PSYSR RESOURCES
PsySR's Program on Human Rights and Psychology offers a wide range of valuable resources.
PsySR Statement on Torture
In light of evidence that U.S. prisons and detention centers for so-called "enemy combatants" have misused and abused certain psychological principles to abet torture and other detainee abuse, with key leadership from members Jill Flores and Stephen Soldz PsySR has issued a statement available HERE.
PsySR Casebook and Workshop Website for Interrogation Ethics
With funding from the Open Society Institute and the Arca Foundation, and under the leadership of PsySR member Jean Maria Arrigo, PsySR is developing a Psychology and Military Intelligence Casebook on Interrogation Ethics. These case studies will help promote moral clarity at the interface of psychological ethics and military ethics and support moral conduct in psychologists’ collaboration with intelligence professionals. More information about this important project is available HERE.
PsySR Video: "I Approve This Resolution"
PsySR created a brief video in support of last fall's APA referendum opposing psychologists' participation in national security settings such as Guantanamo Bay and CIA "black sites. The video can be watched HERE.
Torture is for Amateurs
Published by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, in December 2007, this Special Issue of the Journal of Peace Psychology is based on a seminar for psychologists and former military interrogators sponsored by PsySR and Georgetown University, with contributions from PsySR members Jean Maria Arrigo (Ed.), Clark McCauley, Fathalhi Moghaddam, and Richard Wagner (Ed.). A related press release from Georgetown University is available HERE.
Essay on APA and Abusive Interrogations by PsySR's Jean Maria Arrigo and Jancis Long
PsySR members Jean Maria Arrigo and Jancis Long have co-authored an important essay entitled "APA Denunciation and Accommodation of Abusive Interrogations--A Lesson for World Psychology." The full-length article, published in the journal Psicologia: Teoria e Prática of Mackenzie University in São Paulo, Brazil, is available online HERE. An abbreviated version appears in the current newsletter of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims; the IRCT has graciously permitted PsySR to post the essay on our website HERE.
Essay on APA and "Torture After Dark" by PsySR's Stephen Soldz, Brad Olson, Steve Reisner, Jean Maria Arrigo, and Bryant Welch
PsySR members Stephen Soldz, Brad Olson, Steve Reisner, Jean Maria Arrigo, and Bryant Welch have collaborated on a timely and powerful essay contending that a shameful "strategic helplessness" has characterized the American Psychological Association's response to reports of the use of psychological expertise and of psychologists' participation--both witting and unwitting--in U.S. government programs involving interrogation abuses and torture. Their essay can be read HERE.
PsySR Members' Essay on APA and "Torture After Dark"
PsySR members Stephen Soldz, Brad Olson, Steve Reisner, Jean Maria Arrigo, and Bryant Welch have collaborated on a timely and powerful essay contending that a shameful "strategic helplessness" has characterized the American Psychological Association's response to reports of the use of psychological expertise and of psychologists' participation--both witting and unwitting--in U.S. government programs involving interrogation abuses and torture. Their essay can be read HERE.
A PsySR Member Perspective: Melissa Farley on Human Trafficking and Prostitution
Prostitution is widely socially tolerated, with the buyers socially invisible. Even today, many mistakenly assume that prostitution is sex, rather than sexual violence, and a vocational choice, rather than a human rights abuse. Although clinicians are beginning to recognize the overwhelming physical violence in prostitution, its internal ravages are still not well understood. Read More »
A PsySR Member Perspective: Daniel Holland on Disability and Human Rights
With a few exceptions, psychologists have not been highly visible on the forefront of this human rights movement. There are likely a number of reasons for this. Psychologists (particularly clinical and counseling psychologists) are often educated and trained within a clinical and pathology-oriented paradigm. Such clinical perspectives on disability often place the burden of improvement on the individual: the person with the disability is expected to work to transcend the condition in order to rejoin the non-disabled majority. Read More »
PsySR Statement on the UN Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
PsySR urges the immediate ratification by the U.S. Senate of the UN Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). A PsySR summary of key considerations for decision makers is available HERE.
Links to Learn More
An alphabetical listing of organizations focused on human rights is available HERE.