WASHINGTON — The American Psychological Association voiced strong support today for an amendment to the FY 2016 defense authorization bill that would reaffirm the statutory prohibition on the torture of detainees in U.S. custody and limit interrogation techniques to those included in the Army Field Manual.
The amendment, sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also broadens the scope of the prohibition against torture to include all U.S. government entities and mandates periodic review of the Army Field Manual to ensure it reflects “current, evidence-based, best practices for interrogation that are designed to elicit reliable and voluntary statements and do not involve the use or threat of force.”
“We applaud Senators McCain and Feinstein for their longstanding commitment to safeguarding the welfare of detainees,” said APA CEO Norman B. Anderson, PhD. “Our support for this amendment is based on APA’s fundamental mission to protect and promote human welfare and our longstanding policies that extend to national security detention settings to achieve this goal.”
APA is an accredited nongovernmental organization at the United Nations and is committed to promoting and protecting human rights in accordance with the U.N. Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Dating to 1985, APA policy “condemns torture wherever it occurs” and supports the U.N. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
APA supported a similar amendment offered by McCain 10 years ago — the Detainee Welfare Act of 2005 and the inclusion of its provisions in the 2009 Presidential Executive Order “Ensuring Lawful Interrogations.”
For more information about APA’s related initiatives, see the Timeline of APA Policies & Actions Related to Detainee Welfare and Professional Ethics in the Context of Interrogation and National Security.
The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA's membership includes more than 122,500 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.