The Scars of the Erasure_web

Erasure_4a 10.1.11 20:29 Page 89THE ERASURE AS A VIOLATION OF LEGALLY PROTECTED HUMAN RIGHTS89prohibit other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, while the UDHRalso prohibits cruel conduct and punishment. Torture, inhuman or degradingtreatment or punishment all involve a deliberate causing of pain or suffering,physical or psychological, with the purpose of punishing, extorting a confession,or forcing a victim or a third person into a specific act; such acts are usually performedby, or with the consent, of an official person.The psychological pain caused by erasure is certainly an issue that wouldrequire a separate study. As to the concrete examples of physical or psychologicalpain, relevant to our purpose are the accounts of erased persons who experiencedpolice harassment or even violence at the time of deportation or otherpolice procedures that were usually undertaken because they lacked legal status.Siniša, for example, talked about the frequent police harassment that instilledfear and uncertainty in him.I was often stopped by policemen on the street, provoked and ill-treated; they takeyou to the police station, lock you in a room and then you wait like an idiot forone or two hours. […] When I was in court, the judge said: “This gentleman hasapplied for citizenship. As long as the procedure is underway, and he doesn’t dostupid things, no one can do anything to him.” So I asked the judge why the policemendidn’t know this. They should know it. Some are kind and normal, theyleave you alone if you show it to them [the document proving that he applied forcitizenship]. But others say: “It’s not normal, you live here illegally and must leavethe country!” That’s also what I experienced many times. I asked the judge whatto do; when I go out they will stop me again. He told me to wait and be patient,that he couldn’t do anything about it. (Siniša, 38)In this case it is certainly possible to speak about harassment, but what isdisputable is whether this could be defined as torture or inhuman or degradingtreatment. To establish the precise nature of a specific type of conduct, it wouldbe necessary to make a case-by-case analysis and determine other contributingfactors, too: how frequent identity checking was, whether it was done randomlyor was planned, and what psychological and physical impact it had on the peoplein question (for more on the health consequences as a result of erasure, see thechapter by Uršula Lipovec Čebron). However, the cases of overt police violenceleave less doubt. Rifet spoke of frequent identity checking and the beatings thatfollowed, and of the beatings he suffered in other encounters with the police. *His case is undoubtedly one involving violation of the prohibition of torture, inhumanor degrading treatment, as the police officials had obviously themselves established,given that they began proceedings against the policeman in question.If I went out, I had on me only that document, as an alien. Then they checkedmy identity and pestered me. Sometimes they beat me, kicked me. […] Theykicked me in Velenje. […] Several times they put me in a bunker and kicked me.* This erased person died before the book was published.