A worrying number of Australians think it would be acceptable for Australian soldiers to be tortured for information.
Gatdet Bol, who moved to Australia last year from South Sudan, recalls his experiences of war: "I've witnessed all these gruesome killings, burning of villages, even some children were also castrated because they say we don't want you to produce in the future."
The attitudes about the use of this sort of torture in conflict of more than one thousand Australians who were surveyed by the Australian Red Cross, was released on Tuesday.
Most Australians are against its use, but as many as 23 per cent were undecided, while 21 per cent thought it was ok.
The survey finds that more Australians believe torturing an enemy soldier for information is acceptable than people from war-torn countries, such as Syria and South Sudan.
Keith Campbell, a World War Two Royal Australian Air Force veteran who survived in prisoner of war camps after his plane was shot down in Germany said he was "very surprised that Australians could think that way".
"To me, it's just not something I could condone.
"I realise in some circumstances it has been done, but it's just not something I could live with.”
Australian Red Cross chief executive Judy Slatyer said most Australians care very much about their fellow humans but some need to better understand why humanitarian laws and values matter.
"Torture is illegal and unacceptable in any circumstances. It has a devastating impact on those tortured as well as our collective humanity," she said in a statement.
She suggested media had a role to play in the complacency.
"There are also elements like the pictures we see every night on the television or some popular culture or war games start to show these things could be considered normal in certain circumstances," she said.
"But of course they are not normal. Torture is never normal. It is always unacceptable."
The survey coincides with a global report on attitudes to war and how people around the world perceive a range of issues relating to war.
Between June and September this year, the International Committee of the Red Cross surveyed over 17,000 people living in 16 countries.
Ten of those nations are affected by conflict.
Ms Slatyer said there were some alarming trends.
"One is a growing complacency that impacting civilians is a necessary part of war and secondly that torture in some guises is acceptable."
The ICRC conducted the last 'People on War' survey almost two decades ago.
A stark contrast to some of this year’s views.
While still a majority of people, only 59 per cent believe it's wrong that civilian deaths are an inevitable part of warfare.
That compares with 68 per cent of people who believed it was wrong in 1999.
"The vast majority of people wherever they are in the world and wherever they were when they were surveyed say that healthcare, the lives of nurses, doctors and those supporting those hurt by war, whether they are civilians or in fact soldiers, the vast majority of people say that is a must,” said the Australian Red Cross' Judy Slatyer.
“It is completely appropriate that medical personnel can go in, do their job and help anyone who is in need and that is an incredibly heart-warming thing to have reinforced."
This major survey has also prompted the International Committee of the Red Cross to renew calls to remind all parties of a conflict about their obligations under international law.
The ICRC is also calling for those who violate the law to be held to account.
-With AAP
