US marks International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
TORONTO
The US on Monday marked International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, a White House statement said.
“Today, on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, I reaffirm the United States’ opposition to all forms of inhumane treatment and our commitment to eliminating torture and assisting torture survivors as they heal and in their quests for justice,” US President Joe Biden said in the statement.
Biden emphasized that torture is prohibited everywhere and that it is illegal, immoral, and a stain on the human conscience.
Citing evidence of brutality by Russia’s forces in Ukraine in the over 16-month-old war, he added that in Russia, “reports of torture in places of detention are commonplace, including against activists and critics of government policies.”
While tens of thousands in Syria are displaced and subject to torture, there are widespread reports of torture and other forms of inhumane, degrading punishment by the North Korean government, including in political prison camps, and against women specifically, the statement said.
“It is our firm belief as a nation that we must hold ourselves to the same standards to which we hold others. This is why we continue to ensure that torture remains prohibited in all of its forms, without exception.”
The US remains the world’s largest contributor to the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, which has provided desperately needed aid to survivors of torture and their families as they undertake the long process of physical, psychological, economic, social recovery.
The country also provides the largest-ever funding amount for the US Survivors of Torture Program in the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the Department of Health and Human Services, the statement added.
The UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is observed annually on June 26 to speak out against the crime of torture and to honor and support victims and survivors around the world.
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