[Commpsych] FW: [SCRA-L] Fwd: Pipher returns award to APA (August 21, 2007)

[Dawn Darlaston-Jones]

FYI

An important stand being taken here - please read below

Dawn

____________________________________________

 

Dawn Darlaston-Jones, PhD

Lecturer

Behavioural Science

College of Arts & Sciences

University of Notre Dame

19 Mouat Street (PO Box 1225)

FREMANTLE

Western Australia WA 6160

 

Tel: +61 8 9433 0567

Fax: +61 8 9433 0544

e-mail ddarlaston-jones at nd.edu.au

 

CRICOS Code 01032F

 

IMPORTANT: This e-mail and any attachments may be confidential. If you are
not the intended recipient you should not disclose, copy, disseminate or
otherwise use the information contained in it. If you have received this
e-mail in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail and delete or
destroy the document. Confidential and legal privilege are not waived or
lost by reason of mistaken delivery to you. The University of Notre Dame
Australia is not responsible for any changes made to a document other than
those made by the University. Before opening or using attachments please
check them for viruses and defects. Our liability is limited to re-supplying
any affected attachments. 

 

  _____  

From: SCRA-L Div27 General Membership List [mailto:SCRA-L at LISTS.APA.ORG] On
Behalf Of Brad Olson
Sent: 27 August 2007 23:01
To: SCRA-L at LISTS.APA.ORG
Subject: [SCRA-L] Fwd: Pipher returns award to APA (August 21, 2007)

 

August 21, 2007

American Psychological Association, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC
20002-4242

President Brehm:

I am writing to inform you that I am returning my Presidential Citation
dated 2/02/06 and awarded to me by then President of the American
Psychological Association, Dr. Gerald Koocher. I have struggled for many
months with this decision, and I make it with pain and sorrow. I was honored
to receive this award and proud to be a member of APA. Over the years I have
spoken at national conventions many times and had enjoyed an excellent
relationship with the APA and its staff. With this letter, I feel as if I am
ostracizing a good friend. 

I do not want an award from an organization that sanctions its members'
participation in the enhanced interrogations at CIA Black Sites and at
Guantanamo. The presence of psychologists has both educated the
interrogation teams in more skillful methods of breaking people down and
legitimized the process of torture in defiance of the Geneva Conventions. 

The behavior of psychologists on these enhanced interrogation teams violates
our own Code of Ethics (2002) in which we pledge to respect the dignity and
worth of all people, with special responsibility towards the most
vulnerable. I consider prisoners in secret CIA-run facilities with no right
of habeas corpus or access to attorneys, family or media to be highly
vulnerable. I also believe that when any of us are degraded, all of human
life is degraded. This letter is as much about us as it is about prisoners. 

In our Ethics Code we agree to promote honesty and accuracy. Our involvement
in these projects has been secretive and dishonest. Finally, as
psychologists we vow to do no harm. Without question, we violate this oath
when we allow people in our care to be deprived of sleep or subjected to
sensory over-stimulation or deprivation. 

I cannot accept the August 19, 2007 Reaffirmation of APA's Position Against
Torture (Substitute Motion Three.) Under this motion, psychologists will be
allowed to continue working on interrogation teams that are not subject to
the Geneva Conventions. This motion places our organization on the side of
the CIA and Department of Defense and at odds with the United Nations, The
Red Cross, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical
Association. With this reaffirmation we have made a terrible mistake.

I know that the return of my Presidential Citation from Dr. Koocher will be
of small import, but it is what I can do to disassociate myself from what I
consider to be a heinous policy. All of my life I have tried my best to
stand up for those with no voices and no power. The prisoners our government
labels as enemy combatants are in this category. 

I return my citation as a matter of conscience and in the hopes that the APA
will reconsider its current unethical position. We have long been a
wonderful organization that respected human rights and promoted tolerance,
kindness, and peace. Nothing is more fundamental to our core orientation and
professional service to others than our commitment to all people's inherent
dignity, safety and welfare. I hope my letter may be useful in restoring the
APA to its long-respected and important stance as a beacon of integrity and
kindness for all human beings. 

Respectfully,

Dr. Mary Pipher

 


***************************************
If at any time you wish to UNsubscribe from SCRA-L, please send the
following message to listserv at lists.apa.org (leave the subject line blank): 

SIGNOFF SCRA-L

For help with problems with your subscription, contact the listserv
administrator at SCRA-LISTS at EZ2.net
*************************************** 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.curtin.edu.au/pipermail/commpsych/attachments/20070828/6a226e14/attachment.htm