The global community still has much work to do in the field of human rights. Such rights stretch from: the right to life and the rights to health, water, and food; to prohibition against torture and inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment; and to crimes against humanity. All these factors are of concern to health professionals, who have to deal with the consequences. One of the most disturbing thoughts is doctors' involvement in torture, as discussed in The Lancet today in a Viewpoint. Steven Miles and Alfred Freedman say that a third to a half of torture survivors report doctors overseeing the torture. They call for a revision of the Declaration of Tokyo, which condemns medical participation in torture and cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment. They would like to see the Declaration define torture in line with international law, suggest ways to hold doctors who are complicit in torture professionally and criminally accountable, and be made more understandable and readable.
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