People need to address the issue of torture even though it is an uncomfortable subject to discuss, Jumana Musa, advocacy director for human rights for Amnesty International USA, said during a panel discussion Thursday.
"People don't want to talk about it," she said. "It's not like 'let's get together on Sunday, have brunch and talk about torture.'"
Musa was part of a panel discussion on torture held in the Katzen Arts Center in conjunction with the museum's exhibition of Fernando Botero's "Abu Ghraib" collection.
Everyone is capable of performing torture, said John Conroy, author of "Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People."
"If it's not you, and if it's not me, then who is capable of doing this?" he said. "The sad thing is that it is you and me."
Conroy is also a staff writer for the Chicago Reader and is credited with exposing the torture practices Chicago police detectives used in a southern Chicago-based police district in 1990, according to Washington College of Law professor Rick Wilson.
Conroy interviewed 18 people who had once acted as torturers from Uruguay, Israel, the United States and other countries. Most were repentant and often did not bear any ill motives. They said they were merely following orders, Conroy said.
All nations need to be actively involved in combating torture, said Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, principal human rights specialist for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The commission monitors if member states are complying with guidelines prohibiting torture. The commission also works with states to help them improve their compliance with those guidelines, she said.
While organizations like the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights attempt to build up international resistance to torture, there was debate during the forum about whether a true international consensus against torture existed.
No such consensus actually exists, said Musa, one of the first human rights attorneys to obtain clearance to visit Guantanamo Bay.
"In theory, there is [an international consensus]," she said. "In reality, there is not."
The topic of torture was a topic for discussion around the country, said Addie Haughey, a WCL student.
"These are really current issues in the U.S.," she said.
Law students are especially connected to the prevention of torture, said Courtney Henson, a WCL student.
"It's all about the people," she said. "These humans are just like you. And as a law student, it gives you more of a mission"
