Why Trump is bad news for human rights and the ban on torture

15 January 2025

As Donald Trump begins his second presidency, his disregard for human rights has shown that we must be loud and clear in saying that torture is always wrong.

In the run-up to the 2016 US presidential elections, Donald Trump made no effort to hide his support for waterboarding and torture. He endorsed the cruel and illegal practice, wrongly claiming that it ‘absolutely works’.

Doing his best to put words into practice, Trump subsequently nominated two people with close links to past US torture programmes into high positions. Mike Pompeo, who was Secretary of State in the Trump Administration from 2018, opposed the closure of Guantanamo Bay and criticised the closure of the CIA’s 'enhanced interrogation program', which used methods that are forms of torture banned under US and international law. Former Director of the CIA, Gina Haspel, was nominated by Trump after overseeing a ‘black site’ in Thailand where prisoners were tortured by waterboarding.

In 2018, we stood up to Donald Trump and said ‘No to torture, no to Trump’. Over 6,000 people pledged their support online and we took the streets to protest the pro-torture beliefs of the President when he visited the UK.

Over the last four decades our therapists at Freedom from Torture have borne witness to the physical and mental scars of torture, supporting thousands of survivors in their painful journey towards healing.

As a survivor of torture wrote in a letter to Trump “I don’t think you or your advisors really understand what torture does to people. When you are detained and imprisoned, torture makes you powerless, silences you, disempowers you and breaks down your humility.”

The devastating effects of torture on survivors, their families and communities have been made clear to us time and again. And that’s why we will never stop fighting for a world free from torture.

This time, as Trump takes office for the second time (lamentably coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the United Nations Convention Against Torture), the global ban on torture is once again under threat. By holding one of the most powerful positions in the world, Trump is presenting a grave threat to the absolute prohibition of torture.

Remaining true to his previous actions, in 2024 Trump announced that he'd be nominating Pete Hegseth to serve as Secretary of Defence. Like Pompeo and Haspel – and Trump himself – Hegseth has a history of advocating for waterboarding and torture. By picking Hegseth, who also served at Guantanamo Bay, Trump appears to be sending a clear message that respect for human rights and ending torture is far from a priority.

But that’s unacceptable. There’s a serious risk that Trump’s election will be seen as a green light for leaders of repressive states to perpetrate torture and other grave human rights violations, without fear that they will be held to account.

Now is the time for the UK to step up and show the world that it will defend human rights and uphold the international rule of law without exception and in accordance with a history of leadership on opposition to torture.

This includes providing sanctuary to people fleeing torture. In countries like the UK, around one in three people seeking asylum have survived torture. By standing up to Trump’s words and actions, we are showing survivors that they deserve our compassion and support to recover.

Now more than ever before, the UK must show principled leadership and demonstrate to the world that torture is always wrong and will never be tolerated.