No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treat-in ent or punishment.
The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights
Virtually every nation on earth subscribes to that straightforward principle. Yet like most other U.N. pledges, the clause is widely and brutally ignored. It is one of the grim truths of the second half of the 20th century that rarely before in history has torture been in such widespread use. Amnesty International, the widely respected human rights organization headquartered in London, estimates that in the last decade torture has been...