Torture Survivors Need More Help from California

This op-ed piece, written by Kathi Anderson, the Executive Director of Survivors of Torture, International in San Diego and Gregory Hall, a senior program officer with the California Endownment, urges legislative action to address the needs of torture survivors in California. To read the article, click 'read more.'

Torture survivors need more help from California

By Kathi Anderson and Gregory Hall -

Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, June 26, 2008
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B7

Imagine waking up one morning and instead of carrying out your daily routine, you are kidnapped at gunpoint and taken to a location where you are systematically and brutally beaten, with the fear that death would be the only escape.

That was a real experience for Carlos Mauricio, who was kidnapped in El Salvador in 1983 and tortured by his captors over a two-week period. Luckily, he survived to tell his story, and so have thousands of other survivors of torture now residing in California.

As detailed in last week's Sacramento Bee series on the treatment of terror suspects, torture isn't just something that happened in Central America in the 1980s. It's been used in the so-called war on terror, in the genocide in Darfur, and in numerous other conflicts where perpetrators - be they dictators, police, paramilitary forces, government officials or opposition forces - find ways to justify its use and avoid accountability.

Our state is home to the largest number of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants in the United States. Many of them had to flee their homelands from unspeakable cruelty. Some were students, professors or other professionals who excelled in fields such as medicine, government, business, agriculture and community leadership, yet were targeted for persecution by their governments for what they thought, said or did.

Others were tortured as a way of punishing family members accused of opposition to political activities. Some were members of persecuted religious, ethnic, national or social groups. Others were in the wrong place at the wrong time, tortured as part of a government's campaign to terrorize and intimidate populations.

As expected, the lasting physical and psychological repercussions for survivors of torture can be a daily struggle.

Many suffer in silence as they strain to hold down jobs and adjust to a new life in the United States. This is made worse by the fact that most asylum seekers lack access to basic health care until they are granted asylum, which can take years. This presents a public health hazard, in addition to needless pain and suffering on the part of the asylum seeker.

Across the state, treatment centers and law firmswork to minimize these obstacles to care. In the Bay Area, the Center for Justice and Accountability, the Center for Survivors of Torture, the Institute for Redress & Recovery, and Survivors International provide torture survivors with the specialized care they need.

In Los Angeles, survivors can turn to the Program for Torture Victims and the Legal Aid Foundation. In San Diego, Survivors of Torture, International provides a holistic program of services. All the organizations are part of the California Consortium of Torture Treatment Centers.

Mauricio is an example of the positive impact these services can have on a survivor of torture. The centers address the physical and psychological effects of torture, pursue justice for survivors, assist families and provide communities of healing where survivors can build positive relationships.

Yet the centers struggle to meet the needs of torture survivors who have come from more than 100 countries, speak dozens of languages and dialects, and have complex health and mental health needs. States such as Minnesota and New York already have taken the lead in creating health care programs that provide assistance to survivors of torture. Unfortunately, California has been slower to recognize and respond to the needs of survivors.

Today is June 26, the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Representatives from the California Consortium of Torture Treatment Centers are convening in Sacramento to educate state lawmakers about the importance and effectiveness of torture treatment centers.

We encourage members of the Legislature to recognize this unique population, to bring them out of our state's shadows, and to join our effort to ensure torture survivors have access to the specialized treatment they need to become healthy, productive members of our communities. It will benefit us all.

About the writer:

· Kathi Anderson is the executive director of Survivors of Torture, International. Gregory Hall is a senior program officer with the California Endowment, which supports programs addressing the health care needs of torture survivors.

Global Solidarity Statement

International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims Statement: "Let's Erase Torture"

The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) has released the statement of global solidarity against torture to be read on June 26th, The UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

STATEMENT FOR GLOBAL READING ON 26 JUNE 2008

Ladies and gentlemen,

For over a decade, the world has marked the 26 June as the occasion of the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. On this day, thousands of individuals and organisations around the globe speak out against torture and insist that torture survivors’ needs and rights be fulfilled.

Among those who raise their voice on this day are the treatment centres and programmes affiliated with the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims – the IRCT. Today, on behalf of Survivors International, I am proud to read out this statement, which is being delivered by dozens of human rights defenders in many other countries across the world right now. It is a statement of global solidarity, to show that regardless of where we are, we raise a collective voice to say NO to torture. It is a statement in honour of those who have suffered under torture’s cruel hand; and a reminder to us all that no matter where we live or work, there are torture survivors among us. Daily they show extraordinary courage as they attempt to heal from the physical and mental wounds of their experience.

"Let’s erase torture" is the theme for the global 26 June campaign. With this theme, we’re calling upon policy-makers as well as the general public to act to eradicate torture, and to assist survivors toward erasing the scars of torture from their bodies and minds.

Rehabilitation services – such as medical care, counselling, legal aid and social support – are a way to heal those scars. Within the IRCT’s global membership of 139 treatment centres and programmes, each year more than a hundred thousand torture survivors and their families receive such services.

However, in spite of the vital services they provide, many of these centres struggle to find the resources to continue their work, and to extend their hand to those in need. But you can help by ensuring, in whatever capacity you are able, that they can keep their doors open. If you are a policymaker, you can help to prioritise rehabilitation services by passing legislation that supports survivors’ rights to treatment and redress. If you are a donor, you can financially support your local treatment centre or the IRCT. And as a citizen there are many ways you can offer your support - through donation of time, resources or money to your local centre or by speaking out about the importance of rehabilitation in your community.

Your efforts are important! Because sadly, torture is not a phenomenon that exists "somewhere else" – it is widespread in more than one hundred countries, and anyone can become its victim. The good news is that there are tools to help us wipe the slate clean and create societies without torture.

Among them is the United Nations Convention against Torture, which came into force on 26 June 1987. This convention commits the authorities in each and every country to actively prevent torture and to support survivors and their families when torture has taken place. Another key tool is the Convention’s Optional Protocol, which obliges its signatories to establish mechanisms for independent monitoring places of detention – one of the primary places where torture occurs. Important as they are, many states have not ratified these instruments, and among those who have, some continue to systematically practice torture and ill-treatment.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As concerned citizens we must call upon our governments to ratify and abide by these and other international conventions, which aim to protect men, women and children from the awesome power of the state. Speaking out against torture – breaking the silence – is a vital first step to bring perpetrators to justice and to honour survivor’s needs and rights.

Today, let us pay tribute to the dignity and strength of torture survivors everywhere. It is in their name that we issue the call "Let’s erase torture" – so that all of us can live in a world where the man-made disaster called torture is wiped away.

California Immigrant Policy Center Guide to Assisting Survivors of Trafficking and Domestic Violence in California

In January of 2007, California became the first state in the nation to provide assistance to survivors of trafficking, domestic violence and other serious crimes while they take steps to qualify for federal support. The California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC) in alliance with advocates for survivors of domestic violence and trafficking and the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, sponsored this legislation which has offered a veritable lifeline of support to trafficking and other victims, helping them and their children find a safe environment and become self-sufficient.

CIPC is happy to announce the release of a guide to assistance for victims of trafficking, domestic violence and other serious crimes in California. To read, click here

Although this document is a technical guide for advocates who help victims of trafficking and domestic violence, it is really much more. It helps open the door to a new life for people who in many cases have suffered unspeakable crimes and have no where else to turn. CIPC thanks authors Tanya Broder of the National Immigration Law Center and Sheila Neville of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles for the extraordinary work they did to provide this critical information.

The report, which is called "Benefits for Immigrant Victims of Trafficking, Domestic Violence and Other Serious Crimes in California," includes information about state and local benefits available to survivors of trafficking and others who are in that critical period when they have not yet qualified for federal aid, but are in great need of medical attention and other services to help them cope with the abuse they have suffered. These include health care services under Medi-Cal and Healthy Families, as well as assistance under the CalWORKs program, the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI), nutrition assistance, job training and other critical services.

The 13-page report includes a helpful benefits chart that can be used to determine what benefits are available to a client and a list of websites for further information. It also includes a list of organizations that provide legal services if a client or advocate is having difficulties determining a person's eligibility for benefits.

Physicians for Human Rights Report: "Broken Laws, Broken Lives"

In Physicians for Human Rights' new report, Broken Laws, Broken Lives, we have for the first time medical evidence to confirm first-hand accounts of men who endured torture by US personnel in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay. These men were never charged with any crime. To download the Executive Summary of the free report Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical Evidence of Torture by US Personnel and Its Impact, click here.