Zakaz tortur. Czy na pewno bezwzględny?

Abstract

Prohibition of torture has been for years the main core of catalogue of humanrights. According to international conventions for human rights protection and PolishConstitution, it is one of the rare rights which is absolute. Attribute of absolute meansthat prohibition of torture could not be derogate in any situations.After the 11th of September 2011 in the USA, discussions about legalizationof torture as a weapon in war of terror started. Particularly one participant of thediscussion said that, in very specific situation, for example when life of many peopleis in danger, the police might torture terrorists to protect these people. This situation isnamed as ticking time bomb scenario. In the USA, some people say that torture in thiscase should be legal.

Adam Ploszka, Zakaz tortur. Czy na pewno bezwzględny? [w:] Przegląd Prawniczy UW, nr I-II, rok XI, Warszawa 2012, s.123-139. In Europe, especially on the ground of European Convention for theProtection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, there is no consent for torture in any situations. After discussions in Poland, we could say that in Poland noone agrees that torture could be justified for any reason. A similar conclusion was inGermany after Dashner case.This deliberation is also important in the context of Polish participations inthe US extraordinary rendition program. In this program, terrorists were in Poland andthey were tortured here. This raises the question about responsibility of Poland in war of terror.