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Supporting
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Signatures Petition to the U.S. Congress Opposing the U.S. Government's Failure to Abide by the Geneva Conventions and UN Convention Against Torture in the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody and the Alleged Involvement of Psychologists in the Mistreatment of Detainees: As professionals and others working in the fields of mental health and human rights, we write to express our deep concern with the Bush administration's position that the Geneva Conventions and UN Convention Against Torture do not apply to detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan and elsewhere. This stance has become associated with mounting evidence of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees, in some cases amounting to physical and psychological torture. We are also concerned about persistent allegations that some of our colleagues in psychology and other areas of mental health may have been involved in cases of torture and/or cruel, degrading, and inhumane treatment of detainees; involvement which, if proven, is in direct violation of the American Psychological Association's (APA) code of ethical conduct. We affirm that physical and psychological torture, as well as cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees, are ethically and morally repugnant and condemn such treatment of detainees in U.S. custody. We strongly endorse the adoption by all agencies of the United States Government of the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention Against Torture as the framework within which detainees in U.S. custody are held and interrogated. We support immediate passage and signing by the President of the McCain Amendment to prohibit cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of persons in the detention of the U.S. government. As professors, clinicians, researchers, and others dedicated to promoting mental health and human rights, we commit ourselves to work within our professional organizations to ensure that standards are established clearly stating that members of our profession may not ethically take part in any way in interrogations involving cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as defined by the Geneva Conventions and UN Convention Against Torture. Believing that the United States can and should demonstrate the highest standards of moral and ethical conduct even in times of crisis, we call on all agencies of government, including the military and Department of Defense, to institute policies respecting the ethical convictions of mental health professionals and other workers, and ensuring that neither mental health workers in its employ, nor outside mental health contractors or consultants, are asked or permitted to participate, directly or indirectly, in practices contrary to such international standards.
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