We the undersigned respectfully request that the American Psychological Association join with the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association in banning participation of its health personnel in military interrogations.
In Its "Report an the Treatment by the Coalition Forces of Prisoners of War and other protected persons in Iraq", the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) drew the attention of the Coalition Forces to a number of serious violations of International Humanitarian Law, including:
- Brutality against protected persons upon capture and initial custody, sometimes causing death or serious injury
- Absence of notification of arrest of persons deprived of their liberty to their families rousing distress among persons deprived of their liberty and their families
- Physical or psychological coercion during interrogation to secure information
- Prolonged solitary confinement in cells devoid of daylight
- Excessive and disproportionate use of force against persons deprived of their liberty resulting in death or injury during their period of internment.
Recent Pentagon review of prisoner abuse by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense has outlined how psychologists have advised interrogation teams in techniques to "exploit detainee vulnerabilities" (p. 25) and to otherwise contribute to interrogation methods that do not comply with Geneva Conventions.
We therefore request that the APA amend its Resolution Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as passed during the 2007 APA Convention, with the following paragraph:
BE IT RESOLVED that the objectives of the APA "shall be to advance psychology as a science and profession and as a means of promoting health, education and welfare ... " (Bylaws of the APA: Article 1) and, therefore, the roles of psychologists, in settings in which detainees are deprived of adequate protection of their human rights, should be limited as health personnel to the provision of psychological treatment.
