THE STATE: TORTURE BY NON-STATE ACTORS TOWARDS ENHANCED PROTECTION, ACCOUNTABILITY AND EFFECTIVE REMEDIES MAY 2006 THE REDRESS TRUST 3rd Floor, 87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ Tel: +44 (0)20 7793 1777 Fax: +44 (0)20 7793 1719 Registered Charity Number 1015787, A Limited Company in England Number 2274071
[email protected] (general correspondence) URL: www.redress.org TORTURE BY NON-STATE ACTORS Cover page photo credit:: Carlo Heathcote ‘Shadows on a mound of soil (Kabul)’ 2 REDRESS FOREWORD The Report by REDRESS "Not only the State: Torture by Non-State Actors" is very timely. De facto regimes and armed groups continue to commit acts amounting to torture, causing untold suffering. However, this practice has received comparatively little attention if contrasted to torture committed by state agents. The international community is making some progress towards enhanced accountability for international crimes. Yet, as this Report rightly points out, more should be done to respond to torture by non-state actors, and I hope that it will trigger a fresh debate on the subject. The Report proposes several important areas for standard setting and practical implementation, in order to make new inroads to combat torture by non-state actors, and these proposals merit careful consideration. I applaud REDRESS for this initiative, which should serve as an invaluable reference and tool for all those who are committed to tackling this particular practice of torture more effectively. Professor Manfred Nowak UN Special Rapporteur on Torture 3 TORTURE BY NON-STATE ACTORS INTRODUCTION by Robert Francis B. Garcia, Secretary General, PATH (Peace Advocates for Truth, Healing and Justice) There is one simple but inescapable conclusion illumined by this study: the laws we have right now, and their implementing mechanisms, need to catch up.