Individuals targeted with electromagnetic harassment and torture have responded to calls for submissions by the UN Special Rapporteur's for Torture 

 

 

1. UN Rapporter's call for submissions on psychological torture and ill-treatment ahead of his report to the UN Human Rights Council's 43rd session
2. Submissions on electromagnetic torture by NGOs and individuals 
3. UN Special Rapporteur presents report on psychological torture to the UN Human Rights Council's 43rd session 
4. UN Rapporter's call for submissions on psychosocial dynamics conducive to torture and ill-treatment ahead of his report to the UN General Assembly's 75th session
5. Submissions from four NGOs against electromagnetic harassment/torture and from individuals
6. Report of the UN Special Rapporteur for the UN General Assembly: "Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"
 

 

UN Rapporteur's call for submissions on psychological torture and ill-treatment ahead of his report to the UN Human Rights Council's 43rd session

 

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Torture/SRTorture/Pages/Call.aspx

Request for completion of questionnaire.

 

Excerpts from hyperlinked document: "What type of conduct" "should the notion of “psychological torture/CIDTP” be understood to comprise?"

 

CIDTP:"Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment"

 

"Psychological torture/CIDTP tend to be trivialized as “torture light” or excluded from the definition altogether, whereas “real torture” is still predominantly understood to include the infliction of physical pain or suffering. In reality, however, the psychological and physical aspects of torture/CIDTP are strongly, and often inextricably, interconnected in various ways.

 

"States have invested significant resources - including through systematic experimentation with political prisoners, suspected terrorists, and psychiatric patients - towards developing “no-touch” torture/CIDTP by which purposes of coercion, intimidation, punishment and humiliation or discrimination can be achieved without the direct infliction of physical pain, suffering, or harm."

 

"At the same time, States have aimed at whitewashing these methods by re-labelling them euphemistically as “moderate physical pressure”, “pressure techniques”, “enhanced interrogation”, “stress positions”, “white torture”, etc. and/or by requiring that, in order to fall under the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, mental suffering would have to result from the infliction or threat of physical pain or suffering."

 

 

 

Tweet of the UN Rapporteur: https://twitter.com/NilsMelzer/status/1187717801898848257

 

 

 

> Submissions on electromagnetic torture by NGOs and individuals 

 

Reference article: https://www.activistpost.com/2019/12/un-receives-reports-that-us-citizens-have-been-tortured.html

FB post: https://www.facebook.com/activistpost/posts/2646832592030242

 

Excerpt:

 

According to the recent report submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur by PACTS INTERNATIONAL,

Members of our community experience the same symptomology of ‘no touch’ torture as recently experienced by the US diplomats to Cuba and China, which included: nausea, headaches, sleep problems, vertigo, hearing loss and memory and cognitive issues, along with the following forms of “psychological torture”: workplace harassment, which may lead to termination, vehicle tampering, computer tampering, email tampering, phone tampering, phone monitoring, 24 hr. surveillance,home entry, gaslighting, involuntary detention in a mental facility, vehicular stalking, organized group stalking, community-based harassment, blacklisting, and much more.

 

 

 

 

UN Special Rapporteur presents report on psychological torture to the UN Human Rights Council's 43rd session 

 
 
(2020-02-28) "Human Rights Council Starts Interactive Dialogue With The Special Rapporteur On Torture And Other Cruel, Inhumane Or Degrading Treatment Or Punishment"
(alt. UN Geneva link)
 
"Presenting his report, Mr. Melzer noted that his mandate could not deal with the many requests it received due to limited resources."
 
"In the ensuing discussion, speakers noted that the Special Rapporteur’s thematic report made an important contribution to a holistic understanding of torture. They called upon all States to fully investigate all alleged cases of torture and to safeguard human rights for every individual. Torture could not be justified under any circumstance and all States were bound to prohibit torture under customary international law."
 
"The issue of psychological torture was very complex, but speakers affirmed that there was no difference between the physical and psychological or mental forms of torture. A definition of psychological torture should be incorporated within national legislation."
 
"It was noted that some countries already had psychological torture incorporated in their national anti-torture acts."
 
"Speakers noted that it was worthwhile exploring the impact of technological and communication advances and their impact on psychological torture as cyber torture was an emerging area of concern, as well as thoroughly look at the use of torture to fight terrorism".
 
"Speakers noted that the report identified cyber torture as an emerging area of concern. It was worth exploring the impact of technological and communication advances and their impact on psychological torture."
 
 
https://twitter.com/NilsMelzer/status/1232067039910662145

https://twitter.com/NilsMelzer/status/1232067039910662145

 

 

 

 

#HRC43 The first week of the #HumanRightsCouncil concluded with the presentation of two reports: Mr Nils Melzer,...

Posted by UN Human Rights Council on Saturday, February 29, 2020

 

https://www.facebook.com/UNHRC/posts/2782751445111813

 

 

 
UN Special Rapporteur on torture explores cybertorture and refers to the need to address biomedical and neurotechnological advances including "human enchancement" as well as cybernetics and AI
 
A/HRC/43/49 "Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment - Report of the Special Rapporteur"
Direct link: https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/43/49 | Indirect link (43rd session): A/HRC/43 
 
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur: "Encourages the interpretation of the prohibition of torture in line with contemporary possibilities and challenges arising from emerging technologies and explores, in a preliminary manner, the conceivability and basic contours of what could be described as “cybertorture”."
 
Cybertorture refers to [71] "the possible use of various forms of information and communication technology (“cybertechnology”) for the purposes of torture." 
 
"Although the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet has been repeatedly addressed by the Human Rights Council (see A/HRC/32/L.20; and A/HRC/38/L.10/Rev.1), torture has been understood primarily as a tool used to obstruct the exercise of the right to freedom of expression on the Internet, and not as a violation of human rights that could be committed through the use of cybertechnology."
 
Cybertorture can be mediated by the release or streaming of crime/abuse audiovisual content and "increasingly also through the remote control or manipulation of stun* belts (A/72/178, para. 51), medical implants and, conceivably, nanotechnological or neurotechnological devices [55]".
 
*electroshock belts
 
"87. Challenges of new technologies. In order to ensure the adequate implementation of the prohibition of torture and related international legal obligations in present and future circumstances, its interpretation should evolve in line with new challenges and capabilities arising in relation to emerging technologies not only in cyberspace, but also in areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology and neurotechnology, or pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences including so-called “human enhancement”.
 
The UN Rapporteur on Torture cites the "rapid advances in medical, pharmaceutical and neurotechnological science, as well as in cybernetics, robotics and artificial intelligence" [§ 32].
 
 

 

Figure 1: Excerpts from the report by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture

 

 

https://twitter.com/UN_SPExperts/status/1233357269766676481

 

 

 

Le Rapporteur Spécial des Nations Unies présente son rapport sur la torture psychologique au Conseil du Droits de l'Homme de l'ONU (43ème séance) 

 

 

Les individus ciblés de harcèlement et torture électromagnétique (torture cybernétique ou cybertorture) ont répondu aux appels à communication du Rapporteur Spécial des Nations Unies sur la torture
 
Avec son rapport au lien https://undocs.org/fr/A/HRC/43/49, le Rapporteur explore la cybertorture et évoque la nécessité d'aborder les progrès biomédicaux et neurotechnologiques, y compris "l'amélioration humaine" ainsi que la cybernétique et l'IA
 
Extraits: 
"Encourage la prise en compte des possibilités et des difficultés actuelles liées aux technologies émergentes dans l’interprétation de l’interdiction de la torture au regard et se livre à un examen préliminaire des principaux éléments décrivant ce que l’on pourrait appeler la « cybertorture »."
 
"71. L’utilisation possible de diverses formes de technologies de l’information et de la communication (« cybertechnologies ») à des fins de torture est un sujet de préoccupation particulier qui ne semble pas avoir reçu une attention suffisante." 
 
"Bien que la question de la promotion, la protection et l’exercice des droits de l’homme sur Internet ait été abordée à plusieurs reprises par le Conseil des droits de l’homme (...), la torture a été vue avant tout comme un outil utilisé pour entraver l’exercice du droit à la liberté d’expression sur Internet, et non comme une violation des droits de l’homme qui pourrait être commise au moyen des cybertechnologies."
 
"En pratique, les cybertechnologies facilitent déjà la commission d’actes de torture tant physique que psychologique" (...) "et également de plus en plus parce qu’elles permettent de commander ou de manipuler à distance des ceintures électriques neutralisantes (A/72/178, par. 51), des implants médicaux et peut-être même des dispositifs nanotechnologiques ou neurotechnologiques" [55]. 
 
"l’interprétation de la notion de torture devrait évoluer en fonction des nouveaux défis et capacités qui accompagnent le développement des technologies émergentes, non seulement dans le cyberespace, mais aussi dans des domaines tels que l’intelligence artificielle, la robotique, les nanotechnologies et la neurotechnologie, ou les sciences pharmaceutiques et biomédicales, y compris ce qu’on appelle « l’augmentation de l’être humain »."
 
"32. Compte tenu des progrès rapides des sciences médicales et pharmaceutiques, des neurotechnologies, de la cybernétique, de la robotique et de l’intelligence artificielle, il est difficile de prévoir dans quelle mesure les techniques et les environnements futurs de la torture (...)"
 
 

 

 

 

UN Rapporter's call for submissions on psychosocial dynamics conducive to torture and ill-treatment ahead of his report to the UN General Assembly's 75th session

 

 

Call: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Torture/SRTorture/Pages/CallGA75.aspx

 

> Submissions from four NGOs against electromagnetic harassment/torture and from individuals

 

NGOs: VIACTEC (Spain), FFTI, PACTS-International, Targeted America.

 

VIACTEC (Spain) - Victimas de Acoso y Tortura Electronica https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Torture/Call/NGOs/VIACTEC.pdf

 

FFTI - Freedom for Targeted Individuals https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Torture/Call/NGOs/FFTI.pdf

 

PACTS International - People against Covert Torture and Surveillance https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Torture/Call/NGOs/PCTS.pdf

 

Targeted America (direct download) https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Torture/Call/NGOs/TA.docx

 

 

 

 

Featured submission from individuals:

 

Electromagnetic Torture

 

 

Report of the UN Special Rapporteur for the UN General Assembly: "Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"

 

https://www.undocs.org/pdf?symbol=en/A/75/179

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/NilsMelzer/status/1305890679655206913

 

 

Speech of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture followed by interactive dialogue with State representatives at the Third Committee of the UNGA 75th session

 
 
53.23: Speech of the Rapporteur | 1.21.00: Response of the Rapporteur to State representatives.
Possibility to choose original language (for the different State representatives including France) or English.

 

Selected quote with relevancy to submissions of electromagnetic torture: "The argument of national security is overexpanded." 

Increased secrecy and persecution of whistleblowers. Secrecy and confidentiality should be restricted to narrow issues of national security. 

France representative mentions the term of "new technologies".

 

 

At the interactive dialogue, both the EU and the U.S. representative asked the UN Rapporteur what states can do, what steps countries can take in the direction of identifying practices related to torture and promoting accountability.

 

The U.S. representative cited the U.S. Secretary of State quotes and the Department's policy against torture and referred to the U.S. advocacy and trailblazer role concerning the prevention of torture.

 

The France representative was the only one to refer to "new technologies" (concerning torture). The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture responded that when he contacts countries with allegations/evidence of torture or requests country visits, he receives the response that national laws and mechanisms suffice to prevent torture.

 

His report aimed to address the question of why a normative system with excellent preventive mechanisms cannot prevent torture incidence. He added that this is not always associated with malicious intent; instead, there appears to be what he described as "good-faith ignorance".

 

Countries appear to be settled in a relaxed mode of operation, which is ritualized, and a result they do not resolve these issues with the existent mechanisms.

 

This is due to neurobiological and psychological patterns described in the report. He cited the example of violence in police stations reflecting potentially the training of law enforcement. He also referred to the compliance of the judiciary, with judges tending to trust more the policemen than the victims reporting abuse.

 

He added that when he contacts countries, there are standards of cooperation which describe how countries should cooperate with his mandate. Countries are not supposed to agree with allegations but they should engage with investigations and report back to the mandate.

 

On this issue, a call for input addressed to States has been issued:

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Torture/SRTorture/Pages/CFI_Effectiveness_of_States.aspx. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tweets on this subject

Thread https://twitter.com/infobookcom/status/1337053541807087616

 

 

 

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