Torture as a method of intelligence gathering has been condemned and discredited on the following broad grounds:

• It is fundamentally wrong.

• Its use undermines the moral legitimacy of those employing it.

• The intelligence it yields is unreliable and misleading.

• The use of torture, even if it were to aid a counter-terrorism/insurgency effort, breeds grievances that fuel further terrorism/insurgency and erodes trust in relationships necessary for effective counter-terrorism/insurgency operations.

Both treaty law and international customary law define the obligations of all states with respect to the use of torture, making clear the absolute prohibition under any circumstances. As of January 2010, 146 nations are parties to the UN Convention Against Torture (and another ten countries have signed but not ratified). The UK government, along with every other European state, very clearly opposes the use of torture under any circumstances and without exception.

“Some may argue that we would be more effective if we sanctioned torture or other expedient methods to obtain information from the enemy. They would be wrong. Beyond the basic fact that such actions are illegal, history shows that they are also frequently neither useful nor necessary”

General David Petraeus

The moral imperative—do not torture, at any time, anywhere, under any circumstances—is mandated by the UN convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The convention is explicit: ‘No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, can be invoked as a justification of torture.’ That other states or our enemies may employ torture does not change these imperatives - our compliance does not depend on reciprocity.

Michael Ignatieff, Prospect Issue 121

Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, European Court of Human Rights. http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/en/treaties/html/005.htm

Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cat.htm

Michael Ignatieff, ‘If Torture Works’, Prospect Magazine, April 2006.

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/iftortureworks