Is torture a problem of developing countries or also of developed democracies?
In our experience, and in the experience of our colleagues worldwide, torture is practiced without regard to ideology. And although we most often think of torture as being practiced primarily in the developing world, it is in fact also practiced in developed democracies as well. The list of possible types of torture reported by our clients is very long. It includes all kinds of physical assaults, deprivation of humane conditions, sensory over-stimulation, and various psychological forms of torture. Do you believe that torture and ill-treatment is an issue of different cultural values? The direct answer to this question is no. For those who argue that this is an issue of different values, let me make observations. Firstly, torture has similar effects on the victims, across cultures and nationalities. From the viewpoint of the victim suffering the abuse, the pain and many of the symptoms remain the same across cultural differences. There are not particularities or national traditions tha
