墙壁上密布的弹孔无情地证实了那场猛烈的袭击。但对我触动最深的是那些被子弹击碎的日常电器，比如微波炉或冰箱。在两名被绑架年轻女性绝望的母亲带领下，我走过她们女儿们简朴、狭小的单层住宅里碎裂的玻璃和瓦砾，胃里一阵纠结。
Bullet holes splattered in every wall bore grim testimony to the onslaught. But what hit me hardest were the bullets that had smashed everyday appliances, such as the microwave oven or the fridge. I had a knot in my stomach as the desperate mothers of the two young women taken hostage led me through the shattered glass and rubble of their daughters’ modest, small single-floor houses.
我极力提醒自己要避免情绪过于激动。毕竟，我是一名中立的观察员——这是每位联合国特别报告员都应履行的职责。然而，这些母亲所承受的痛苦让我意识到，我们必须将绑架视作一种酷刑形式。不仅受害者本人可能遭受性虐待、饥饿折磨、戴上脚镣或被禁闭在黑暗的地下隧道的折磨，而且我现在还能看到——在痛苦地等待得知她们女儿的命运、想象着最坏情况的同时——人质的父母、姐妹和兄弟也是心理酷刑的受害者。
I tried to remind myself that I needed to avoid feeling too emotional. After all, I was a neutral observer – the role each United Nations special rapporteur is supposed to fulfil. Yet the suffering of these mothers made me realise that we must consider hostage-taking as a form of torture. Not only were the victims themselves likely to be sexually abused, starved, shackled or confined in dark tunnels, but I could now see that – agonisingly waiting to know the fate of their girls, imagining the worst – the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers of the hostages were also victims of psychological torture.
两位母亲曼迪·达马里（Mandy Damari）和西莫娜·施泰因布雷赫尔（Simona Steinbrecher）同意让我参观她们女儿埃米利（Emily）和多龙（Doron）遭到摧毁的家，这是非常勇敢的。毕竟，被认为代表联合国的我所在的组织，在帮助她们方面做得太少了。联合国甚至长期拒绝承认2023年10月7日的袭击者不仅实施了谋杀，还进行了性骚扰、强奸和其他可怕的暴力行为，这进一步加剧了她们的痛苦。
It had been brave of the mothers, Mandy Damari and Simona Steinbrecher, to agree to let me see the ruined homes of their daughters Emily and Doron. After all, the UN, which I would be seen as representing, had done so little to help them. It had even worsened their anguish by refusing for so long to acknowledge that the attackers on October 7 2023 had conducted not just murders but also sexual molestations, rapes and other horrific violence.
爱德华兹参观了卡法阿扎集体农场，这是哈马斯在2023年10月7日发动袭击的目标。我感到羞愧。我至今仍然愤怒的是，联合国巴勒斯坦被占领土问题特别报告员弗兰切斯卡·阿尔巴内塞和联合国暴力侵害妇女问题特别报告员里姆·萨利姆从未正式记录这些恐怖事件，尽管越来越多的证据对我们大多数人来说是无可争辩的，但他们却对此提出异议（萨利姆曾指出，以色列拒绝授予她入境和访问权是她无法进一步调查的原因）。
Edwards visits the Kfar Aza kibbutz, a target of the October 7 2023 attack by Hamas I felt ashamed. I am still outraged that Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, and Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur for violence against women, never formally documented these horrors, despite the growing body of evidence which to most of us is indisputable, but which they dispute (Alsalem has pointed to Israel’s refusal to grant her entry and access as the reason she cannot investigate further).
相反，两人继续发表一连串我所认为的片面且充满恶意的报告，并为他们缺乏关注提出了难以自圆其说的借口。家属和获释人质曾向我表示，这只会增加他们的痛苦。
Instead, both have continued to issue a stream of what I regard as one-sided and vitriolic reports, and hard-to-justify excuses for their lack of attention. That, families and returned hostages have told me, only added to their anguish.
我的同事们什么也没说，甚至当哈马斯绑架者在网上发布配有希伯来语字幕的视频、展示人质处于恐怖场景中时也是如此。在其中一段视频中，一名骨瘦如柴的人质正在挖掘他用希伯来语说可能是自己的坟墓。这是虐待人质家属的一种形式，目的是让他们向以色列当局施压，以屈服于哈马斯的要求。这也是一种酷刑。
My colleagues said nothing, even when the Hamas captors put videos online with Hebrew subtitles showing captives in horrifying scenes. In one, an emaciated hostage was digging what he said in Hebrew was his own grave. It was a form of abusing hostages’ families so that they would put pressure on the Israeli authorities to give in to Hamas demands. That too is a form of torture.
甚至在人质被带回之后，阿尔巴内塞和萨利姆也没有重视他们对所经历的酷刑和剥夺的第一手描述。
Even after the hostages were brought back, Albanese and Alsalem have failed to give any weight to their first-hand accounts of the tortures and privations they had gone through.
我的职责是看待双方并支持受害者，无论他们是谁。在我以往担任联合国难民事务高级专员办公室首席法律顾问的多年工作中，我似乎站在了另一边——保护巴勒斯坦人免受歧视，并听取关于以色列违规行为的陈述。我曾起诉起草联合国关于巴勒斯坦难民的立场，并在欧洲最高法院提起诉讼以维护该立场。今年，我发布了第二份关于以色列监狱内囚犯虐待问题的详细报告。
My role was to see both sides and support victims, whoever they are. For many years in my previous work as chief legal counsel for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, I had been, seemingly, on the other side – protecting Palestinians from discrimination, and hearing accounts of Israeli violations. I had drafted the UN’s position on Palestinian refugees, and pursued cases in the highest European court to safeguard it. This year, I issued a second detailed report on abuse of prisoners held inside Israeli jails.
但我强烈地感觉到，在加沙与以色列的战争期间，联合国由于执着于只关注一组虐待行为，并未给自己带来任何好处——特别是考虑到中立、独立和公正是一个值得信赖的联合国的基石。
But I feel strongly that during the Gaza-Israel war, the UN has been doing itself no favours by obsessively focusing on only one set of abuses – especially as neutrality, independence and impartiality are the cornerstones of a trustworthy UN.
当我发布一份关于10月7日基布兹发生的事情以及370多名在音乐节上纵情欢乐的年轻人遭到屠杀的报告时，只有另外一位特别报告员有勇气在上面签字。其他人拒绝签字，同时还有数人试图压制我报告中的内容。
When I issued a report on what had happened on the kibbutzes on October 7, and the slaughter of more than 370 young people enjoying a music festival, only one other special rapporteur had the courage to sign it. The others declined to sign, while several tried to get content in my report suppressed.
联合国巴勒斯坦被占领土问题特别报告员弗兰切斯卡·阿尔巴尼斯（Francesca Albanese）已然树立了反以色列煽动者的名声。我很高兴地说，我确实取得了一个重大成果，这在很大程度上源于我对基布兹的访问：我成功促使联合国大会通过了一项决议，要求各国将劫持人质指定为一种酷刑。
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has developed something of a reputation as an anti-Israel provocateur I’m glad to say I did achieve one significant result that stemmed in large part from my kibbutz visit: I managed to get the UN General Assembly to pass a resolution requiring states to designate hostage-taking as a form of torture.
但是，正如我刚刚担任了四年职务的许多其他方面一样，这并不容易。在一个日益极化的世界里，报告员的工作十分艰难。许多人这项工作做得极其出色，然而他们却在整个政治光谱中遭到批评，无论是在网络上还是在公开会议上。我也曾多次遭到各国政府的攻击，并有一份国家名单，仅仅因为我履行了这一职责，我就不敢冒险前往，唯恐遭到逮捕。
But, as with many other aspects of the role I’ve just held for four years, it wasn’t easy. In an increasingly polarised world, rapporteurs have a tough job to do. Many are doing it tremendously well, and yet they are subject to criticism across the political spectrum, both online and in public meetings. I have had my share of attacks from governments and have a list of countries where, simply for performing that role, I would no longer venture for fear of arrest.
联合国特别报告员的角色——这是无偿的——也有很大的滥用空间。首先，为每位报告员调查所拨付的资金微乎其微，而且随着设立的这类职位越来越多，每位报告员可获得的资金就更少了。这就带来了一个严重的问题，因为这意味着只能依赖非政府组织的二手陈述。在我的主管领域，这也意味着我们根本无法处理通过电子邮件或手写信件发送给我们的所有指控。有2000多起指控就那样闲置在我们的档案中。
The role of a UN special rapporteur – which is unpaid – also has so much scope for abuse. Firstly, the money allocated for each rapporteur to investigate is minimal and – as more and more of these roles are created – there is even less money available per rapporteur. That presents a serious problem, as it means relying on second-hand accounts from non-governmental organisations. In my portfolio, it has also meant that we simply cannot deal with all the allegations sent to us by email, or in handwritten letters. There are more than 2,000 allegations that are simply sitting in our file.
我被分配了一个助理的预算，以及仅够每年进行一次国外实地事实调查任务的资金。我不得不自掏腰包前往以色列和巴勒斯坦。
I was allocated a budget for one assistant and enough money for only one foreign fact-finding mission per year. I had to personally fund my own trip to Israel and Palestine.
同样容易遭到滥用的是，单个国家或一组国家可以为特定的报告员提供资金，这可能是无害的馈赠，也可能是兜售影响力的卑劣企图。至少，这让一些报告员陷入了他们正受到政治影响的指控的交火之中。
Also rife for abuse is that an individual country or group of countries can provide funds for specific rapporteurs, which could be benign gifts or nefarious attempts to peddle influence. At a minimum, it has caught some rapporteurs in the crosshairs of accusations that they are being politically influenced.
我也听受害者律师说过，他们担心与那些从被指控为虐害行径实施者的政府那里接受资金的报告员分享机密信息。在我看来，捐款应该进入所有报告员的中央预算并进行平均分配。
I’ve heard from victims’ lawyers too who are worried about sharing confidential information with rapporteurs who are receiving funds from the very governments that are the alleged perpetrators of abuses. In my view, donations should go to a central budget for all the rapporteurs and be distributed equally.
然而，尽管存在这些问题以及许多其他问题，但似乎没有什么意愿去修复这个系统——甚至连联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯（顺便说一句，他曾是我担任联合国难民事务高级专员时的前老板）也是如此。他最近在一次采访中表示，报告员是独立的，因此“许多人不受控制”。
However, despite these problems, and many others, there appears little appetite to fix the system – not even by the UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, (who, incidentally, was my former boss as UN High Commissioner for Refugees). He recently said in an interview that rapporteurs were independent and therefore “many are not under control”.
联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯 独立性既是这些职位的力量所在，也是其脆弱性所在，但当被滥用以教条式地追求政治议程时，整个联合国都会被削弱。
Antonio Guterres, the UN’s secretary-general Independence is both the strength and the vulnerability of these positions, but when misused to dogmatically pursue political agendas, the UN as a whole is weakened.
现在，下任联合国秘书长的竞争正在升温，并为解决其中一些问题提供了契机。由于当今的战争比该组织于1945年成立以来的任何时候都要多，下一任秘书长需要采取更果断的作用，并更大限度地行使其实际掌握的权力。在我看来，古特雷斯未能履行最初的联合国使命——即高效、公正地介入作为调解人来平息国际冲突。
Now, the contest for the next UN secretary-general is heating up and presents an opportunity to tackle some of these problems. With more wars today than at any time since the organisation’s founding in 1945, the next secretary-general needs to take a more decisive role and exercise a greater amount of the power that is actually at his or her disposal. Guterres has in my view failed to carry out the original mandate of the UN – to step in efficiently and fairly as a mediator to dampen down international conflicts.
虽然当今的战争不能归咎于他，但令人失望的是，他采取了一种相当宿命论的姿态——就好像除了召集会议之外，他别无影响力。
While the blame for today’s wars can’t be laid at his feet, it’s disappointing that he has adopted a rather fatalistic posture – as though he has no sway other than to convene meetings.
接替古特雷斯的遴选程序也并非没有缺陷。为了当选下一任秘书长，候选人们需要走一条谨小慎微的路线，以免惹恼美国、中国或俄罗斯。然而，正是俄罗斯在违背《联合国宪章》原则入侵乌克兰时，引发了联合国80年历史中的当前低谷（所有人都不会忽略这里的一个历史教训：导致国际联盟遭到的致命打击之一，就是苏联入侵芬兰，这导致苏联被开除）。
The process to succeed Guterres is also not without its flaws. To be selected as the next secretary-general, the candidates need to walk a careful line that avoids upsetting the US, China or Russia. Yet it is Russia that provoked the current low point in the 80-year history of the UN when it invaded Ukraine against the principles of the UN Charter (it cannot be lost on anyone that there’s a lesson from history here: one of the fatal blows to the League of Nations was the Soviet Union’s invasion of Finland, which saw the USSR expelled).
俄罗斯安全部队对被俘的乌克兰士兵以及被俄方怀疑可能是间谍或反对者的乌克兰东部被占领区许多平民实施酷刑的规模和性质，令我感到震惊。一些人在偶尔的战俘交换中获释后，向我讲述了他们的酷刑系统是如何运作的：首先是监督员，然后是审讯员，接着是单独的施刑者——这是一套旨在获取情报或在被占领区制造恐惧的精心策划的虐待系统。
I have been shocked by the extent and the nature of the torture carried out by Russian security forces against captured Ukrainian soldiers, and against many civilians in the occupied eastern Ukraine who the Russians suspect could be spies or opponents. Some, released in occasional prisoner swaps, tell me how their torture system works: first an overseer, then an interrogator, then a separate torturer – an orchestrated system of abuse intended to obtain information or to instil fear in occupied areas.
我常常在想，如果我的祖父今天仍然在世，他会对联合国以及联合国是否应该存续说些什么。他曾参加过第二次世界大战，却从不谈论战争的创伤。他的极度担忧将是合情合理的。
I often wonder what my grandfather, who fought in the Second World War but wouldn’t ever talk about the trauma of the war, would say if he were still alive today about the UN and whether it should survive. He would be right to be very worried.
但是，尽管有种种挫折，以及偶尔试图恐吓我让我保持沉默的行径，我在打击酷刑方面的角色有时还是带给我极大的慰藉。我曾将许多冲突或安全行动中的酷刑受害者聚集在会议上，并创建了一份幸存者宪章，该宪章在很大程度上是由受害者自己撰写的。国际法准则应该由受其影响最大的人以及与他们合作来予以实施这一理念，首次积聚了势头。
But, despite all the frustrations, and occasional efforts to bully me into silence, my role in combating torture has sometimes been deeply gratifying. I have gathered torture victims from many conflicts or security actions in conferences and created a survivors’ charter, written in large part by the victims themselves. For the first time, there is momentum behind the idea that the norms of international law should be implemented by and with those most affected by them.
也许我最感动的时刻，是当伊拉克和叙利亚“伊斯国”囚禁、性奴役和虐待的年轻雅兹迪幸存者希琳·库迪达（Shireen Khudeeda）告诉我，她获得了一项求学奖学金并通过了考试。她活了下来，蓬勃发展，现在正积极在其国内开展反对酷刑的工作。
Perhaps my most moving moment was when Shireen Khudeeda, a young Yazidi survivor of Isis captivity, sexual enslavement and abuse in Iraq and Syria, told me that she had been granted a scholarship to study and had passed her exams. She had survived, thrived and is now working constructively against torture in her own country.
在这个充斥着滥用权力现象的世界里，这是人类取得的一场虽小却意义重大的胜利——甚至连本该采取行动防止此类现象的联合国等机构也在滥用权力。
A small but significant victory for humanity in a world beset by the abuse of power – even by those, like the UN, who are supposed to act to prevent it.
爱丽丝·吉尔·爱德华兹（Alice Jill Edwards）于2022年8月至2026年7月担任联合国酷刑和其他残忍、不人道或有辱人格的待遇或处罚问题特别报告员。本文由冲突与和平报道（Conflict and Peace Reporting）创始人保罗·马丁（Paul Martin）记录。
Alice Jill Edwards was United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, between August 2022 and July 2026 As told to Paul Martin, founder of Conflict and Peace Reporting