Knocking on the Torturer’s Door: Confronting International Complicity in the U.S. Renditions Program

Abstract

A host of states, led by the United States, have participated in the kidnapping of suspected terrorists, their indefinite detention without access to the courts, and their covert interrogation; torture and ill-treatment have occurred in the course of these practices. Many states are complicit in this torture and ill-treatment because they have provided the intelligence, airspace, personnel and territory necessary to enable it. This Articles examines how the cooperating states responding to their complicity in non-legal ways, focusing on the use of diplomatic assurances to safeguard against torture.

Keywords: rendition, complicity, torture, ill-treatment, diplomatic assurances

JEL Classification: K30, K33