Good practices with victims of torture

. Introduction and support from the European Commission According to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the term «torture» is 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. In the modern political and economic context, the use of force against humans has changed substantially compared with the period when these classical definitions were made. In some countries, the police and the army no longer have control over the population, and many different kinds of local “militia” and armed groups can exercise violence freely. Thus, it has become more and more common that torture is not exercised by the authorities but facilitated by their weakness. Within this framework, we must commend the work of the European Union in implementing human rights policies aimed at the prevention and eradication of all forms of torture and maltreatment worldwide. The EU’s guidelines against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment serve to protect and promote human rights in the countries outside the European Union. These guidelines serve to identify ways and means to effectively work towards the prevention of torture and other maltreatment within the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The EU also works closely with civil society. Under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) the EU provides considerable funding to civil society groups working to end torture or to rehabilitate the victims of torture. The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) estimates that approximately 400,000 survivors of torture Good Practices with Victims of Torture currently live in the EU; the vast majority of them as refugees. According to the IRCT, only 4%—16,000 people—receive medical, psychological and social support on an annual basis. It is also estimated that around 20% of asylum seekers in the EU have been subjected to some form of violence or torture. The EIDHR currently helps fund torture rehabilitation activities in 41 countries worldwide, including support to 20 torture rehabilitation centres and networks in 16 EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Alongside these policies from the European Union regarding victims of torture, we must mention the Pilot Project/Preparatory Action on Victims of Torture, whose main purpose is to help create and support rehabilitation centres and to provide multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary assistance to victims of torture. This support includes physical and psychotherapeutic treatment, psycho-social counselling, legal services and socio-economic support. It is managed entirely by the European Commission on the basis of an annual work programme and a call for proposals. Torture and other forms of human rights violations threaten human dignity and are constituted by a traumatic process that demands a response combining therapy and other specialised treatments in order to deal with various issues like: psychological, psychiatric and social damages suffered by the victims and their relatives; the disintegration of the family and other social relationships; and other reactions brought on by suffering such as: violence inside and outside the family, conduct disorders, addictions, and mental illnesses. It is worthwhile to highlight the article written by Dr. José Quiroga and the professional James Jaranson, in which they discuss the subject of torture. According to their experiences, the mental health consequences of torture shown by the individual are usually more persistent and extended than the physical aftereffects. The problems most often reported are psychological symptoms (anxiety, depression, irritability/aggressiveness, emotional liability, self-isolation, withdrawal); cognitive symptoms (confusion/disorientation; memory and concentration impairments); and neuro-vegetative symptoms (lack of energy, insomnia, nightmares, sexual dysfunction). The most frequent psychiatric diagnoses are posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression, which have a high level of concurrence. Other anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder and generalised anxiety disorder, are frequently diagnosed. In some samples, substance abuse is a problem. Long-term effects include changes in personality or worldview, which are not adequately described in the diagnostic nomenclature (Quiroga & Jaranson, 2005). In concluding this section, it is worthwhile to highlight the consequences of torture in a specific group: asylum seekers. Those who have been denied refugee status and now suffer from an irregular administrative situation are particularly affected. This group is very important because it constitutes the majority of beneficiaries with whom we have worked. 11 Moreover, we must elaborate on the connection between administrative irregularities and social vulnerability. There are several elements that lead to social vulnerability, such as: an unstable situation and resident status in the host country, a lack of financial self-sufficiency, the presence of chronic and complex trauma of the person in question, experiencing discrimination, and the language skills of the asylum seekers. There are examples of people with no identification card from their country of origin, some of whom lack access to important documents even through their country’s embassy because their governments have persecuted them. Without a passport, it is very hard to register in the local council, to access health services, and, in the case of minors, to gain access to schooling. According to some countries, this inability to register with the local council makes administrative regularisation impossible and creates serious obstacles for the asylum seeker who cannot prove the amount of time he or she has spent in the host country, which is necessary when applying for a residence permit. There are also those who have identification documents from their countries of origin, but who at the same time are not fully aware of their rights and duties in their new environment, and are thus unable to legalise their administrative situation in the host country. For these reasons, we decided to arrange a Seminar in Barcelona (May 2015).

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Reference: 
2015
42 p. | Barcelona : Asociación EXIL Comissió Catalana d’Ajuda al Refugiat
http://www.arq.org/sites/default/files/domain-9/Good%20practices%20with%20victims%20of%20torture.pdf