Rehab and prevention” “

Beatings, electroshock, suffocation, immersion, sexual violence, solitary confinement, threats, humiliation and degradation: these are just some of the methods of physical and psychological torture inflicted on prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad by American military personnel, who now defend themselves: “orders from above – they say – We had been told to make them see hell”. The scandal of torture in Iraq is growing and involves both the American and British high commands. Submitting prisoners to torture to extort information, confessions or to spread terror among the population, even if condemned by various international conventions, is a rather widespread practice in the world, not only in war zones but also in dictatorial regimes. For this reason the phenomenon is being monitored by various associations, including the International Council for the Rehabilitation of the Victims of Torture (IRCT) – based in Denmark – and the World Organization Against Torture (WOAT); both agencies run centres in Europe for the recovery of victims of torture and maltreatment. At the present time there are over a hundred countries in which torture is practised. Returning to normal life. States of anxiety, insomnia, nightmares, depression and loss of memory are the main long-term effects of torture, without forgetting the physical consequences, which require long and appropriate medical treatment. According to IRCT, due to the inhuman treatment they have received, the victims feel a sense of guilt and shame, because they feel they have betrayed themselves, their friends and their families. Whoever suffers torture does not suffer alone, but suffers together with the circle of his/her family and friends: as if to say that torture sends a strong warning to all those who, like the prisoner, form part of a given political, social and religious opposition. The aim of rehabilitation is to return the victim to as normal a life as possible. The centres of rehabilitation provide a multidisciplinary approach including medical treatment, psychological support and legal assistance. The families of victims are also included in the programme, especially spouses and children. Families – as frequently ascertained – often feel guilty for what has happened. GermanY. Founded in 1992 with the support of the German Red Cross, the Behandlungszentrum für Folteropfer Berlin (BZFO – centre for the treatment of the victims of torture in Berlin) – is a rehab centre for the victims of torture. “Torture as ‘scourge of the 20th century’ is widespread throughout the world. It is becoming ever more sophisticated, and carried out by specialists”, says the centre’s website (www.bzfo.de). According to figures furnished by BZFO, the number of patients treated more than tripled from 1992 to 2002 (from 145 to 473). The centre – organized as a polyclinic in which 26 full-time staff and many volunteers provide medical and administrative services – is unable to cope with all the requests for treatment and a waiting list for patients exists. Since the summer of 2000, the BZFO has also been offering rehab treatment for children and adolescents. “The centre”, the website insists, “is politically neutral” and vindicates its own role “solely” by virtue of the international conventions banning the use of torture. TurKEY. The Human Rights Foundation in Turkey (HRFT) has been in operation since 1990 (www.tihv.org.tr). Doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers all provide services in the Foundation. It is calculated that in the 14 years of its activity, over 7,200 victims of torture have been treated in the five rehab centres run by the Foundation in Istanbul, Ankara, Yzmir, Adana and Diyarbakyr. An important role is also played by the Turkish Documentation Centre that has gathered information on human rights violations from 1980 to the present day. The research is not just confined to the mere collection of data but also extends to the medical field. Particular studies have been conducted on the diagnosis of ‘falanga’ (torture conducted by beating the soles of the feet). At the same time the centre tries to address the phenomenon of medical reports issued to the survivors of torture that make no mention of the maltreatment they have suffered. Rehabilitation also includes legal assistance and reinsertion in the world of work or school. GreECE. Rehabilitating the victims of torture and their families, informing public opinion about the scourge of torture and identifying forms of prevention: these are some of the aims of the Medical Rehabilitation Centre for the Victims of Torture (www.mrct.org) inaugurated in Athens in 1989. On average 400 victims in large part from Iraq, Turkey, Iran and the Balkan and Sub-Saharan area are treated in the Centre each year. The average age of the persons treated is just over 34; women form less than 10%, married persons 48%. Legal assistance is also provided: those who have suffered torture have a greater chance of being granted the status of asylum seekers. Sweden. The first Swedish centre for the rehabilitation of torture victims and the campaign to stamp out torture has been established in Stockholm. It’s called the Red Cross Centre for Tortured Refugees (www.redcross.se) and is addressed at all refugees subjected to torture in their countries of origin. They are offered a programme of physical and psychological rehabilitation. According to the Centre, some 10,000 people now resident in Sweden have been subjected to torture. The main difficulty is to persuade the victims of torture to speak about what they have suffered. The mere memory in fact causes states of anxiety, fear, irritation and nightmares. Some 250 refugees are treated in the centre each year. Many of them report suicidal tendencies, sexual dysfunctions and depression. In 50% of the cases interpreters are used for translation and this does not help the work of confidential contact. The task of insertion in Swedish society is complicated by the fact that the country’s educational system often does not recognise foreign educational qualifications. Finland. Founded in 1993, the Finnish Centre for Torture Survivors (CTSF) (www.hdl.fi) is dedicated to the rehabilitation of the victims of maltreatment using modern psychiatric therapies. It also makes us of physiotherapy, meetings with families and musicotherapy. The ‘patients’ are given personalised treatment, also by involving their families. Over a hundred victims (80% men, 20% women), a growing number, are subjected to rehabilitation each year. The ‘post trauma’ Therapy Centre in Oulu and Helsinki also works in close liaison with the CTSF. Bosnia-HErzegovina. During the Balkan conflict, mass torture was part of the strategy of war. The aim was genocide, ethnic cleansing and mass expulsion. According to the estimates of the Documentation Centre of the Association of Camp Survivors, 39,000 were killed in the camps and 250,000 survived, many of them tortured. No less than 32 methods of torture, of which 17 fatal, were documented. They included physical, psychological and sexual torture. The centre for the Victims of Torture in Sarajevo (CTV) (Tel. 00387/71/446254, e-mail: ctvmost@bih.net.ba), founded in 1997 with funding provided by the European Commission, deals with the rehabilitation of the victims of torture, but at the same time promotes a programme of monitoring, awareness-raising and prevention of the phenomenon. At the medical level, psychological and psychiatric assistance, and ophthalmic, gynaecological and cardiological treatment are provided. Over 500 victims have passed through the Centre since 1997. Romania, Serbia-Montenegro, Albania. Centres for the rehabilitation of the victims of torture are also active in Romania (www.icarfoundation.ro), Serbia-Montenegro (www.ian.org.yu) and Kosovo (KRCT). According to studies conducted in these centres, but especially in Albania and Kosovo, the main disturbances registered in the children of families whose members have been subjected to torture and maltreatment are: poor performance at school, lack of self-control, isolation, anxiety, passivity, regression and rigidity in play, lack of self-esteem. The symptoms commonly registered in women victims are nightmares, loss or increase of weight, apathy, depression, fear of the unknown, sense of shame, loss of sexual desire, fear of physical contact, loss of the will to live; those in men, anger, loss of self-control, tendency to isolation, fear of the future, depression, sense of guilt, irritation, inability to concentrate. The treatment and rehabilitation of these victims are assigned to a team of KRCT experts and specialists based in Pristina. Many of them are former refugees, who have suffered the horrors of war, detention and torture. european Committee for the prevention of torture. Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights – “no one shall be subjected to torture, or to inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment” – inspired the drawing up of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture or Inhuman or Degrading Treatment in 1987. The Convention covers the protection of persons in detention, through a system of visits conducted by the European Committee for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading punishments or treatment (CPT). The CPT forms part of the General Directorate of Human Rights of the Council of Europe. Its members include jurists, doctors and experts in penitentiary or police questions. The CPT visits places of detention, police stations, holding camps for foreigners and psychiatric hospitals, to verify how detainees are being treated, and to recommend improvements to the States in question. The delegations of the CPT have unlimited access to all places of detention within which they have the right to move about without restriction. They may meet with detainees, without the presence of witnesses, and freely communicate with anyone who may provide them with useful information. At the present time the Convention has been ratified by the 44 member states of the Council of Europe. For further information: www.cpt.coe.int.