A survey reveals that the French today have a greater acceptance of torture in a post-attack context. 18% would be ready to practice it.
“Enter here, Jean Moulin, with your terrible procession. With those who died in the cellars without having spoken, like you – and even, what is perhaps more atrocious, having spoken about it. This speech pronounced by André Malraux during the transfer of the ashes of Jean Moulin to the Pantheon still resonates and gives chills when we think of the deceased victims of torture or those who still suffer it today. However, in a context of terrorist threat, mentalities change. And even in France.
Indeed, on the occasion of the publication of its 2016 annual report, “Un monde torturenaire” (1), which once again draws up an inventory of the torture phenomenon in the world, ACAT (2) reveals the results of ‘a survey on the French perception of torture, ordered from the FIFG. The results of this survey, conducted in April 2016 among more than 1,500 people, are particularly worrying.
Popular electric shocks
First observation, 36% of respondents accept the use of torture in exceptional circumstances, against 25% in 2000 (3). And the more specific the questions, the more the observation is there. 54% of French people accept that a person suspected of having planted a bomb ready to explode is subjected to electric shocks.
A useful method, according to them. 45% of those questioned believe that torture is effective in preventing acts of terrorism and obtaining reliable information. “An error, as shown in particular by the report of the American Senate on the torture of the CIA published in 2014”, however rectifies the survey of the NGO ACAT.
Finally, the last figure is perhaps the most unfortunate, 18% of those polled even declared that they could consider resorting to torture themselves.
Misconceptions are legion
To understand these results, the authors explain that the French feel little concerned by torture, and know little about the reality of the phenomenon of torture. One out of two French people does not feel concerned by the question of torture. “The younger generations feel less concerned than their elders, who notably experienced the war in Algeria”, specify the authors.
Worse, the image of torture that respondents have is false. 39% of them consider that ethnic and religious minorities are most often victims of torture, whereas it is primarily common law offenders and then political opponents who are the main victims. And 51% of respondents believe that members of non-state armed groups and guerrillas most often practice torture. But in fact, “it is the agents of the States who torture most frequently”, affirms the study.
For Jean-Etienne de Linares, General Delegate of ACAT, “the French do not realize that one State out of two is a torturer State which uses these methods on a daily basis to oppress its opponents and make common law suspects confess”. The list of governments that practice it is, it is true, very long. The authors of the report cite, among others, Mexico, Tunisia, Congo-Brazzaville, China and Uzbekistan.
(1) The presentation file of the report can be consulted by following this link and the full report is available at this address
(2) Action by Christians for the abolition of torture
(3) Amnesty International / CSA survey carried out in 2000.
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