US in policy change to ban cruelty to detainees abroad

“As a matter of US policy, the United States’ obligations under the CAT (Convention against Torture), which prohibits cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment—those obligations extend to US personnel wherever they are, whether they are in the United States or outside of the United States,” Rice said.

US officials said her comments marked a policy shift towards the international convention on torture. Previously, the Bush administration had interpreted the convention as only applying to US territory.

Speaking in Washington on Tuesday, W Bush told reporters: ‘‘We do not render to countries that torture. That has been our policy, and that policy will remain the same.’’ He would not answer a question on the reports of the Central Intelligence Agency running secret facilities overseas—primarily in Europe—that are known as ‘‘black sites’’. ‘‘I don’t talk about secret programmes, covert programmes, covert activities,” he said. ‘‘However, I can tell you two things: one, that we abide by the law of the United States; we do not torture. And two, we will try to do everything we can to protect us within the law.’’ .

Rights bodies are concerned that the United States could be using tougher interrogation tactics against detainees held oversees. They have already said that the United States has exploited a loophole in interpreting international law to mistreat prisoners in places such as Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.

The move may also be an important concession in US domestic politics where Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona and a former prisoner of war who was mistreated in Vietnam, has pressed the administration to close the loophole.

Until Wednesday, the administration, led by Vice President Dick Cheney, had resisted legislation proposed by McCain that was widely backed in Congress.