A/75/179 vulnerable to ignoring, tolerating, protecting or colluding with clearly wrongful conduct, including torture and ill-treatment, or even mass atrocities. 7 17. Despite its corrosiveness for human rights and the rule of law, system justification is not a deviation per se, but constitutes a well-documented, generic human tendency that is very common and widespread in all cultures and segments of society. Accordingly, as outlined in the present report, through the common processes of bureaucracy, indifference and self-deception, aptly described as the “banality of evil”, systemic complicity with torture, murder or even genocide can be, and often is, suppressed from conscious awareness, even despite compelling evidence, leaving constitutional checks and balances neutralized, the media complacent and the broader public in a state of wilful ignorance and motivated denial. 8 C. Basic expressions of self-interest 18. Irrespective of the conscious intentionality and purposefulness of a particular act of torture or ill-treatment, the underlying emotional motivations for ordering, instigating or perpetrating such abuse, but also for the support, consent or acquiescence of bystanders, almost always reflect the pursuit of basic psychological needs through one or several of the following corresponding drives: (a) self preservation (need for security and stability); (b) self-determination (need for control and autonomy); (c) self-affirmation (need for self-worth, dignity and identity); (d) selfjustification (need for justice); and (e) self-gratification (need for reward and stimulation). 19. Under favourable circumstances, the natural expression of such basic human needs and drives helps to ensure positive social interactions based on mutual respect and empathy. When the individual or collective perception of reality is distorted by excessive fear, trauma, pathological dysfunction or emotional immaturity, however, those drives can trigger attitudes and conduct that are conducive to serious human rights violations, including torture and ill-treatment. 1. Self-preservation 20. The basic drive of self-preservation pursues the innate human need for security and stability. It emanates directly from biological survival instincts and triggers preventative or defensive responses to any real or perceived danger. Where distorted __________________ 7 8 20-09728 John Jost and Orsolya Hunyady, “Antecedents and consequences of system-justifying ideologies”, Current Directions in Psychological Science, vol. 14, No. 5 (October 2005), pp. 260–265; John Jost, Chadly Stern and Joanna Sterling, “Ethos of conflict: a system justification perspective”, in The Social Psychology of Intractable Conflict: Celebrating the Legacy of Daniel Bar-Tal, Vol. 1, Peace Psychology Book Series, vol. 27, Eran Halperin and Keren Sharvit, eds. (Springer International Publishing, 2015), pp. 47–59; Ben Kiernan, “Cover-up and denial of genocide: Australia, the USA, East Timor, and the Aborigines”, Critical Asian Studies, vol. 34, No. 2 (2002), pp. 163–192; Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience (Belknap Press, 2003); Hannah Nam et.al., “Amygdala structure and the tendency to regard the social system as legitimate and desirable”, Nature Human Behaviour, vol. 2, No. 2 (February 2018), pp. 133–138. Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (Penguin Books, 1977); Gary Blasi and John Jost, “System justification theory and research: implications for law, legal advocacy, and social justice”, California Law Review, vol. 94, No. 4 (July 2006), pp. 1,119–1,168; Furnham, Adrian, “Belief in a just world: research progress over the past decade”, Personality and Individual Differences, vol. 34, No. 5 (April 2003), pp. 795–817; Salvador Vargas-Salfate and others, “System justification enhances well-being: a longitudinal analysis of the palliative function of system justification in 18 countries”, British Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 57, No. 3 (July 2018), pp. 567–590; Mikko Poutanen, “‘We do not torture’: American exceptionalism in the context of torture”, in RePresenting Magic, UnDoing Evil: Of Human Inner Light and Darkness, Alexandra Cheira, ed. (Brill, 2012), pp. 115–130. 7/25