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[JURIST] Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, on Monday urged [press release] US President Donald Trump [official website] not to reinstate torture policies. Melzer referenced the 2014 US Senate Intelligence Committee Report [text, PDF], which stated that the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) [official website] use of "enhanced interrogation techniques was not an effective means of acquiring intelligence" and "rested on inaccurate claims of their effectiveness." Melzer criticized Trump's pledge to reinstate torture by claiming that "waterboarding" is a form of torture, that the use of torture is not legally or morally acceptable, and that the use of torture is prohibited by the Convention against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [texts] and the Geneva Conventions [ICRC backgrounder]. Melzer concluded:
If the new Administration were to revive the use of torture, however, the consequences around the world would be catastrophic. ... Should Mr. Trump follow through on all of his pledges, more countries are likely to follow his lead and get back into the torture business—an ultimate disgrace for all of humanity.
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