International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims
Encyclopedia
The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), is an independent, international health professional organisation that promotes and supports the rehabilitation of torture victims and works for the prevention of torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

 worldwide.

Based in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, the IRCT is the umbrella organisation for more than 140 independent torture rehabilitation organisations in over 70 countries who treat and assist torture survivors and their families. The IRCT seeks to strengthen the capacity of these centres and programmes through training and technical assistance. By rendering these organisations' work visible to the international community of health professionals, international organisations, donors and the general public, the IRCT facilitates collaboration in the field and contributes to development towards a world without torture.

Professionals at the IRCT rehabilitation centres and programmes provide treatment for an estimated 100,000 survivors of torture every year. Victims receive multidisciplinary support including medical and psychological care and legal aid. The aim of the rehabilitation process is to empower torture survivors to resume as full a life as possible.

History

The medical response to the problem of torture began in 1973 with the launch of a campaign by Amnesty International (AI)
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 to help and diagnose torture victims. At this time, very little was known about torture methods or the physical or psychosocial consequences for torture victims.

The first AI group to start this work was founded in Denmark in 1974 and consisted of four voluntary doctors. This group was part of a network of some 4,000 medical doctors from 34 countries worldwide.

It quickly became evident that, in addition to documenting cases of torture for use in potential legal proceedings, it was also critical to identify methods to help treat and rehabilitate victims of torture.

This resulted in the establishment in 1978 of the first medical international working group to address the rehabilitation of torture victims, which held the first international medical seminar on torture, Violations of Human Rights - Torture and the Medical Profession, in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

.

In 1979, members of the Danish medical group obtained permission to admit and examine torture victims at Copenhagen University Hospital
Rigshospitalet
Rigshospitalet - Copenhagen University Hospital, or simply Riget, is the national hospital of Denmark, located in the capital city of Copenhagen, between the streets of Blegdamsvej, Tagensvej and Nørre Allé...

, in Denmark. Three years later, in 1982, the Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims (RCT)
Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims
The Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims is a self-governing institution independent of party politics located in Denmark...

 was founded in Copenhagen by Dr. Inge Genefke
Inge Genefke
-Work:Born in Denmark, Genefke has devoted her career specifically to the treatment and rehabilitation of victims of torture. She began her career in this field in 1973 after Amnesty International issued a plea to physicians throughout the world to assist those who had been tortured.She started as...

, MD, as an independent institution with its own premises.

In response to a growing need for global support and assistance in the rehabilitation of torture victims, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims was founded in 1985, initially as the international arm of the RCT, and, from 1997, as an international and independent organisation.

In 2010, the IRCT will be celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Work

The work of the IRCT can be divided into three areas:
  • Offering rehabilitation services to torture survivors
  • Countering impunity
    Impunity
    Impunity means "exemption from punishment or loss or escape from fines". In the international law of human rights, it refers to the failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and, as such, itself constitutes a denial of the victims' right to justice and redress...

     for perpetrators and promoting justice for survivors
  • Raising awareness
    Awareness
    Awareness is the state or ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects or sensory patterns. In this level of consciousness, sense data can be confirmed by an observer without necessarily implying understanding. More broadly, it is the state or quality of being aware of...

     among policy-makers and citizens


The stated vision of the IRCT is "a world that values and accepts shared responsibility for the eradication of torture". The objective of the organization is to promote the provision of specialized treatment and rehabilitation services for victims of torture and to contribute to the prevention of torture globally. To further these goals, the IRCT seeks on an international basis:

- to develop and maintain an advocacy programme that accumulates, processes and disseminates information about torture as well as the consequences and the rehabilitation of torture

- to establish international funding for rehabilitation services and programmes for the prevention of torture

- to promote the education and training of relevant professionals in the medical as well as social, legal and ethical aspects of torture

- to encourage the establishment and maintenance of rehabilitation services

- to establish and expand institutional relations in the international effort to abolish the practice of torture, and

- to support all other activities that may contribute to the prevention of torture.

The IRCT has special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council and the UN Department of Public Information, and participatory status with the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...

.

Important collaboration partners include (but are not limited to) the World Medical Association
World Medical Association
The World Medical Association is an international and independent confederation of free professional Medical Associations, therefore representing physicians worldwide...

 (WMA), the World Confederation of Physical Therapy (WCPT), the World Psychiatric Association
World Psychiatric Association
The World Psychiatric Association is an international umbrella organisation of psychiatric societies.-Objectives and goals:Originally created to produce world psychiatric congresses, it has evolved to hold regional meetings, to promote professional education and to set ethical, scientific and...

 (WPA), the International Council of Nurses
International Council of Nurses
The International Council of Nurses is a federation of more than 130 national nurses associations. It was founded in 1899 and was the first international organization for health care professionals...

 (ICN), and Physicians for Human Rights
Physicians for Human Rights
Physicians for Human Rights was founded in 1986 by a small group of doctors who believed the unique scientific expertise and authority of health professionals could bring human rights violations to light and provide justice for victims...

 (PHR).

The IRCT also works in partnership with governments, human rights organisations, health professional organisations and intergovernmental organisations.

Publications

  • TORTURE journal, a journal on rehabilitation of torture victims and prevention of torture.

Structure

The IRCT comprises four bodies: the General Assembly, the Council, the Executive Committee, and the General Secretariat.

General Assembly

The IRCT General Assembly is to meet every three years and comprises accredited rehabilitation centres and programmes worldwide. The General Assembly provides a forum in which representatives of rehabilitation centres and programmes, and others working in related fields, may facilitate and press forward the global work against torture.

The first IRCT General Assembly was conducted as a Written General Assembly on 16 June - 6 July 2003. All rehabilitation centres and programmes which are accredited with the IRCT were eligible to participate in the General Assembly, the forum in which the IRCT Council is elected.

A total of 94 accredited rehabilitation centres and programmes participated in the 2003 IRCT Written General Assembly.

Council and Executive Committee

According to the IRCT Statutes and Bylaws, the IRCT Council is elected by the General Assembly and comprises up to 30 members, 27 representing rehabilitation centres and programmes worldwide, and three independent experts. The Council is the principal policy making and advisory standard-setting body of the IRCT, and includes the seven members of the Executive Committee.

The allocation of seats to the IRCT Council by region is as follows:
  • Europe – 7 seats
  • Asia – 4 seats
  • North America – 2 seats
  • Latin America – 4 seats
  • Sub Sahara Africa – 4 seats
  • Middle East and North Africa – 3 seats
  • Pacific – 2 seats
  • Independent experts – 3 seats
  • Country of domicile of the IRCT General Secretariat (Denmark) – 1 seat.

General Secretariat

The General Secretariat, based in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, is the operational body of the IRCT, responsible for the management and implementation of the IRCT's policies and programmes in support of the rehabilitation of torture victims and the prevention of torture worldwide.

The General Secretariat consists of the Office of the Secretary-General, Administration and Finance Unit, Communications Unit, Programme Unit, and the Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 Liaison Office.

See also

  • List of IRCT members
  • UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture - 26 June
    International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
    The United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture – 26 June is held annually on 26 June to speak out against the crime of torture and to honour and support victims and survivors throughout the world.- History :...

  • Torture (journal)
    Torture (journal)
    Torture is a peer-reviewed medical journal on rehabilitation of torture victims and prevention of torture, published by the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, indexed in MEDLINE....

  • Inge Genefke
    Inge Genefke
    -Work:Born in Denmark, Genefke has devoted her career specifically to the treatment and rehabilitation of victims of torture. She began her career in this field in 1973 after Amnesty International issued a plea to physicians throughout the world to assist those who had been tortured.She started as...

  • Istanbul Protocol
    Istanbul Protocol
    The Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, commonly known as the Istanbul Protocol, is the first set of international guidelines for documentation of torture and its consequences...

  • Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (2006)
  • Torture
    Torture
    Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

  • Psychology of torture
    Psychology of torture
    Torture, whether physical or psychological or both, depends on complicated interpersonal relationships between those who torture, those tortured, bystanders and others. Torture also involves deeply personal processes in those tortured, in those who torture and in others...

  • The Secret Life of Words
    The Secret Life of Words
    The Secret Life of Words is a 2005 Spanish film, directed by Isabel Coixet and starring Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins. The film was released on December 15, 2006 and grossed a worldwide total of $6,410,058.-Plot:...

    - 2005 film
  • Committee for the Prevention of Torture
    Committee for the Prevention of Torture
    The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment or shortly Committee for the Prevention of Torture is the anti-torture committee of the Council of Europe...

  • European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
    European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
    The European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment was adopted by the member states of the Council of Europe, meeting at Strasbourg on 26 November 1987. It was subsequently amended by two Protocols that entered into force on 1 March 2002...

  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights
    Universal Declaration of Human Rights
    The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...


Further reading


External links

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