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.