The American Psychological Association (APA) voted overwhelmingly on Friday to prohibit members from participating in interrogations conducted by United States intelligence agencies at locations deemed illegal under international law.
The decision follows a scathing independent report that found APA members were complicit in torturing detainees at the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay and secret CIA “black sites.”
Released in July, the report detailed specific instances in which psychologists directed and advised U.S. interrogators on how to instill fear and distress in detainees. APA voted at an association meeting in Toronto on Friday that participating in such activities violates the profession’s ethical code.
“The APA membership has voted to prohibit all psychologists from working at Guantanamo Bay, from the CIA black sites, and any other setting that the U.N. has declared to be in violation of international law, excepting those psychologists who are performing no task other than offering treatment to fellow soldiers,” read the text of the approved resolution.
APA members required to participate in interrogations must stop and “immediately seek to deploy elsewhere or find themselves in violation of APA policy,” the resolution added.
TVNL Comment: The APA is twelve years too late with this vote. Will those psychologists who participated in torture programs now be prosecuted for war crimes? Just asking....