President Kazdin protesting APA's current policies on
the involvement of psychologists in military
interrogations.
Link to Pope and Gutheil article in Psychiatric times (vol.
25, #8) "The American Psychological Association &
Detainee Interrogations: Unanswered Questions"
Link to video of May 2008 conference on The Role Of
Psychologists in Torture. Speakers include David Sloan-
Rossiter, co-chair of the Curriculum Committee at the
Boston Institute for Psychotherapy and Massachusetts
Insitute for Psychoanalysis, Leonard Rubinstein,
President of Physicians for Human Rights, Stephen
Soldz, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, and
Eric Fair, a civilian contract interrogator in Abu Ghraib.
Link to Frank Summers' interview on Chicago Public
Radio describing the history of the APA's involvement in
Guantanamo Bay and other illegal detention centers in
which foreign nationals are being kept. Dr. Summers is
President of Psychoanalysts for Social Responsibility and
he is on the Steering Committee of withholdAPAdues.
com.
Link to the Martin Baro fund petition.
www.refugemediaproject.org
Link to archived files reporting on the 2007 Ethical APA
demonstration at the APA convention in San Francisco
and other relevant documents
Website continuing further links to articles on the APA
interrogation controversy: www.focusreframed.com
For information on the status of SJR No. 19, a bill
introduced by Senator Ridley-Thomas into the California
state senate removing all California licensed health
professionals from participating in any way in detainee
interrogation practices, click on this link about this link.
Read PHR's letter supporting the California resolution at:
http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/letter-2008-01-
11.html.
A similar measure is being considered in the New York
State's Assembly.
recently amended its 2007 Resolution Against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its
Application to Individuals Defined in the United States Code as
"Enemy Combatants" (http://www.apa.
org/governance/resolutions/amend022208.html) so as to
unequivocally condemn all techniques considered to be torture,
thereby closing loopholes that existed in the original Resolution.
However, the 2008 amendment does not go far enough; the APA
leadership continues to insist that psychologists should remain at
work in sites where detainees are held in violation of international
human rights law and the Geneva Conventions as long as they do
not torture. The International Committee of the Red Cross
determined in 2003 that the conditions of detention in such sites are
themselves tantamount to torture.
By continuing its collaboration with the US Government in its
policy of holding detainees indefinitely without due process in
detention centers that are in direct violation of International
Human Rights Law and the Geneva Conventions, the APA is
lending credibility to unacceptable detention and interrogation
practices, thereby undermining the integrity of
American psychologists throughout the world. The APA’s position
is condemned by human rights groups, by the ACLU, by
professional groups such as the American Psychiatric Association
and The American Medical Association, by Britain’s medical
journal The Lancet, and by many of its own members.
The homepage of the Ethicalapa.com website currently carries
information about a Resolution that, if passed, would end this
collaboration.
This link will take you back to the homepage. Or, this link will
take you to the petition site where you can add your signature to
the Resolution
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"I am running for President of the American Psychological Association because I believe that the APA must take a principled
stance against our nation’s policy of using psychologists to oversee abusive and coercive interrogations of detainees and
‘enemy combatants' at centers like Guantánamo and secret CIA black sites, that operate in violation of international law and
the Geneva conventions." For more information go to:Reisnerforpresident.org
Connecticut College has joined Guilford College, Smith College, University of Rhode Island, York College of the City
University of New York, the California State University at Long Beach, and Earlham College in calling on the APA to prohibit
the participation of psychologists directly and indirectly in interrogations in sites where foreign detainees are deprived of
due process. The text of the Earlham College resolution and letter are contained in this link. (link to Earlham College
Resolution & letter) Contact: Michael Jackson.
Links to more information about colleges and universities that have protested the APAs stance on psychologists'
involvement in illegal detention sites:
- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/12/06/apa
http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/blog/2008/05/24/
psychologist participation in military investigations http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/APAban
Psychologists who have withheld their 2008 dues or who intend to withhold their 2009 dues from the American Psychological
Association in protest over the APA's current ethics have created a website and listserve in order to discuss how to organize
as a group and how to maximize the impact of their decision. Website for withholdapadues