AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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Report on Science and Human Rights

Summer 2003 Vol XXIII, No. 2

Victoria Baxter
SHR Program Associate

June 26 marks the observance of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. On this day in 1987, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) entered into force. Ten years later, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 52/149, which proclaimed the day as the official observance in support for victims of torture around the world. The day is intended to raise awareness about the issue of state-sponsored torture and to highlight the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the world who are working to eradicate torture and provide rehabilitation treatment for individual victims.

According to the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), torture is the “intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering for a specific purpose. Torture is used to obtain information or a confession, to punish, to take revenge, or to create terror and fear within a population. The aim of torture is not to kill the victim, but to break down the victim’s personality.” Torture victims can be those individuals active in a community, such as politicians, union leaders, journalists, and human rights defenders. However, torture can also be inflicted on ordinary citizens in an attempt by the government to instill a climate of fear in the population.

The effects of torture are far reaching and impact the individual’s physical and mental health. Torture victims can suffer from anxiety, insomnia, depression, and memory lapses. Victims may also experience extreme guilt and shame as a result of the humiliation they were forced to endure or because they were forced to betray information about themselves of their friends and family. The symptoms of torture can be addressed by comprehensive rehabilitation services provided by a torture treatment center.

IRCT works with over 200 torture treatment centers around the world, literally from Albania to Zimbabwe. These centers offer a wide variety of assistance, including psychological counseling, medical treatment, legal services, as well as social assistance programs to help torture victims secure jobs, housing, and meet other daily needs. The combination of medical and social services can empower the torture victim to regain the capacity to resume as full a life as possible.

The centers also play an important role in addressing the political dynamics of torture. Torture is a political act and as a result, rehabilitation programs must also address the political landscape that allows torture to occur. Independent reports from the centers to NGOs and international organizations often serve as the best indication about the true level of repression and violence in a given country. The centers operate awareness campaigns, documentation programs, training, and education programs.
Unfortunately, much of this work is severely compromised when torture treatment centers operating in a context of political repression and violence, become victims of human rights abuses themselves. Torture treatment center staff have been subject to physical attacks, arbitrary arrest and detention, spurious legal proceedings, and constant threats to their security. Many torture treatment center staff have been the subject of AAAS Human Rights Action Network alerts.

Since it opened in 1998, medical and administrative staff working at the Diyarbakir Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture, one of the five regional torture treatment centers run by the Ankara-based Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, have faced repeated human rights violations and attempts by the government to shut down the center. (AAASHRAN Case Number: tu9432_one) The Diyarbakir Center faces particular risk because it is located in southeast Turkey, where much of the armed conflict between Kurdish militants and the state occurs. Government officials are sensitive to any reports implicating them in the use of torture of the Kurdish population. The police have raided the center on separate occasions and have taken confidential doctor-patient files, which they have used to locate torture survivors to harass and intimidate them from seeking further treatment or reporting incidents of torture.

Government raids of torture treatment centers to obtain patient records have also occurred in Sudan against the Amal Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture and Violence. (AAASHRAN Case Number su0101_nag) The Amal Center is located in Khartoum and provides free medical treatment and counseling for victims of human rights abuses. It is the first rehabilitation center to be established in Sudan. In early 2001, authorities arrested the center’s director Dr. Nagib Nagmeldin, a well respected medical doctor and human rights advocate. Authorities arrested him only two days before he was scheduled to meet with the UN Special Human Rights Investigator for Sudan who was visiting on a fact-finding mission. Dr. Nagmeldin was never officially charged and was released 18 days later. Center staff also faced arrest and intimidation for trying to organize events to observe the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

The most recent attacks against a torture treatment center occurred in May 2003 when there was a break-in at the offices of the Center for the Prevention of Torture Victims and their Relatives (CPTRT) in Tegucigalpa. (AAASHRAN case number ho0306_cpt) CPTRT offers psychological support to victims of torture and institutional violence and their family members. The center also conducts trainings with prison personnel, police officers, and administrators in the judicial system on culturally sensitive treatment models and documents cases of torture in Honduras. During the early morning break-in, the main office door was kicked in and computer and paper files containing confidential patient information appeared to have been thoroughly searched. Staff at the CPTRT believe that the break-in had political motives as no office equipment was stolen and may have been intended to intimidate the organization from pursuing their documentation work. Staff members had been researching several high profile cases of police abuse and human rights violations in Honduras.

The UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is a day to focus on the serious issue of state-sponsored torture and its effect on individuals and communities around the world. It also offers a moment to support the work of courageous medical professionals and human rights advocates in their struggle to eradicate the use of torture and to treat survivors. If you are interested in taking action, please consider sending an appeal letter on behalf of the CPTRT. Visit the AAASHRAN site for more information, http://shr.aaas.org/aaashran ¨

Resources:

• The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims site
• The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights site
• United Nations Committee against Torture site

Facts About Torture

Justin VanFleet
SHR Project Coordinator

Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment.”

The UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment defines torture as:

“any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.”

Quick Facts

• Human rights organizations have cited 125 countries where individuals and families have been detained and then tortured or ill-treated.
• Among the refugees from countries of state-sponsored torture, up to 35% have been tortured and 90% have seen the effects of torture.
• There are 500,000 torture survivors in the United States from foreign countries.
  

The UN Voluntary Fund for the Victims of Torture

Established in 1981 to receive voluntary contributions from governments, non-governmental organizations and individuals for distribution to non-governmental organizations providing humanitarian assistance to victims of torture and members of their family

• Minumum amount needed for 2003: US$13 Million
• Fund Amount (as of April 2003): US$1.2 Million
• In 2002 more than 80,000 victims were assisted through the UN Voluntary Fund.

The Torture Victims Relief Act (TVRA), first passed in 1998, is the major source of government funds for torture treatment centers in the United States. The bill now authorizes a total of $25 million - $10 million for U.S. treatment centers, $10 million for treatment centers abroad and $5 million for the UN Voluntary Fund

WWW Links

• Amnesty International Campaign Against Torture
• UN Voluntary Fund for the Victims of Torture
• Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition