British Researcher launches new book at RCT

In his latest book, 'This Side of Silence: Human Rights, Torture, and the Recognition of Cruelty', Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology, Tobias Kelly, puts an interesting perspective on the perception of torture in Britain. The book will be launched at a seminar at RCT on May 9.

Tobias Kelly explores how torture as a concept has become central in political and legal debates in Britain. He investigates how claims of torture are treated in asylum cases where the victim's account is in focus and in cases of war crimes where the evidence against the alleged perpetrator is in focus.

He argues that victims of torture can speak but that they are not believed. As their accounts enter into legal and medical realms, they are subjected to a test of proof that cannot be honored. A second argument is that torture is something that is understood as taking place far away and perpetrated by people very different from us. Hence, we, Kelly argues, find it hard to understand the practices of Nato soldiers in the light of torture.

The argument of the book is relevant in a Danish context as well, and on the seminar on May 9 three opponents from RCT will discuss it with Tobias Kelly. Senior Researcher Steffen Jensen will be discussing the core argument in the book, Director of Research Edith Montgomery will be discussing asylum processes, and Legal Advisor Dorrit Rée Akselbo will be discussing the international conventions.

Read more about the seminar here.
Read Steffen Jensens review of the book here.