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dition or expulsion to countries that practise or tolerate torture. AI is closely involved in the resulting deliberations in the council's Legal Affairs Committee.
Besides inter-governmental organizations, mention should also be made of non-governmental organizations (NGO's) that have followed Al's lead or taken new initiatives against torture. The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) at its 61st conference (Tokyo, October 1974) adopted a strong resolution against torture which included amendments recommended by AI. The resolution called on governments and parliamentarians all over the world to take appropriate action against torture and pointed out preventive and protective measures. Following the IPU conference, at which members of the Japanese Section represented AI, the CAT Department issued guidelines to national sections to consult and cooperate with parliamentarians in their countries towards effective implementation of the resolution. This was in the light of the resolution's specific reference to human rights organizations like AI in its urging of governments "to encourage and support by positive action those bodies which endeavour to draw the attention of the world public opinion to the dangers of torture and the means of combatting it".
The World Medical Association, at its assembly in Tokyo in October 1975, will consider a formal declaration containing ethical guidelines, based in part on AI recommendations, that forbid participation by medical personnel in interrogation of prisoners or in torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This particular development may also contribute to the discussions at the Toronto congress on the subject of medical ethics in relation to torture.
These and other instances attest to the belief held by AI that inter-governmen- tal and non-governmental organizations can help formulate and implement im- proved international laws and guidelines to prevent torture.
Other CAT Action
The CAT Department initiated or coordinated various special projects during 1974-75 in an effort to improve the methods used by AI to act on behalf of victims of torture. Two deserve special mention: a seminar with victims of torture from Greece and Portugal and a group of related medical research projects in Denmark.
With the coup in Portugal in April and the resignation of the military junta in Greece in July, the year 1974 saw the end of two dictatorial regimes that had adopted the deliberate and systematic use of torture as a method of government. These changes of regime gave AI a unique opportunity to bring together former prisoners and victims of torture from the two countries to discuss the effective- ness of Al's past work there, as well as to draw general lessons from these two distinct situations that could improve Al's techniques elsewhere.
A three-day "workshop on human rights" was held in London late in 1974 and one fact became clear from the beginning of the discussions: while recognizing the limitations of international pressure against governments that condone or encourage torture, the participants were convinced of its very positive value. They urged AI and other international organizations to continue and increase such pressure, and to do so as persistently as possible during the entire period of
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