News - Armenia MP at PACE: Let’s make digital era synonymous of era without torture

Vladimir Vardanyan, a member of Armenia’s National Assembly delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), delivered an address at the PACE session. In his remarks, the Armenian delegate stated a follows: “Thank you, Madam Chair. Dear colleagues, Let me first of all congratulate Mr. Constantinos Efstathiou for the brilliant report reflecting all the topical issues of combating torture and addressing the main strategic challenges of our organisation in that respect. Absolute, imperative, unacceptable, prohibited, and immoral: these are the adjectives which may be used to describe torture as a phenomenon prohibited under general international law for a long time. But torture is not just prohibited. It is absolutely prohibited under general international law, having the status of jus cogens prohibition with no derogation possible and no justification acceptable. Frankly speaking, for the first time I read the draft resolution and faced some factual events mentioned there. I thought that I was mistaken, and I was not reading a contemporary document but I rather faced something which came to me from medieval times. How is it possible, in the digital era, that there are such kinds of manifestation of torture in the member countries of our organisation. Ladies and gentlemen, the absolute prohibition of torture is not just a legal imperative, it is a moral obligation that defines our civilisation, our wellness, our organisation. And hence, a zero tolerance approach towards torture should be the only option for our Assembly. Dear colleagues, Despite the existence of innumerable international documents on the absolute prohibition of torture at a universal and European level, torture persists in various corners of the globe, reminding us of the need for continued vigilance and advocacy. We do not naively believe that torture would be demolished as a social phenomenon entirely. The problem is not in the phenomenon of torture, but rather in a gap existing between international obligation taken and their implementation in practice. We should combat the culture of impunity, which is one of the main challenges. It is quite alarming that in some countries of the Council of Europe, torture has started to be used in a widespread or systematic manner for the oppression of certain persecuted groups, which amounts to crimes against humanity. Dear colleagues, The Committee on the Prevention of Torture (CPT) is one of the main international instruments combating torture within the Council of Europe, and its activity should be supported in the widest possible manner, not only by incorporation of the standards in the national legislation, but also providing their full implementation on national level. The automatic publication of all the CPT reports, past and present, would be a manifestation of goodwill of all the countries concerned and would contribute to the elimination of culture of impunity and torture. Last but not least, we fully agree with the rapporteur that, in the digital era, the usage of information technologies, video recording, and other technologies would be served as a very efficient measure to prevent torture and ill treatment and for giving up the culture of impunity. Let’s make the digital era synonymous of an era without torture. Thank you so much.”