Less Than Human Torture in Cambodia A LICADHO Project Against Torture report by Jason Barber June 2000 Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) Mailing Address: PO Box 499 ● Office Address: 103, Street 97, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Fax/Tel: 855-23-360-965 (main office) 855-23-211-391 (Project Against Torture) ● email: [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword by David Chandler..............................................................................................i Preface............................................................................................................................... ii PART 1: BACKGROUND .................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: Introduction ..............................................................................................1 Chapter 2: What is Torture? ......................................................................................3 Chapter 3: Historical Context.....................................................................................5 The Roots of Torture ....................................................................................5 The Pol Pot Regime .....................................................................................6 Post-Pol Pot................................................................................................10 Chapter 4:Overview of Current Torture ...................................................................12 Scope of Torture.........................................................................................13 Methods of Torture .....................................................................................14 Chapter 5: Legal Framework: Prohibitions on Torture ............................................15 International Law ........................................................................................15 Cambodian Law..........................................................................................16 PART II: TORTURE IN STATE CUSTODY ....................................................................18 Chapter 6: Police Torture: The Practice ..................................................................18 Extent of Police Torture ..............................................................................18 Methods of Police Torture ..........................................................................20 Geographic Locations of Police Torture .....................................................22 The Victims.................................................................................................25 Deaths from Police Torture.........................................................................27 Chapter 7: Police Torture: The Causes...................................................................30 During the Torture: Arrest & Detention.......................................................31 After the Torture: Lack of Response ..........................................................34 Chapter 8: Torture by Military & Other Non-Police Agents .....................................43 Chapter 9: Torture in Prisons ..................................................................................45 Overview of Prison Torture.........................................................................45 Circumstances of Torture in Prisons ..........................................................48 Shackles & Handcuffs ................................................................................50 Children & Women in Prisons.....................................................................51 Prison Living Conditions .............................................................................53 Outside Assistance: The Impact.................................................................54 Chapter 10: Political and Military Torture in Cambodia...........................................55 Military Torture: War with the Khmer Rouge ..............................................56 Military & Political Torture: Intra-Government Fighting ..............................57 Political Torture: 1998 National Elections...................................................58 Political Torture: Misuse of the Law ...........................................................60 PART III: TORTURE IN CIVILIAN CUSTODY................................................................63 Chapter 11: Trafficking & Prostitution......................................................................63 Sexual Trafficking Practices .......................................................................63 Involvement of State Forces.......................................................................67 Chapter 12: Non-Sexual Human Trafficking............................................................69 Chapter 13: Domestic Violence...............................................................................70 PART IV: HEALTH & SOCIAL ISSUES .........................................................................73 Chapter 14: Physical Symptoms of Torture.............................................................73 Chapter 15: Psychological Symptoms of Torture ....................................................75 Chapter 16: Psychosocial & Economic Effects of Torture.......................................79 Overview.....................................................................................................79 Sexual Torture ............................................................................................80 Domestic Torture ........................................................................................81 Lack of Justice & Fear of Further Torture...................................................82 Chapter 17: Rehabilitation Services for Torture Survivors ......................................83 PART V: PSYCHO-SOCIAL CONTEXT OF VIOLENCE................................................85 Chapter 18: Historical Legacy .................................................................................85 Chapter 19: The Cycle of Stress & Violence ...........................................................88 PART VI: LAW & IMPUNITY ..........................................................................................90 Chapter 20: Legal System in Crisis .........................................................................90 Chapter 21: Torture Victims & the Law....................................................................98 Chapter 22: Confessions & Police Torture ............................................................101 Chapter 23: Police Torture – the Government Response .....................................104 PART VII: CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................111 Chapter 24: Conclusions .......................................................................................111 Chapter 25: Recommendations.............................................................................113 Torture in State Custody...........................................................................113 Torture in Civilian Custody .......................................................................118 Torture in State & Civilian Custody...........................................................119 APPENDIX 1: CASE STUDIES.....................................................................................123 1. “I would have done anything I could to avoid being beaten” .............................124 2. “He said the next time he caught a robber, he would beat them more than he had beaten me.”........................................................................126 3. “When people speak loudly, I feel frightened” ...................................................129 4. “If you kill me, that’s okay” .................................................................................131 5. “They treated us like wild animals” ....................................................................133 6. “They said I should confess or they would take me to Klang Leu. I understood what they meant: that I would be killed.” .......................................137 7. “I could not whip my wife fifty times, so I only whipped her four times.”............139 APPENDIX 2: POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER ...........................................144 APPENDIX 3: UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE .............................................146 Clarifications In this report: • All costs quoted in dollars ($) refer to United States’ dollars; $1 = 3,800 Cambodian riels at time of writing • Unless otherwise footnoted, all case examples of torture (presented in italics or in boxes) are based on victim testimonies or other information collected by Licadho • Names of victims of torture are excluded or changed, except for cases in which the victim died or cases in which the victim’s identity has been previously well-publicized FOREWORD by David Chandler I have been asked to add a few words to this probing and often terrifying study, which examines the phenomenon of torture and places it in a Cambodian context. Nothing I can say will increase its value, and I urge anyone reading these words to read on, up to the end, where some appalling case studies are documented in an appendix. Over the last few years, I have thought a good deal about torture in Cambodia. This is because my book, Voices from S-21: Terror and History in Pol Pot’s Secret Prison, published