Remarks at a Third Committee Interactive Dialogue with Dr. Alice Jill Edwards, Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel

Kara Eyrich
U.S. Adviser for the Third Committee
New York, New York
October 14, 2022

AS DELIVERED

Thank you, Special Rapporteur Edwards, for your work on this crucial issue, including your efforts to ensure that gender-based violence is considered in this context. We urge you to implement a survivor-centered and trauma-informed approach to your work.

The United States welcomes your interim report laying out your approach in your new role. We echo your call for all states that have not yet done so to ratify the Convention Against Torture.

We continue to see reports of governments using torture and other violations of human rights as tools of repression — by PRC authorities in Xinjiang, by Russian forces in Ukraine, and by the governments of Syria and Iran.

The United States condemns torture wherever and whenever it occurs, and we will not waiver in our commitment to eliminate it everywhere. We also stress the importance of support for recovery and transitional justice, so victims and survivors can transform horror into healing.

How will your office follow-up on new evidence of torture being used by Russian and PRC authorities?

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