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also been several AI missions to countries where torture is practised, including Ecuador, Namibia, Spain and South Korea. These missions gathered details con- cerning torture (as well as other violations of human rights), and such informa- tion was given publicity by the CAT Department. Detailed information about these missions can be found in the appropriate country sections of this annual report.
Some of the most publicized allegations of ill-treatment and torture during 1974 arose out of the October 1973 war in the Middle East. Reciprocal claims were made about torture of prisoners of war, especially after the repatriation of Israeli and Syrian prisoners of war in June 1974. Under its mandate to combat all kinds of torture, including that committed against prisoners of war, the CAT Department organized a mission of investigation. Permission to conduct the in- vestigation was granted by the governments of both Israel and Syria, and the three-man commission, composed of a Norwegian, Asbjørn Eide, director of the Oslo Peace Research Institute, Swedish lawyer Peter Nobel and Dutch phy- sician Kees van Vuuren, met with full cooperation from the authorities during their two-week visit to Israel and Syria in October 1974.
The commission interviewed 25 Israeli and 21 Syrian former prisoners of war, as well as three Syrian civilians who had allegedly been kidnapped by withdraw- ing Israeli forces in the summer of 1974. The 34-page report of the mission, pub- lished in April 1975, summarized statements made by six Israeli and six Syrian former prisoners of war, with a medical conclusion on each. It said that although it was impossible to establish absolute proof a year after the alleged abuses, the consistency of many of the testimonies and the fact that in certain cases they appear to be corroborated by the findings of the medical examination leave little doubt that abuses were committed by both parties concerned, albeit that those perpetrated against the former Israeli prisoners of war held in Syria appear generally to have been of a more severe nature.
The report stressed that its principal purpose was to seek remedies for the apparent shortcomings of international humanitarian law as embodied in the 1949 Geneva Conventions. It concluded accordingly with a series of recommend- ations to the two governments that they take steps to secure the full implemen- tation of the Third Geneva Convention concerning the treatment of prisoners of war. The report further urged the Diplomatic Conference in Geneva on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts to strengthen methods of international control and super- vision in such situations.
The report also pointed out that, although permission and cooperation were requested prior to the October visit, AI was not given an opportunity properly to investigate allegations of ill-treatment and torture of civilian prisoners detain- ed in both countries. In sending the report to both governments, AI Secretary General Martin Ennals expressed the hope that they would enable AI to investi- gate questions relating to civilian prisoners in their respective countries in the near future.
No response had been received by the end of June 1975 from either govern- ment to this renewed request.
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