WASHINGTON D.C. -- A coalition of 19 human rights, faith-based, and justice organizations today launched a campaign to urge President Obama to appoint a commission to investigate torture sanctioned by the Bush administration. The group calls on Americans to sign an online petition, www.CommissionOnAccountability.org, advocating that President Obama establish an “independent, non-partisan commission to examine and report publicly on torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees in the period since September 11, 2001."

The campaign’s call for accountability comes just days after the release of the Senate Armed Services Committee report on interrogation and torture and the Justice Department legal memos sanctioning torture and inhumane treatment. 

The full text of the campaign’s petition:

“We call on the President of the United States to establish an independent, non-partisan commission to examine and report publicly on torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees in the period since September 11, 2001.  The commission, comparable in stature to the 9/11 Commission, should look into the facts and circumstances of such abuses, report on lessons learned and recommend measures that would prevent any future abuses.  We believe that the commission is necessary to reaffirm America’s commitment to the Constitution, international treaty obligations and human rights.  The report issued by the commission will strengthen U.S. national security and help to re-establish America’s standing in the world.”

The organizations endorsing this effort are: Amnesty International USA; the Brennan Center for Justice; the Carter Center, Human Rights Program; the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University, School of Law; the Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, University of California, Davis; the Center for Victims of Torture; the Constitution Project; the Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley; Human Rights First; Human Rights Watch; the International Center for Transitional Justice; the International Justice Network; the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights; the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; the National Institute of Military Justice; the National Religious Campaign Against Torture; the Open Society Institute; Physicians for Human Rights; and the Rutherford Institute.

Click “Call for a Commission of Inquiry” at www.tortureisamoralissue.org

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a growing membership organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Since its formation in January 2006, more than 250 religious groups have joined NRCAT, including representatives from the Roman Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian, Quaker, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Baha’i, Buddhist, and Sikh communities. Members include national denominations and faith groups, regional organizations and local congregations.