The APA is FINALLY coming along

[CatWoman]

-I've heard Democracy Now report several times (in disgust) about psychologists' participation in specific interrogation tactics. At least this is a start.


Psych roles in military torture limited

From correspondents in San Francisco

August 20, 2007 09:06am
Article from: Agence France-Presse

THE American Psychological Association has banned members from taking part in more than a dozen tactics such as mock executions and water-boarding during questioning of military prisoners.

APA leaders voted nearly unanimously today to limit involvement by members in coercive interrogations but the resolution fell short of a complete moratorium called for by some US psychologists.

The resolution issues an unequivocal condemnation and prohibits psychologists' participation in specific interrogation tactics including mock executions, water-boarding, isolation, and sleep deprivation.

"This is a move forward because it specifies techniques and includes lack of due process in the definition of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment," said APA member Neil Altman, author of the original proposal for a complete moratorium on psychologists' presence in detention centres.

"But it omitted language that would keep psychologists from being involved in other detainees-related operations in detention centres outside of interrogations."

Three members of the APA council of representatives voted against the resolution in protest.

"What I would like to see is for psychologists to be participating only in treatment, not interrogation," said APA member Laurie Wagner.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22274107-1702,00.html

[EFerrari]

1. They're dragging their feet. Why?

:shrug:

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Know about Psychologists for Social Responsibility?

http://www.psysr.org/The%20Final%20Aug%2012%202006%20release%20--%20Dont%20Stop%20Now,%20Declare%20Emergency%20No%20Participation%20Policy.htm

PsySR to APA: Don’t Stop Now –

Declare Emergency “No Participation” Policy in National Security Interrogations



Psychologists for Social Responsibility urges the American Psychological Association not to mistake the start it made this week for the kind of conclusive action still needed to prevent psychologists from enmeshing themselves in psychological abuse at U.S.-operated detention centers. Given the urgency of ending the potential for abuse immediately, PsySR calls on the APA to set aside its normal procedures and immediately declare an emergency moratorium on psychologists participating in any way in national security or military interrogations.



PsySR welcomes the new, stronger resolution passed by the APA Council of Representatives this week that ties APA’s ethics code to international human rights standards regarding torture and abuse. But that resolution is just the first step – not the end of the matter. PsySR urges the Council to take emergency action Sunday to set a “No Participation” policy while APA deliberates on how to implement the resolution and set clear ethical guidelines.



“We encourage APA to demonstrate its commitment to this new policy by placing an immediate moratorium on psychologists’ participation in national security or military interrogations,” said Richard Wagner, president of PsySR. “The secrecy surrounding the interrogations makes it very difficult – if not impossible – for psychologists to be able to effectively monitor and prevent torture, abuse, and other forms of cruel or degrading treatment.”



Michael Wessells, a member of PsySR’s board and former member of APA’s Presidential Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS), added: “The passage of this resolution is an important step forward because it establishes international human rights standards as the foundation of APA ethics guidance for working on issues of national security. However, the statement is only a first step and, by itself, is seriously incomplete.”



“Human rights standards become actionable,” Wessells added, “only when coupled with clear operational guidance and effective systems of monitoring, reporting, and action. These do not exist at present. The APA needs to provide on an urgent basis the specific operational guidance needed to define what psychologists can and cannot do in national security work and whether it is ethically appropriate for psychologists to work at or support detainment sites such as Guantanamo Bay that operate outside the spirit and letter of the law established by the Geneva Conventions and other human rights standards. Also, the APA should renounce the systematic use of specifically psychological methods of interrogation and take steps to insure that psychologists have the support and protections needed to be effective whistleblowers. Most important, without these additional elements, psychologists remain at serious risk of violating human rights, and psychology as a profession will not have fulfilled its obligation to protecting human rights.”



We appreciate the hard work and commitment of all of our colleagues who have helped to prepare and pass the new Resolution this week. And we urge the Council to call a halt to participation by psychologists in any way in national security or military interrogations at this time.