Toture Awareness Month

Over at Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World, Jonathan Schwarz points out that June is Torture Awareness Month. Quoting from the announcement on TortureAwareness.org:

June 26th is the date that the United Nations has marked as the International Day in Support of Survivors and Victims of Torture. This year a coalition of human rights, civil liberties and faith organizations have joined TASSC International, a leading survivors organization, in declaring June "Torture Awareness Month." This awareness raising month is an effort to respond to the growing evidence that the United States government is engaging systematically in the use of torture and inhuman treatment as part of the "war on terror."

Jonathan also provides some handy links to other sites dealing with the issue, one Americans used to be to able dismiss as a problem in other countries.

Meanwhile, in this morning's Los Angeles Times we learn that: "The Pentagon has decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment," according to knowledgeable military officials, a step that would mark a further, potentially permanent, shift away from strict adherence to international human rights standards." Happy Torture Awareness Month, everybody!