Embassy Events

Chargé Eddins Marks International Day in Support of Victims of Torture with Essay in "Pravda"

Slovak daily newspaper Pravda on June 27 published an opinion piece, authored by Chargé d’Affaires Keith Eddins, on the occasion of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. He points out that a decade earlier, he could not imagine that a U.N. committee would release a statement condemning the United States for cruel and humiliating treatment of prisoners. In its 2006 statement, the committee urged the United States to change its policies, introduced after the devastating attacks of September 11. It criticized the prison in Guantanamo Bay, secret prisons abroad and use of investigation methods that it described as torture. Mr. Eddins underscored that the prison in Guantanamo is to be shut down – a decision made by President Obama his first day in office. He says that pictures from the Abu Ghraib prison and discussions of so-called enhanced investigation techniques decreased the moral authority of the U.S. worldwide. The persisting consequences of decisions based on fear instead of foresight will continue long after the Guantanamo shutdown, he says.

Op-ed in Pravda  |  Op-ed v Pravde