Remarks by President McAleese at a public seminar to mark the United Nations International Day
Remarks by President McAleese at a public seminar to mark the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
Dia dhíbh a chairde. Tá an-áthas orm bheith i bhur measc anseo ar an ócáid speisialta seo. Míle bhuíochas díbh as an gcuireadh agus an fáilte a thug sibh dom.
It's good to be here with you this evening, and thank you for that warm welcome. I want to thank Fr. Michael Begley, Director of SPIRASI, for inviting me to address this seminar to mark the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture which falls each year on the 26th June and to Professor Linda Hogan and the Irish School of Ecumenics here in Trinity College for hosting the event. My special greetings also to the Provost, Dr. John Hegarty.
We gather here on the eve of a day set aside by the UN to remember and support the victims of torture throughout the world. It is, in the words of former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, “a day on which we pay our respects to those who have endured the unimaginable. This is an occasion for the world to speak up against the unspeakable”. At the centre of the day, of course, are the victims, our fellow human beings scattered right around our world whose fate it is, and was, to be the recipients of the wilful cruelty of their fellow man and woman. On this day, we remember them, we take our stand for them and against those who inflict such suffering on them and we renew our determination to ensure an end to barbarous and outrageous acts and practices because, as Henry Miller put it, “man torturing man is a fiend beyond description”. But wherever evil exists - and torture is evil of an abominable kind - the only known antidote to it is the ultimate triumph of good. When you are on the receiving end of torture there is a depth of loneliness and despair that is beyond our imagination. Every scream, every tear is a call to some stranger out there to care enough to stand up against tyranny and to stand with its victims. The world needs organisations like SPIRASI which refuse to stay silent and which raise their voices to tell of things that are so abhorrent, so distressing to hear.
There are those even in so-called civilised societies and democracies who can find reasons to justify torture. So let us be clear, no matter how extenuated the circumstances nothing justifies torture. It is the weapon of the bully, of the person without compassion or care, the person whose sensibilities are so skewed that torment endured by another human being means nothing to him or her. Torture can be a defining characteristic of a country, a culture or even a home. It wreaks havoc wherever it is used for it provokes an anger, a thirst for vengeance, a dysfunction that knows neither peace nor contentment and that can, in time, be terrifying in their consequences. There is no common good that can ever be helped by torture, just a common morality that can be corroded, hollowed out by it. The history of our own continent and our own country is littered with the cancerous effect on the very fabric of society, of the self-preservation in the face of public or private tyranny which leads to complicit silence at best and collaboration at worst with the power-mongers who rule through brutality.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which celebrated 60 years last year, prohibits torture at the level of international law. Article 5 proclaims that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and over 130 countries, including Ireland, have now ratified the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Such international instruments are critically important. They set a framework of law within which human behaviour can be regulated globally and through which those who transgress can be called to account. In the past, one of the big enemies of any attempt to tackle torture was impunity – the reality that the perpetrators knew that they could get away with what they were doing and would never be held to account. The days of absolute impunity are over and let’s hope before too long, the reach of this framework will indeed be total and all-embracing.
It is only a few weeks since the Ryan report exposed the extent to which vulnerable children in institutional care were subjected to sexual and physical abuse which was cruel, inhuman and degrading. Much of the abuse took place in the professional care of men and women committed to Christianity. Their systemic betrayal of the great Christian commandment to love one another is a matter which demands forensic probing and explanation. All of the abuse took place in the care of the State which, as far back as the Proclamation, was envisioned as a republic which would cherish the children of the nation equally. The betrayal of that vision demands a fresh focus from all of us as a civic society on what we need to do to truly cherish the children of this nation equally. It is right that we support and care for the victims of that abuse, that we pursue offenders and it is also right that we do what it takes to prevent children from enduring such suffering today or tomorrow whether in their own homes or elsewhere. It is said that what is learnt in childhood is engraved on stone. If good is ever to come from the misery catalogued in the Ryan report it has to be in a mature and caring society looking very carefully at those who engrave on the lives of little children and doing what it takes to ensure they are skilled at engraving well and profoundly conscious of the risks attached to careless engraving and their responsibility for the consequences.
Discussions like those you are having here are an important contribution to civic society’s understanding of just how crass and wicked human beings are capable of being when no-one shouts stop, then there is no transparency, accountability and where there is impunity. The people you deal with through SPIRASI, many of them emigrants to Ireland from abroad, have stories of their own experiences of torture in their troubled homelands. They have endured treatment that is utterly shocking but needs to be known if we are to galvanise the good needed to transcend such evil. Through your work the survivors of torture are given a precious chance to rebuild their lives, to come to terms with their horrific experiences, to achieve their full potential and participate in their communities and our society. You are the answer to the many times when in desolation and anguish they asked themselves whether anyone cared. This timely seminar has a crucial goal of spreading news of the dreadful problems still facing the world’s family in terms of torture but you also challenge each of us individually and collectively to be advocates and ambassadors for good in the face of evil. I thank you and your partners at the Irish School of Ecumenics for this noble work.
I leave the last word to Seamus Heaney and his wonderful poem, “From the Republic of Conscience”, in which he depicts a visit to the imaginary – but, of course, also very real – Republic of Conscience. The closing lines comprise a conversation between the poet and the Immigration Officer at the border of the Republic, an old man:
“He therefore desired me when I got home
to consider myself a representative
and to speak on their behalf in my own tongue.
Their embassies, he said, were everywhere
but operated independently
and no ambassador would ever be relieved.”
There are many ambassadors of the Republic of Conscience in this room and at this seminar. There are not yet enough in the world to put evil to flight so I wish you well in recruiting many more to this cause of care and in all you are doing today and every day.
Thank you.