A/75/179
(b)
In-group loyalty, identification and glorification
71. Even processes that foster constructive outcomes within groups, such as
cooperation, loyalty, cohesion and devotion, can foster destructive outcomes between
groups. Thus, alongside out-group denigration, in-group loyalty and patriotism, for
instance, have been associated both with the willingness to torture terror suspects and
with positive psychological outcomes following the perpetration of violent acts
during war. 64 In-group glorification has also been linked to support for violent
jihadism, denial of wrongdoing by the in-group and the demonization of out-group
victims. When the superiority of one group is culturally, religiously or economically
entrenched, societies frequently adopt widely held “hierarchy -legitimizing myths” to
rationalize the mistreatment and neglect of the subordinated group. 65
(c)
Discriminatory justification under fear, threat and trauma
72. Like other psychosocial dynamics, group-based discrimination is exacerbated
by survival instincts that are aroused by perceived threat, trauma and fear, such that
groups may become psychologically primed to fight rival groups for physical or
cultural survival, potentially to the death. Accordingly, populations in a state of fear,
trauma, apprehension or collective angst are particularly prone to discriminatory
abuse, including through torture and ill-treatment. 66
V. Conclusions
73. In his report to the General Assembly in 2018 (A/73/207), the Special
Rapporteur noted with alarm that torture and ill-treatment continued to be
practised with impunity throughout the world. The stark discrepancy between
the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of torture and ill-treatment and the
worldwide complacency with regard to such abuse is not a singular phenomenon,
but highlights a more generalized gap between normative ambition and
governmental practice in the protection of human rights.
74. Seventy-five years after the establishment of the United Nations, that sobering
observation exposes the systemic incapacity of contemporary governance systems
to eradicate torture and ill-treatment, fulfil the promises of the Charter of the
United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and achieve the
ambitions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
75. The root cause of the systemic governance failure is not a lack of expertise,
resources or normative consensus, nor generalized malicious intent, but lies in
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64
65
66
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perspective of the perpetrator”, Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, vol. 21, No. 3
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Bertjan Doosje Doosje, Annemarie Loseman and Kees van den Bos, “Determinants of
radicalization of Islamic youth in the Netherlands: personal uncertainty, perceived injustice, and
perceived group threat”, Journal of Social Issues, vol. 69, No. 3 (September 2013), pp. 586–604;
Herbert Kelman, 2005; Bernhard Leidner and others, “Ingroup -glorification, moraldisengagement, and justice in the context of collective violence”, Personality and Social
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Eva Jonas and Immo Fritsche, “Destined to die but not to wage war: how existential threat can
contribute to escalation or de-escalation of violent intergroup conflict”, American Psychologist,
vol. 68, No. 7 (October 2013), pp. 543–558; Omar Shahabudin McDoom, “The psychology of
threat in intergroup conflict: emotions, rationality, and opportunity in the Rwanda genocide”,
International security, vol. 37, No. 2 (2012), pp. 119–155.
20-09728
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