Public Committee Against Torture in Israel

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The Public Committee against Torture in Israel (German: Public Committee against Torture in Israel ; PCATI for short ) is an Israeli human rights organization that campaigns against torture as well as cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment. The Tel Aviv-based organization was founded in 1990 as an independent human rights organization in response to, according to PCATI, “the Israeli government's continued policy of allowing the systematic use of torture and physical and psychological abuse during interrogation by the domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet ".

The activities of the organization include the surveillance of Israeli prisons, the judicial fight against torture, as well as information campaigns with the aim of promoting a critical awareness of these issues. In the context of the fight against torture in Israel, PCATI also works with other Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights organizations to advocate the implementation of international and human rights in Israel.

The organization stands up for all people in Israel and in the territories occupied by Israel (Israelis, Palestinians, migrant workers and, in general, all persons whose permanent residence is in Israel) who have been victims of torture and ill-treatment by the Israeli security authorities.

The organization achieved a historic victory when the Israeli Supreme Court on October 6, 1999, in a petition brought before the Supreme Court by PCATI together with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel - HaMoked in 1991, the systematic use of various torture methods prohibited by the Shin Bet. Subsequently, the number of judicial complaints relating to those torture methods decreased significantly, but rose sharply with the start of the second Intifada in September 2000, indicating a de facto reversion of the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment. The basis of this development was the generous interpretation of the so-called "self-defense" clause, by means of which the Supreme Court qualified its judgment. In light of this development, PCATI expanded its activities and began hiring external lawyers and assistants to assist internal staff in investigating and investigating allegations of torture. PCATI also tried constantly to find new ways to combat torture, human rights abuses in general, and in particular the issue of impunity in relation to such practices, and to develop new methods with regard to legal procedures and public relations.

In December 1996, the organization, together with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), received the Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.

In its role as a human rights organization, the organization maintains a wide range of public relations programs with the aim of raising public awareness and stimulating social discourse on torture and human rights violations.

The organization hopes in this way to exert influence on politicians and social institutions in order to turn the latter into public pressure for a change of policy.

Ishai Menuchin was the managing director from January 2008 to January 2016. He took over from Hannah Friedman, who is one of the founders of PCATI and has held the position since the organization was founded. Since January 2016, Dr. Rachel Stroumsa Managing Director of PCATI.

In 2009, PCATI published a report entitled Shackles as a Form of Torture and Ill-Treatment , alleging that Israel tortured hundreds of Palestinian prisoners through shackles in violation of international standards. The report also questioned Israel's refusal to allow the Red Cross access to the so-called 1391 facility , a secret prison also known as "Israel's Guantanamo Bay".

A group of psychologists and doctors has been working with PCATI since 2012, who, after appropriate training, create expert opinions on a voluntary basis in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol. The Istanbul Protocol is the basis for documenting the consequences of torture, be it psychological or physical.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Shackling as a Form of Torture and Abuse - June 2009 - הוועד הציבורי נגד עינויים בישראל . In: הוועד הציבורי נגד עינויים בישראל . October 27, 2015 ( org.il [accessed February 3, 2017]).
  2. ^ Office of the UNHCHR: Istanbul Protocol. UN, 2004, accessed February 3, 2017 .