I 1994 gik jeg ind i et fængsel i Cambodja, og jeg mødte en 12 år gammel dreng, der var blevet tortureret og blev nægtet en advokat. Og mens jeg så ind i hans øjne, indså jeg, at i de hundredvis af breve, jeg havde skrevet for politiske fanger, at jeg aldrig ville have skrevet et brev for ham, for han var ikke en 12 år gammel dreng, der havde gjort noget vigtigt for nogen. Han var ikke en politisk fange. Han var en 12 år gammel dreng, der havde stjålet en cykel. Det, jeg også indså på det tidspunkt, var, at det ikke kun var Cambodja, men af de 113 udviklingslande, der torturerer, 93 af disse lande har alle vedtaget love, der siger, man har ret til en advokat, og man har ret til ikke at blive tortureret.
In 1994, I walked into a prison in Cambodia, and I met a 12-year-old boy who had been tortured and was denied access to counsel. And as I looked into his eyes, I realized that for the hundreds of letters I had written for political prisoners, that I would never have written a letter for him, because he was not a 12-year-old boy who had done something important for anybody. He was not a political prisoner. He was a 12-year-old boy who had stolen a bicycle. What I also realized at that point was that it was not only Cambodia, but of the 113 developing countries that torture, 93 of these countries have all passed laws that say you have a right to a lawyer and you have a right not to be tortured.
Og det, jeg genkendte, var, at der var et utroligt vindue af mulighed for os som verdenssamfund at komme sammen og stoppe tortur som et efterforskningsmiddel. Vi opfatter ofte tortur som værende politisk tortur eller gemt til kun de værste, men i virkeligheden er 95 procent af al tortur i dag ikke udøvet på politiske fanger. Det er for folk, der er i ødelagte retssystemer, og desværre fordi tortur er den billigste form for efterforskning -- det er billigere end at have et retssystem, billigere end at have en advokat og tidlig adgang til rådgivning -- det er det, der sker det meste af tiden. Jeg tror i dag, at det er muligt for os som verdenssamfund, hvis vi tager en beslutning, at komme sammen og stoppe tortur som et efterforskningsmiddel i vores levetid, men det vil kræve tre ting. Først kommer træningen, styrkelsen og forbindelsen mellem forsvarere verden over.
And what I recognized was that there was an incredible window of opportunity for us as a world community to come together and end torture as an investigative tool. We often think of torture as being political torture or reserved for just the worst, but, in fact, 95 percent of torture today is not for political prisoners. It is for people who are in broken-down legal systems, and unfortunately because torture is the cheapest form of investigation -- it's cheaper than having a legal system, cheaper than having a lawyer and early access to counsel -- it is what happens most of the time. I believe today that it is possible for us as a world community, if we make a decision, to come together and end torture as an investigative tool in our lifetime, but it will require three things. First is the training, empowerment, and connection of defenders worldwide.
Dernæst kommer forsikringen om, at der er systematisk tidlig adgang til rådgivning. Og som det tredje kommer forpligtelse. Så i år 2000 begyndte jeg at overveje, hvad nu hvis vi kom sammen? Kunne vi gøre noget for disse 93 lande? Og jeg stiftede International Bridges to Justice, der har den specifikke mission at stoppe tortur som efterforskningsmiddel og implementere passende procesrettigheder i de 93 lande ved at indsætte trænede advokater på et tidligt stadie i politistationer og i retssale. Min første oplevelse kom dog fra Cambodja, og på den tid husker jeg, at jeg for første gang kom til Cambodja, og der var i 1994 stadig færre end 10 advokater i landet, fordi De Røde Khmerer havde dræbt dem allesammen.
The second is insuring that there is systematic early access to counsel. And the third is commitment. So in the year 2000, I began to wonder, what if we came together? Could we do something for these 93 countries? And I founded International Bridges to Justice which has a specific mission of ending torture as an investigative tool and implementing due process rights in the 93 countries by placing trained lawyers at an early stage in police stations and in courtrooms. My first experiences, though, did come from Cambodia, and at the time I remember first coming to Cambodia and there were, in 1994, still less than 10 attorneys in the country because the Khmer Rouge had killed them all.
Og selv 20 år senere var der kun 10 advokater i landet, så som konsekvens heraf ville man gå ind i et fængsel, og man ville ikke bare møde 12-årige drenge, man ville møde kvinder, og man ville sige, "Hvorfor er I her?" Kvinderne ville sige, "Altså jeg har været her i 10 år, fordi min mand begik en forbrydelse, men de kan ikke finde ham." Så det var bare et sted, hvor der ikke var nogen retsnormer.
And even 20 years later, there was only 10 lawyers in the country, so consequently you'd walk into a prison and not only would you meet 12-year-old boys, you'd meet women and you'd say, "Why are you here?" Women would say, "Well I've been here for 10 years because my husband committed a crime, but they can't find him." So it's just a place where there was no rule of law.
Den første gruppe af forsvarere kom sammen, og jeg husker stadig, da jeg trænede, sagde jeg, "Okay, hvad gør I for at efterforske?" Og der var stilhed i klassen, og endelig rejste en kvinde sig, [utydeligt navn], og hun sagde "Khrew," der betyder "lærer." Hun sagde, "Jeg har forsvaret mere end et hundrede mennesker, og jeg har aldrig haft brug for at efterforske, for de kommer alle med tilståelser."
The first group of defenders came together and I still remember, as I was training, I said, "Okay, what do you do for an investigation?" And there was silence in the class, and finally one woman stood up, [inaudible name], and she said "Khrew," which means "teacher." She said, "I have defended more than a hundred people, and I've never had to do any investigation, because they all come with confessions."
Og vi talte om, som klasse, det faktum, at nummer ét, tilståelserne måske ikke er pålidelige, men nummer to, vi ville ikke opfordre politiet til at fortsætte med at gøre dette, især da det nu var imod loven. Og det krævede en del mod af disse forsvarere at beslutte sig for, at de ville begynde at rejse sig og støtte hinanden i at implementere disse love. Og jeg husker stadig de første sager, hvor de kom, alle 25 sammen, hun ville rejse sig op, og de var bagerst, og de ville støtte hende, og dommerne blev ved med at sige, "Nej, nej, nej, nej, vi gør tingene på nøjagtigt samme måde, vi altid har gjort dem."
And we talked about, as a class, the fact that number one, the confessions might not be reliable, but number two, we did not want to encourage the police to keep doing this, especially as it was now against the law. And it took a lot of courage for these defenders to decide that they would begin to stand up and support each other in implementing these laws. And I still remember the first cases where they came, all 25 together, she would stand up, and they were in the back, and they would support her, and the judges kept saying, "No, no, no, no, we're going to do things the exact same way we've been doing them."
Men en dag kom den perfekte sag, og det var en kvinde, der var grøntsagssælger, hun sad uden for et hus. Hun sagde, hun faktisk så personen løbe ud, som hun tror stjal hvad det nu var for nogle smykker, men politiet kom, de fik hende, der var intet på hende. Hun var gravid på det tidspunkt. Hun havde cigaretbrændemærker på sig. Hun havde aborteret. Og da de bragte hendes sag for dommeren, rejste han sig for første gang op, og han sagde, "Ja, der er ingen beviser ud over din torturtilståelse, og du skal løslades."
But one day the perfect case came, and it was a woman who was a vegetable seller, she was sitting outside of a house. She said she actually saw the person run out who she thinks stole whatever the jewelry was, but the police came, they got her, there was nothing on her. She was pregnant at the time. She had cigarette burns on her. She'd miscarried. And when they brought her case to the judge, for the first time he stood up and he said, "Yes, there's no evidence except for your torture confession and you will be released."
Og forsvarerne begyndte at tage sager igen og igen, og I vil se, de er skridt for skridt begyndt at ændre historiens gang i Cambodja. Men Cambodja er ikke alene. Jeg plejede at tænke, jamen er det Cambodja? Eller er det andre lande? Men det findes i så mange lande.
And the defenders began to take cases over and over again and you will see, they have step by step began to change the course of history in Cambodia. But Cambodia is not alone. I used to think, well is it Cambodia? Or is it other countries? But it is in so many countries.
I Burundi gik jeg ind i et fængsel, og det var ikke en 12 år gammel dreng, det var en 8 år gammel dreng for at stjæle en mobiltelefon. Eller en kvinde, jeg samlede hendes baby op, virkelig sød baby, jeg sagde "Din baby er så sød." Det var ikke en baby, hun var tre. Og hun sagde "Jah, men hun er grunden til, jeg er her," fordi hun var anklaget for at stjæle to bleer og et strygejern til sin baby og havde stadig været i fængsel. Og da jeg gik op til fængselsdirektøren, sagde jeg, "Du er nødt til at slippe hende gå. En dommer ville lade hende gå." Og han sagde, "Okay, vi kan tale om det, men se på mit fængsel. Firs procent af de to tusind folk her er uden advokat. Hvad kan vi gøre?" Så advokater begyndte modigt at rejse sig sammen for at organisere et system, hvor de kan tage sager. Men vi indså, at det ikke kun er træningen af advokater, men forbindelsen mellem advokaterne, der gør en forskel.
In Burundi I walked into a prison and it wasn't a 12-year-old boy, it was an 8-year-old boy for stealing a mobile phone. Or a woman, I picked up her baby, really cute baby, I said "Your baby is so cute." It wasn't a baby, she was three. And she said "Yeah, but she's why I'm here," because she was accused of stealing two diapers and an iron for her baby and still had been in prison. And when I walked up to the prison director, I said, "You've got to let her out. A judge would let her out." And he said, "Okay, we can talk about it, but look at my prison. Eighty percent of the two thousand people here are without a lawyer. What can we do?" So lawyers began to courageously stand up together to organize a system where they can take cases. But we realized that it's not only the training of the lawyers, but the connection of the lawyers that makes a difference.
For eksempel, i Cambodja var det, at [utydeligt navn] ikke var alene, men hun havde 24 advokater med sig, der stod op sammen. Og på samme måde i Kina siger de altid til mig, "Det er som en frisk vind i ørkenen, når vi kan komme sammen." Eller i Zimbabwe, hvor jeg husker Innocent efter at være kommet ud af et fængsel, hvor alle stod op og sagde, "Jeg har været her i et år, otte år, 12 år uden en advokat," kom han, og vi trænede sammen, og han sagde, "Jeg har hørt det sagt" -- for han havde hørt folk mumle og brokke sig -- "Jeg har hørt det sagt, at vi ikke kan hjælpe til med at skabe retfærdighed, fordi vi ikke har ressourcerne." Og så sagde han, "Men jeg vil gerne have du ved, at manglen på ressourcer aldrig er en undskyldning for uretfærdighed." Og med det organiserede han med succes 68 advokater, der systematisk har taget sagerne.
For example, in Cambodia, it was that [inaudible name] did not go alone but she had 24 lawyers with her who stood up together. And in the same way, in China, they always tell me, "It's like a fresh wind in the desert when we can come together." Or in Zimbabwe, where I remember Innocent, after coming out of a prison where everybody stood up and said, "I've been here for one year, eight years, 12 years without a lawyer," he came and we had a training together and he said, "I have heard it said" -- because he had heard people mumbling and grumbling -- "I have heard it said that we cannot help to create justice because we do not have the resources." And then he said, "But I want you to know that the lack of resources is never an excuse for injustice." And with that, he successfully organized 68 lawyers who have been systematically taking the cases.
Nøglen, som vi ser det, er dog træning og så tidlig adgang. Jeg var for nyligt i Ægypten og blev inspireret til at mødes med en anden gruppe advokater, og det, de fortalte mig, er, at de sagde, "Hey, se her, vi har ikke politi på gaderne nu. Politiet er en af hovedårsagerne til, hvorfor vi havde den revolution. De torturerede alle hele tiden." Og jeg sagde, "Men der har været millionvis af dollars, der for nyligt er blevet sat af til udviklingen af retssystemet her. Hvad sker der?" Jeg mødtes med en af udviklingsbureauerne, og de trænede anklagere og dommere, hvilket er den normale forudindtagethed, i modsætningen til forsvarere. Og de viste mig en manual, der egentlig var en fremragende manual. Jeg sagde, "Jeg vil kopiere denne." Den havde alt i sig. Advokater kan komme på politistationen. Den var perfekt. Anklagere var perfekt trænede. Men jeg sagde til dem, "Jeg har bare ét spørgsmål, som er, på det tidspunkt, hvor alle kom til anklagerens kontor, hvad var der sket med dem?" Og efter en pause sagde de, "De var blevet torturerede."
The key that we see, though, is training and then early access. I was recently in Egypt, and was inspired to meet with another group of lawyers, and what they told me is that they said, "Hey, look, we don't have police on the streets now. The police are one of the main reasons why we had the revolution. They were torturing everybody all the time." And I said, "But there's been tens of millions of dollars that have recently gone in to the development of the legal system here. What's going on?" I met with one of the development agencies, and they were training prosecutors and judges, which is the normal bias, as opposed to defenders. And they showed me a manual which actually was an excellent manual. I said, "I'm gonna copy this." It had everything in it. Lawyers can come at the police station. It was perfect. Prosecutors were perfectly trained. But I said to them, "I just have one question, which is, by the time that everybody got to the prosecutor's office, what had happened to them?" And after a pause, they said, "They had been tortured."
Så stykkerne er ikke kun træningen af advokaterne, men at vi finder en vej til systematisk at implementere tidlig adgang til rådgivning, fordi de er systemets sikkerhedsforanstaltning for folk, der bliver tortureret. Og mens jeg fortæller jer dette, er jeg også klar over, at det lyder som, "Åh, okay, det lyder som om vi kunne gøre det, men kan vi virkelig gøre det?" For det lyder stort. Og der er mange grunde til, hvorfor jeg tror på, det er muligt. Den første grund er folkene på jorden, der finder måder at skabe mirakler på på grund af deres engagement. Det er ikke kun Innocent, som jeg fortalte jer om i Zimbabwe, men forsvarere i hele verden, der leder efter disse stykker. Vi har et program, der hedder JusticeMakers, og vi indså, der er folk, der er modige og gerne vil gøre ting, men hvordan kan vi støtte dem? Så det er en en online konkurrence, hvor man kun får fem tusind dollars, hvis man finder på en opfindsom måde at implementere retfærdighed. Og der er 30 JusticeMakers i hele verden, fra Sri Lanka til Swaziland til DR Congo, der med fem tusind dollars gør fantastiske ting, gennem SMS programmer, gennem advokatmedhjælperprogrammer, gennem hvad nu end, de kan gøre.
So the pieces are, not only the training of the lawyers, but us finding a way to systematically implement early access to counsel, because they are the safeguard in the system for people who are being tortured. And as I tell you this, I'm also aware of the fact that it sounds like, "Oh, okay, it sounds like we could do it, but can we really do it?" Because it sounds big. And there are many reasons why I believe it's possible. The first reason is the people on the ground who find ways of creating miracles because of their commitment. It's not only Innocent, who I told you about in Zimbabwe, but defenders all over the world who are looking for these pieces. We have a program called JusticeMakers, and we realized there are people that are courageous and want to do things, but how can we support them? So it's an online contest where it's only five thousand dollars if you come up with and innovative way of implementing justice. And there are 30 JusticeMakers throughout the world, from Sri Lanka to Swaziland to the DRC, who with five thousand dollars do amazing things, through SMS programs, through paralegal programs, through whatever they can do.
Og det er ikke kun disse JusticeMakers, men folk, som vi ser modigt, finde ud af, hvem deres netværker er, og hvordan de kan bevæge det fremad.
And it's not only these JusticeMakers, but people we courageously see figure out who their networks are and how they can move it forward.
Så i Kina for eksempel kom gode love ud, der siger, politiet ikke må torturere folk, ellers bliver de straffet. Og jeg sad side om side med en af vores meget modige advokater og sagde, "Hvordan kan vi føre det her ud? Hvordan kan vi sikre, at det her bliver implementeret? Det er fantastisk." Og han sagde til mig, "Altså, har du penge?" Og jeg sagde, "Nej." Og han sagde, "Det er okay, vi kan stadig finde ud af det." Og den 4. december organiserede han tre tusind medlemmer fra Youth Communist League fra 14 af de bedste juridiske fakulteter, der organiserede sig selv, udviklede plakater med de nye love og gik til politistationerne og begyndte med, hvad han siger, er en ikke-voldelig retslig revolution for at beskytte borgerrettigheder. Så jeg talte om, at vi har brug for at træne og støtte forsvarere. Vi er nødt til systematisk at implementere tidlig adgang til rådgivning. Men den tredje og vigtigste ting er, at vi forpligter os til dette.
So in China, for instance, great laws came out where it says police cannot torture people or they will be punished. And I was sitting side by side with one of our very courageous lawyers, and said, "How can we get this out? How can we make sure that this is implemented? This is fantastic." And he said to me, "Well, do you have money?" And I said, "No." And he said, "That's okay, we can still figure it out." And on December 4, he organized three thousand members of the Youth Communist League, from 14 of the top law schools, who organized themselves, developed posters with the new laws, and went to the police stations and began what he says is a non-violent legal revolution to protect citizen rights. So I talked about the fact that we need to train and support defenders. We need to systematically implement early access to counsel. But the third and most important thing is that we make a commitment to this.
Og folk siger ofte til mig, "Altså, det her er rigtig godt, men det er vildt idealistisk. Sker aldrig." Og grunden til, jeg synes, at de ord er interessante, er, at de ord var af den samme type, der blev brugt om folk, der besluttede, de ville stoppe slaveri eller stoppe apartheid. Det begyndte med en lille gruppe mennesker, der besluttede, de ville engagere sig.
And people often say to me, "You know, this is great, but it's wildly idealistic. Never going to happen." And the reason that I think that those words are interesting is because those were the same kinds of words that were used for people who decided they would end slavery, or end apartheid. It began with a small group of people who decided they would commit.
Nu er der et af vores favoritdigte fra forsvarerne, som de deler med hinanden, lyder: "Fat mod venner, vejen er ofte lang, retningen er aldrig klar, og indsatserne er meget høje, men dybt nede, er I ikke alene." Og jeg tror, at hvis vi kan komme sammen som et verdenssamfund til at støtte ikke bare forsvarere, men også alle i systemet, der ser mod det, kan vi stoppe tortur som et efterforskningsmiddel. Jeg slutter altid af med, fordi jeg ved, hvad spørgsmålene er -- og jeg vil være glad for at snakke med jer til enhver tid -- "Men hvad kan jeg virkelig gøre?" Altså, jeg ville sige dette. For det første ved I, hvad I kan gøre. Men for det andet vil jeg forlade jer med historien om Vishna, der egentlig var min inspiration til at starte International Bridges to Justice.
Now, there's one of our favorite poems from the defenders, which they share from each other, is: "Take courage friends, the road is often long, the path is never clear, and the stakes are very high, but deep down, you are not alone." And I believe that if we can come together as a world community to support not only defenders, but also everyone in the system who is looking towards it, we can end torture as an investigative tool. I end always, because I'm sure the questions are -- and I'd be happy to talk to you at any point -- "But what can I really do?" Well, I would say this. First of all, you know what you can do. But second of all, I would leave you with the story of Vishna, who actually was my inspiration for starting International Bridges to Justice.
Vishna var en 4 år gammel dreng, da jeg mødte ham, der blev født i et cambodjansk fængsel i Kandalprovinsen. Men fordi han blev født i fængslet, elskede alle ham, inklusive vagterne, så han var den eneste, der fik lov til at komme på begge sider af tremmerne. Så, I ved, der er tremmer. Og som tiden gik, blev Vishna større, hvilket betød, hvad bliver større? Ens hoved bliver større. Så han ville komme til den første tremme, den anden tremme og så den tredje tremme, og så virkeligt langsomt bevæge sit hoved, så han kunne mase sig igennem og komme tilbage, tredje, anden, første. Og han ville gribe min lillefinger, fordi det, han ville gøre hver dag, er, han ville gå på besøg. I ved, han nåede aldrig helt dem alle hver dag, men han ville besøge alle 156 fanger. Og jeg ville løfte ham, og han ville putte sine fingre gennem. Eller hvis det var mørke celler, var det som bølgeblik, og han ville putte sine fingre igennem.
Vishna was a 4-year-old boy when I met him who was born in a Cambodian prison in Kandal Province. But because he was born in the prison, everybody loved him, including the guards, so he was the only one who was allowed to come in and out of the bars. So, you know, there's bars. And by the time that Vishna was getting bigger, which means what gets bigger? Your head gets bigger. So he would come to the first bar, the second bar and then the third bar, and then really slowly move his head so he could fit through, and come back, third, second, first. And he would grab my pinkie, because what he wanted to do every day is he wanted to go visit. You know, he never quite made it to all of them every day, but he wanted to visit all 156 prisoners. And I would lift him, and he would put his fingers through. Or if they were dark cells, it was like iron corrugated, and he would put his fingers through.
Og de fleste af fangerne sagde, at han var deres største fornøjelse og deres solskin, og de så frem til ham. Og jeg var sådan, her er Vishna. Han er en 4 år gammel dreng. Han blev født i et fængsel med næsten ingenting, ingen materielle goder, men han havde en opfattelse af sin egen heroiske rejse, som jeg tror, vi alle er født til. Han sagde, "Sandsynligvis kan jeg ikke gøre alt. Men jeg er én. Jeg kan gøre noget. Og jeg vil gøre den ene ting, som jeg kan gøre." Så jeg takker jer for at have den profetiske fantasi til at forestille jer formningen af en ny verden med os sammen og inviterer jer til denne rejse med os.
And most of the prisoners said that he was their greatest joy and their sunshine, and they looked forward to him. And I was like, here's Vishna. He's a 4-year-old boy. He was born in a prison with almost nothing, no material goods, but he had a sense of his own heroic journey, which I believe we are all born into. He said, "Probably I can't do everything. But I'm one. I can do something. And I will do the one thing that I can do." So I thank you for having the prophetic imagination to imagine the shaping of a new world with us together, and invite you into this journey with us.
Tak.
Thank you.
(Bifald)
(Applause)
Tak.
Thank you.
(Bifald)
(Applause)
Tak.
Thank you.
(Bifald)
(Applause)