1

In this issue —
Meeting Location………....1
United Nations Association of the USA
United Nations Association of the United States of America Program………………..…..1
Tampa Bay Chapter From the President’s Desk.2
Tampa Bayhttp://unatampabay.org
Chapter Laws Against Torture…….2
7833 Second Avenue South, St Petersburg FL 33707 RSVP-Reservation………...3
Tel: 727-345-4280 E-mail: pyingsts@verizon.net Overview of Torture.....…..3
“Working Together for Peace, Freedom and Justice” Officers and Directors….....4
Web Site: http://unatampabay.org
“Working Together for Peace, Freedom and Justice”
pyingst@verizon.net Tel: 727-345-4280 Vol. XXXI No.5 Jun 2007
Volume XXXI, No.5 Jun 2007

Monthly Speaker Series

Date: Saturday, Jun 23, 2007 Time: 11:45
Location: . St. Petersburg College EpiCenter - 13805 58 St. N., Largo/N St Petersburg, FL 33760
th

Directions: From Tampa I-275 – South Right on Route 688, Ulmerton Rd. (Exit 31) to 58th St. Turn
right to EpiCenter 13805 on right.
From St. Petersburg I-275 North, take Exit 30 (Largo-Roosevelt Blvd.) Route 686 West
to Ulmerton Rd.(Route 688) Left on Ulmerton to 58th St. Turn right to EpiCenter 13805 on right.
RESERVATIONS & Payment in Advance Requested: Use coupon on pg 3. Note amount and deadline.

PROGRAM

The Topic this month, presented by Dr. Inge Genefke, will be:

“Together Against Torture”

(An International, National and Local Perspective)

This program is provided in conjunction with the Florida Center for

Survivors of Torture (FCST), a program of the Gulf Coast Jewish
Family Services, It is provided in observance of the United Nation’s
International Day, June 26, in Support of Survivors of Torture. Dr.
Genefke, a MD and founder of the International Rehabilitation
Council of Torture Survivors (IRCT) and its current Ambassador, will
be introduced by Gulf Coast CEO & President Michael Bernstein who
met Dr Genefke in Berlin at the 2006 General Assembly of IRCT., Dr. Inge Genefke,
will keynote the program after which a panel of three torture survivors (a Muslim, a
Jew, and a Christian) will be introduced by Stacie Blake, Program Administrator of
the FCST. Dr. Genefke is from Denmark, and has devoted her career specifically to
the treatment and rehabilitation of victims of torture. She has over thirty years experi-
ence in the treatment of torture survivors.
Next Board of Directors Meeting: June 23 at 10:15 am.
Next Regular Meeting-Speaker Series/People Speak: Sept 29
2 From the PRESIDENT'S Desk…..
In spite of treaties and laws protecting human
rights, torture has continued to take place around the
globe, directly and indirectly affecting hundreds of
thousands of people.
As much as we have heard since the tragic
event of 9/11 about the use of torture in the free world
as well as in other regimes, the topic for our meeting
today should prove quite soul-searching. The perpetra-
tors on both sides feel they have sufficient cause for
inflicting the pain and the hurt. Can anything like the
rules of the Geneva Convention ever be made to ap-
ply? On either side? If not, then the side that does not
comply merely succumbs to the standards and bar-
baric principles of the bad guy.
Background on the laws and overview of tor-
ture are provided on this page and the next to give at-
tendees of our meeting a preview of the subject.
--- Paul Yingst
In Fond Remembrance
Dr Bill Leonard passed away the second week in May
after having been in Germany on vacation as recent as
May 1. We remember Bill as our Chapter President in
2003, a great scholar and speaker, a former adjunct profes-
sor at USF, a former dean, and a strong, long-time leader
in Rotary. Bill received his PhD in Economics from Co-
lumbia University and served as Professor of Economics
and Department Chair at Rutgers, Penn State, Hofstra Uni-
versity and the City University of New York. He had au-
thored four books and over 70 articles in economics. In
recent years, Bill was a resident of Sun City Center. He
will be missed.
Continued from previous column...
rights and privileges under the present Convention. In each
case, such persons shall nevertheless be treated with hu-
manity.
The Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Tor-
ture, currently ratified by 17 nations of the Americas and in
force since 28 February 1987, defines torture more expan-
sively than the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
Its definition includes: "the use of methods upon a person
intended to obliterate the personality of the victim or to
diminish his physical or mental capacities."
§§
Laws Against Torture
On December 10, 1948 the Universal Declaration of Hu-
man Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the United Nations
General Assembly. It states in part: "No one shall be sub-
jected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treat-
ment or punishment."
Since that time the use of torture has been regulated by a
number of international treaties, of which the two major
ones are the United Nations Convention Against Torture
(UNCAT) which came into force (only for signatory na-
tions) in June 1987, requiring those states to take effective
measures to prevent torture within their borders, and for-
bidding states to return people to their country of origin, if
the threat of torture there is likely. And the Geneva Con-
vention (GC) has been in force for some time.
The UNCAT states in part: Any act is prohibited which
causes severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental,
whish is intentionally inflicted on a person for such pur-
poses as obtaining from him or a third person information
or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third per-
son has committed or is suspected of having committed, or
intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any
reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain
or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with
the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other
person acting in an official capacity.
No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state
of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any
other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification
of torture. Nor may an order from a superior officer or a
public authority be invoked as justification of torture.
. Each State Party shall undertake to prevent in any terri-
tory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to
torture, when such acts are committed by or at the instiga-
tion of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public offi-
cial or other person acting in an official capacity.
The Geneva Convention provides protection for people
who fall into enemy hands. It envisages war in its tradi-
tional form, whereby people in uniform fight clearly de-
fined enemies in uniform, within a clearly defined arena. It
therefore divides people into two explicit groups: combat-
ants and non-combatants (civilians). There is a third group
whose existence and treatment are not covered in treaties.
These are unlawful combatants, such as spies, mercenaries,
and other combatants who have broken the laws of war, for
example by firing on an enemy while flying a white flag.
While combatants and non-combatants are provided sub-
stantial protection, a lesser level of protection is afforded to
unlawful combatants. The Geneva Convention provides an
important exemption:
In the territory of a Party to the conflict, the latter is satis-
fied that a protected person is definitely suspected of or
engaged in activities hostile to the security of the State,
such individual person shall not be entitled to claim such
 3
- New> You may RSVP on line, use http://unatampabay.org; payment in advance preferred
UNA-USA Tampa Bay Chapter Luncheon Meeting Reservation

Saturday, Jun 23, 2007 11:45 am Location: St Petersburg College EpiCenter

To reserve your seat for lunch send this coupon with check made payable to:
Tampa Bay Chapter UNA-USA and mail by Tuesday June 19 to:
Ms Sujatha Chetty, Treasurer
5222 Beach Breeze Court
Tampa FL 33609
[ ] $ 10.00 Students Name______________________________________
[ ] $ 14.00 Members Phone ______________________________________
[ ] $ 16.00 Non-Members e-mail Address _______________________________
[ ] $_____ Donation (Tax Deductible)
--

******************
Overview of Torture
Something the average person may not think
about is the application of science and technology to
devise efficient mark-free interrogation and torture tech-
niques, and their proliferation. Yet years of research and
development have been expended in devising ever more
cruel and inhumane means of extracting obedience and
information from reluctant victims or achieving excruci-
atingly painful and long-drawn-out deaths for those who
would question or challenge the prevalent status quo.
What has changed in more recent times is (a)
the increasing requirement for speed in breaking down
prisoners' resistance; (b) the adoption of sophisticated
methods based on a scientific approach and (c) a need
for invisible torture which leaves no or few marks
which might be used by organizations like Amnesty
International to label a particular government, a tortur-
ing state. According to Amnesty, there is also an
increasing trend for torture and ill treatment directed at
common criminal suspects and social 'underdogs' such
as immigrants and members of racial minorities. Today,
the phenomena of torture has grown to a worldwide epi-
demic. A report by the Redress Trust in 1995, found
that 151 countries were involved in torture, inhuman or
degrading treatment, despite the fact that 106 states
have ratified, acceded to or signed the Convention
Against Torture.
The advent of modern torture technique can be
traced back to the Russian NKVD, which used sensory
deprivation and multiple levels of brutality to induce
stress before 'conveyor' style questioning by relays of
interrogators for days on end, thereby industrializing
state terror. These approaches had the dual requirement
of extracting information and breaking down personal-
ity in order to elicit public support. There is a contin-
uum between such coerced confessions and torture.
These techniques can themselves be regarded as
part of an evolving technology which can be further
researched and developed before being transferred else-
where. Again, like all the technology of political con-
trol, torture technology has three components, hard-
ware, software and live-ware (the human elements),
which are all woven together to form manipulative pro-
grams of socio-political control. The hardware can in-
clude both modern and medieval prisoner restraining,
disabling and repressive technologies, for example leg
shackles, thumb-cuffs, and suspension equipment,
which despite being prohibited by Rule 33 of the United
Nations Standard Minimum Rules For the Treatment of
Prisoners (United Nations, 1955), are still being manu-
factured; it also encompasses an array of blunt trauma-
inducing drugs .
After World War II, the USA undertook consid-
erable research on the use of drugs for obtaining intelli-
gence from interrogees independent from their volition.
This research was expanded during the Korean War and
included laboratory experiments on animals and humans
to determine their speech inducing qualities. Overseas
experiments were conducted as part of the project and
the CIA later expanded this work. A whole series of
projects were then initiated which were concerned with
"the research and development of chemical, biological
and radiological materials capable for employment in
clandestine operations to control human behavior."
Much of the CIA work on behavior modification was
later adapted towards less-lethal disabling chemicals.
More recently, Spain has been accused of using va-
grants to test the use of anesthetic drugs to make it eas-
ier for the security forces to kidnap guerillas of the
Basque separatist organization.
§
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Cordell Chavis, CoRep USF

Elizabeth Dunn, CoRep USF
Natasha Ghent-Rodriguez, CoRep USF
The price of UN peacekeeping is far less than the human and
Jennifer Kon,Co-Rep Schiller financial costs of war.
Sarah Olsen, CoRep Stetson
Aylin Saner, CoRep UT
.
Gillian Sealy, CoRep USF International Day of UN Peacekeepers, May 26, gave special recognition to the
Genevieve Whitaker, CoRep Stetson more than 100,000 blue-helmeted troops currently deployed around the world.
The Hon. Maurice Williams, Advisor