Ethical Issues
The issue of human rights raises a number of questions:
- Should all people have human rights?
- Are there times when human rights should not be upheld?
- What do you do when people's rights are abused?
Is it right to torture?
The television series 24, in which Jack Bauer saves the world one day at a time, has thrown the issue of toture into the headlines. Have a look at the Clintons talking about this. Bill suggests that if you were Jack Bauer, and millions of people were about to die and you could save them if you could get a terrorist to talk, you would do what you could to make him talk. This has happened repeatedly on the series, and toture has saved lives.
In reality, the American government has set up Guantanamo Bay, a prison outside America where human rights just don't hold. Both of the Clintons agree that this is wrong. However, Bill seems to think that, whilst you can't have a law allowing torture, there are times when the end justifies the means. Is he right?
Amnesty, and other groups against torture, think that torture is always wrong. You can't guarantee that the victim actually is a terrorist, which means an innocent person might suffer. Even if you are right that the victim is a terrorist, by using torture you become as bad as they are.
This issue was handled excellently in the film Rendition, based on the true story about a man confused with a terrorist by the CIA, who took him out of the States and tortured him. He was later released without charge.
