April 12, 2007

Human Rights Advocates Speak at UCSB on Torture and the Future

Torture and the Future, the Critical Issues in America series at the University of California, Santa Barbara, continues on April 26 with a lecture by Scott Horton, an attorney and president of the International League for Human Rights, and Gita Gutierrez, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights. They will discuss U.S. policy regarding the interrogation and detention of prisoners at facilities such as the camp at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, as well as accountability for those who have authorized the use of torture and cruel treatment.

The lecture is free and the public is invited to attend. It will begin at 4 p.m. in Engineering Sciences Building 1001.

Horton is a national leader in the struggle against the use of torture and cruel treatment. In 2003, he met privately with several judge advocate generals who expressed concern regarding the Pentagon's authorization of tactics for interrogation at Guantanamo that violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Gutierrez was one of the first attorneys to have access to detainees at Guantanamo following the United States Supreme Court's 2004 decision that upheld their Fifth Ammendment right of habeas corpus. Among her clients is Muhammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi detainee held at Guantanamo since 2002.

Other upcoming events in the "Torture and the Future" series include "Teaching Human Rights: Torture and America's Future," a panel discussion with Jack Talbott, professor of history at UCSB, and Gabriele Schwab, professor of comparative literature at UC Irvine, at 4 p.m. May 10 in the McCune Conference Room, Humanities & Social Sciences Building 6020; and "Torture and the Future," a conference set for May 18 in the UCSB MultiCultural Center featuring scholars from Vanderbilt University, Reed College, the University of Texas, and Princeton University.

The Critical Issues in America series is an endowed program in the College of Letters

& Science at UCSB. Events in the series examine relevant social topics from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Previous series have focused on environmental issues and policy reform; media ownership; women, employment and globalization, violence in America, and ethnic studies.

About UC Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara is a leading research institution that also provides a comprehensive liberal arts learning experience. Our academic community of faculty, students, and staff is characterized by a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration that is responsive to the needs of our multicultural and global society. All of this takes place within a living and learning environment like no other, as we draw inspiration from the beauty and resources of our extraordinary location at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.