Human Rights at Home and Abroad: Past, Present, and Future

on certain prisoners, signs of abuse and torture like I personally suffered 14 years ago at
the hands of the Gestapo in Nancy. 17
Many of the French troops who fought in Algeria had also fought in World War II and had seen
the acts perpetrated by the Germans or had experienced torture by them first hand like Teitgen had. Even
with this experience the French army was still willing to do the same to the Algerians. Throughout the
war the French denied the used of torture because they had to. One of the many reasons they did this was
because France had already signed the Geneva Convention and ratified it in 1951. By admitting to using
torture France would have been in violation of Article 3 Section 2 (a)(c)(d). These state that in a case of
conflict with territory under member control that the following acts would be prohibited:
(a) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel
treatment and torture;
(c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous
judgment pronounce by a regularly constituted court, affording all judicial guarantees
which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples. 18
During the war the French army repeatedly and knowingly violated these laws that were created
to guard the human rights of all people. This would have put France in a tumultuous situation with the
international community and is one of the many reasons why the Fourth Republic was replaced by the
Fifth Republic.
The Fourth Republic had been weak since its creation in 1946. It had a history of cabinet
instability with twenty-four cabinets serving in the twelve years of its rule. 19 This constant change of
17 Ibid.
18 Jewish Virtual Library. The Fourth Geneva Convention (August 12, 1949).
www.Jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Human_Rights/geneva1.html (accessed April 1, 2011).
19 John D. Huber and Cecilia Martinez-Gallardo, ―Cabinet Instability and the Accumulation of Experience: The
French Fourth and Fifth Republics in Comparative Perspective,‖ British Journal of Political Science 34 no. 1
(January 2004): 27.
176