The United States was due to submit their report to the United Nation's Committee Against Torture (CAT) mid-year 2011. A list of issues to be considered in this report was issued by the UN in late 2009.
This Committee reviews the United States' compliance with the Convention Against Torture, commonly known as the Torture Convention. The review is a regular, periodic examination of countries that have ratified the treaty. This is the US's third review; the first took place in 2000.
The second review, occuring from May 4-8, 2006, was contentious and intensely scrutinized because of the much publicized and criticized US actions of the six years, including the revelations of torture at Abu Ghraib, the allegations of human rights violations at Guantanamo Bay, the leaked information about secret prisons throughout Europe, the use of rendition and torture for suspected Al Qaeda operatives and the Bush administration's changing interpretations of what constitutes "torture." Lethal injection as a form of capital punishment, an issue before the US Supreme Court, will also be examined.
According to Mercedes Morales, a UN human rights officer who served as secretary to the UN Committee Against Torture, the list of issues the Committee expects the US to address "is the longest list of issues I have ever seen." (From interview with Reuters in April 2006.)
At the end of the hearings, the UN released public comments about its findings and made recommendations to the United States on policy changes.
Convention Against Torture
This treaty was signed by the United States in 1988 and ratified in 1994, making it legally binding.
US Reservations, Understandings, and Declarations upon Ratification
Upon adopting the Convention Against Torture, the Senate added this document to limit and clarify its understanding of the treaty.
The Procedure
The United States submitted its report to the Committee in 2005. This was one year later than it was required to submit the report.
In response, the United Nations asked US non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to submit shadow reports (see link in sidebar), reports that dispute the US official report or provide information on unreported violations. In addition, the NGOs submitted oral testimony in early May. After reviewing the US official report and the shadow reports, the CAT issued a list of issues that it expects the US delegation to address at the hearing.
