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Techniques for Addressing Issues of Civil and Political Rights and Genocide in the Political Science Classroom: Role-Playing, Empathy and Experimentation in Teaching
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Simulation – Torture Briefing sheet You are a part of a presidential advisory group charged with providing the Prime Minister with a series of talking points and recommendations about how our country (Fredonia) should handle the issue of torture. Some basic facts about Fredonia: Government: Democratically-elected parliament, the leader of the majority party is elected as Prime Minister of the country. Although there are minor problems (as with any country), Fredonia has been fairly democratic for the last fifty years or so. People: The population belongs to primarily two groups: About 59 percent are a member of the Robustian ethnic group; about 39 percent are from the Libercian group; the remainder is from various non-indigenous groups. Relations between Robustian and Libercian are particularly good and have been since the inception of the democratic government following World War II. This was not necessarily always the case, in the later nineteenth and early twentieth century, the human rights of Libercians were regularly abused in various ways by majority Robustians. However, since then, great strides have been made to engage the Libercians as full members of the community and the parliament reflects the diverse nature of Fredonia. Economy: The economy of Fredonia is sound. We are not among the richest of countries in the global economy, but we clearly fall into the second tier of fairly well-off states. The wealth is fairly evenly spread in the society, with Robustians holding a slight edge over Libercian families in terms of yearly income.
Currently, we are facing a crisis: Rebels in the north of the country claim they represent the interests of the Libercian people (this is a somewhat dubious claim). The rebel group has begun a campaign of violence, terrorism and intimidation in an effort to achieve some pretty vague and undefined goals of liberating the Libercian people. We should understand that it seems apparent that most Libercians do not approve of the tactics used by the rebels. The police have been somewhat successful in infiltrating the rebels and have managed to capture rebels but they are unwilling to talk. The Prime Minister wants some recommendations about how to handle the situation, keeping in mind that his ultimate duty is the protection of all in Fredonia. At the same time he does not want to move too far fearing that any measures may move other Libercians to distrust the government. The country is a party to the Convention against Torture, but you are part of a group that is to review our participation in the Treaty. Specifically,
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How should police and interrogators handle rebels in detention? What guidelines would you establish to protect human rights?
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How should we defined, specifically, “severe pain and suffering” so that security forces (police, etc.) know what is acceptable under Fredonian law? Can we construct a list of acceptable and unacceptable tactics of interrogation?
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How should we publicly justify methods interrogation in order to prevent attacks, save lives, and secure the state? Should our justification be different privately?
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What kind of discussion points should the Prime Minister make on the Torture Convention publicly and to the press?
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| | Authors: Sachleben, Mark. |
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Simulation – Torture
Briefing sheet
You are a part of a presidential advisory group charged with providing the Prime Minister with a
series of talking points and recommendations about how our country (Fredonia) should handle
the issue of torture.
Some basic facts about Fredonia:
Government: Democratically-elected parliament, the leader of the majority party is elected as
Prime Minister of the country. Although there are minor problems (as with any country), Fredonia
has been fairly democratic for the last fifty years or so.
People: The population belongs to primarily two groups: About 59 percent are a member of the
Robustian ethnic group; about 39 percent are from the Libercian group; the remainder is from
various non-indigenous groups. Relations between Robustian and Libercian are particularly good
and have been since the inception of the democratic government following World War II. This was
not necessarily always the case, in the later nineteenth and early twentieth century, the human
rights of Libercians were regularly abused in various ways by majority Robustians. However,
since then, great strides have been made to engage the Libercians as full members of the
community and the parliament reflects the diverse nature of Fredonia.
Economy: The economy of Fredonia is sound. We are not among the richest of countries in the
global economy, but we clearly fall into the second tier of fairly well-off states. The wealth is fairly
evenly spread in the society, with Robustians holding a slight edge over Libercian families in
terms of yearly income.
Currently, we are facing a crisis: Rebels in the north of the country claim they represent the
interests of the Libercian people (this is a somewhat dubious claim). The rebel group has begun a
campaign of violence, terrorism and intimidation in an effort to achieve some pretty vague and
undefined goals of liberating the Libercian people. We should understand that it seems apparent
that most Libercians do not approve of the tactics used by the rebels. The police have been
somewhat successful in infiltrating the rebels and have managed to capture rebels but they are
unwilling to talk.
The Prime Minister wants some recommendations about how to handle the situation, keeping in
mind that his ultimate duty is the protection of all in Fredonia. At the same time he does not want
to move too far fearing that any measures may move other Libercians to distrust the government.
The country is a party to the Convention against Torture, but you are part of a group that is to
review our participation in the Treaty. Specifically,
-
How should police and interrogators handle rebels in detention? What guidelines would
you establish to protect human rights?
-
How should we defined, specifically, “severe pain and suffering” so that security forces
(police, etc.) know what is acceptable under Fredonian law? Can we construct a list of
acceptable and unacceptable tactics of interrogation?
-
How should we publicly justify methods interrogation in order to prevent attacks, save
lives, and secure the state? Should our justification be different privately?
-
What kind of discussion points should the Prime Minister make on the Torture
Convention publicly and to the press?
2
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