Victims Of Torture Research Articles

International Human Rights Litigation: A Guide for Judges

This Guide was written to assist federal judges in managing and resolving federal cases involving international human rights claims, and it provides a comprehensive analysis of all substantive and procedural issues involved. A detailed analysis is provided on the Alien Tort Statute, Torture Victim Protection Act, and other federal statutes. The book also includes a model scheduling order for human rights cases as well as case summaries, tables, and research references. The Guide was drafted to be neutral as between human rights plaintiffs and defendants, and thus should provide useful information for all. Because it was commissioned by a federal government agency (the FJC) for the benefit of federal judges, lawyers, and agencies, the Guide has been placed in the public domain and is available as a free resource. Readers can freely distribute, print, and otherwise use and transmit the Guide in its present form, provided that no changes are made to the manuscript itself. Recommended Citation: David Nersessian, INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LITIGATION: A GUIDE FOR JUDGES (Federal Judicial Center 2016).

Estimation of Sex from Hyoid Bone: A Preliminary Study with Medico-Legal Implications

Clinical forensic medicine includes a wide range of procedures from examination of victims of injuries, sexual assault victim/accused examination, custodial torture victims to much more. A wide range of clinical forensic works are done by clinical specialists including the medical, obstetric, surgical and orthopaedic experts. Standardisation of reports, improving consistency and quality of opinions prepared by experts will facilitate better delivery of justice. Formulating standard operating procedures for use in clinical forensic medicine is therefore the need of the hour.

Against Conduct-Based Immunity in Civil Actions Arising Under the Torture Victim Protection Act

On October 13, 2016, former Israeli Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, was granted immunity and dismissed from a civil action alleging he violated the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (TVPA) by authorizing the torture and extrajudicial killing of an American citizen. Both the government of Israel and the United States Department of State called on the court to grant federal common law foreign official immunity by arguing that Barak was protected from suit because he acted “in his official capacity.” The TVPA, however, permits legal action against foreign defendants who have acted in such a capacity—namely, “under actual or apparent authority, or color of law, of any foreign nation.” Nevertheless, the court determined that the TVPA did not abrogate federal common law immunity “where the sovereign state officially acknowledges and embraces the official’s acts,” allowing the court to also avoid the complicated question of whether the executive branch has the power to order a court to grant immunity. This article argues that the text and legislative history of the TVPA prohibit federal common law conduct-based immunity. First, the mere assertion that a TVPA defendant acted “in his official capacity” is not sufficient to dismiss allegations of torture or extrajudicial killing because the TVPA requires such capacity as a prerequisite to liability. Second, the Act’s legislative history, which directs federal courts to look to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 actions for guidance regarding the immunities available to TVPA defendants, demonstrates Congress’ intent to allow government officials to be held personally liable for acts undertaken in an official capacity—regardless of a foreign state’s acknowledgment or embracement. Finally, while federal courts have an interest in avoiding conflict with the executive branch in cases involving foreign affairs, the executive branch lacks the power to mandate conduct-based foreign official immunity—especially when, as here, the executive branch asserts an incorrect interpretation of federal law.

A Flor de Piel

Doris Salcedo was born in 1958 in Bogotá, Colombia, where she continues to live and work. Considered one of the leading sculptors of her generation, Salcedo has had numerous solo exhibitions around the world, including in New York, London, Lisbon, Rome, and São Paulo. She is the recipient of the Ordway Prize (2005), the Premio “Velázquez” de las Artes Plásticas (2010), and the 9th Hiroshima Art Prize (2014). Described by the artist as a “shroud,” A Flor de Piel is composed entirely of treated and preserved rose petals that have been sutured together by hand. The piece developed out of Salcedo's research into the story of a Colombian nurse who was kidnapped and tortured to death after she provided care to the injured on both sides of Colombia's long civil war. The title of the work is an idiomatic Spanish saying used to describe an overt display of emotion, similar to the English expression of wearing one's heart on one's sleeve. Salcedo explains that “A Flor de Piel started with the simple intention of making a flower offering to a victim of torture, in an attempt to perform the funerary ritual that was denied to her.” Art of Nursing is coordinated by Amy M. Collins, managing editor: [email protected].

Mercy for money: Torture's link to profit in Sri Lanka, a retrospective review.

The purpose of this retrospective study is to describe the pattern of bribe taking in exchange for release from torture, during and after the decades-long war in Sri Lanka. We reviewed the charts of 98 refugee claimants from Sri Lanka referred to the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture for medical assessments prior to their refugee hearings in Toronto between 1989 and 2013. We tallied the number of incidents in which claimants described paying cash or jewelry to end torture, and collected other associated data such as demographics, organizations of the perpetrators, locations, and, if available, amounts paid. We included torture perpetrated by both governmental and nongovernmental militant groups. Collected data was coded and evaluated. We found that 78 of the 95 subjects (82.1%) whose reported ordeals met the United Nations Convention Against Torture/International Criminal Court definitions of torture described paying to end torture at least once. 43 subjects paid to end torture more than once. Multiple groups (governmental and non-governmental) practiced torture and extorted money by doing so. A middleman was described in 32 percent of the incidents. Payment amounts as reported were high compared to average Sri Lankan annual incomes. The practice of torture and related monetary extortion was still reported after the end of the war, inclusive of 2013. Torture in Sri Lanka is unlikely to end while profit motives remain unchallenged. As well as health injuries, victims of torture and their families suffer significant economic injuries while their assailants are enriched. The frequent link between torture and impunity means multiple populations the world over are vulnerable to this abuse.

Restoring Hope and Dignity CVT Manual

The Restoring Hope and Dignity CVT Manual was developed by the Center for Victims of Torture in Minnesota and is meant for group counselling. It was made possible due to financial support from different US Agencies and the US Department of State’s Bureau of Population.

Perspective – The long journey to rehabilitation for torture survivors

This article builds on a presentation given at the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) symposium in Mexico City in December 2016. The symposium theme was ‘Delivering on the promise of the right to rehabilitation’ and was attended by representatives from torture rehabilitation centres across the world.

The Mexico Consensus: a resolution of the fifth General Assembly of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, 9 December 2016

The General Assembly of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) adopted a resolution setting out the collective position of its global membership, which consists of 151 centres in 74 countries.

Gender differences in overgeneralized autobiographical memory in survivors of torture with posttraumatic stress disorder

IntroductionPersons suffering from PTSD show less episodic specificity in recalling autobiographical memories producing what is often referred to as “overgeneralized memories” as it is shown by scientific studies.ObjectiveIn this research, we are focusing our attention on whether this phenomenon is the same for both men and women or it shows gender specificity.MethodThe rehabilitation center for torture victims “Memoria” provided information about people who have recently experienced torture. Some of these victims of torture volunteered to participate in the current research. The participants were assessed with the Harvard trauma questionnaire in order to identify whether they suffer from PTSD or not. A sample of 40 torture survivors with PTSD was selected for the research–20 men and 20 women. The age range is between 20 and 45. On a computer screen, we presented the cue words with the task to recall a past event and time period (month or 5–20 years). The participants pressed a computer key indicating when an event had been recalled, and then, it was described in an audio recorder. The responses were scored 3 for a specific event, 2 a repeated over time event, 1 a general event, 0 none.ResultsBoth sexes revealed a significant correlation between specificity for autobiographical memories and episodic simulations, only in case of women this correlation is higher compared with men (r = 0.83 P < 0.001).ConclusionsFurther research is needed in order to eliminate causalities and to extend the results on other populations.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Corporate Liability under The Torture Victim Protection Act -Focusing on the Offender Status of the Corporation-

Corporate Liability under The Torture Victim Protection Act -Focusing on the Offender Status of the Corporation-

On Jewish Being: Notes on Jean Améry

That the question of identity takes on a sense of urgency, one with its own possibilities and impossibilities, the moment that identity is bound up with death, is hardy surprising. What follows are a series of reflections on the question of identity, Jewish identity, raised by Jean Améry’s remarkable text On the Necessity and Impossibility of Being a Jew (Über Zwang und Unmöglichkeit, Jude zu sein). Améry’s text was of course published in the wake of his own experiences as an active member of the resistance, as having been imprisoned in Auschwitz and as the victim of torture. Philosophically, rather than biographically, if there were a point of comparison, then it is to Levinas’s 1947 text Etre juif. Both pose the problem of how the question of Jewish identity, Jewish being, is to be understood in the wake of the Shoah. The meaning of the formulations - Jude zu sein, Jude sein, Etre juif, Jewish being – delimits the question to be addressed. This will be the case even if its point of address, namely what the question stages, is itself far from straightforward. Moreover, while what is demanded within that question is itself philosophically important, it is equally the case that the question of Jewish being is at work within both communities and synagogues across the Jewish world. As a consequence it is as much a philosophical question as it is one that has a structuring effect on how Jewish survival is conceived (and thus equally on what that survival is taken to be). How survival is understood is an issue that continues to exert its force. Who is the subject of survival? What is the subject of survival? Who or what has been subjected to the issue of survival? Survival is both more nuanced and complex than the brute fact of an afterlife. Jewish being as a present question – a question of the present - continues therefore.

A novel bio-psycho-social approach for rehabilitation of traumatized victims of torture and war in the post-conflict context: a pilot randomized controlled trial in Kosovo.

BackgroundSome evidence showed that multidisciplinary rehabilitation in Western countries is effective for treating war-related trauma, but it remains unclear whether this approach is applicable to civilians living in resource-poor countries affected by war. In 2012–14, Danish Institute against Torture (DIGNITY) conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT), in partnership with Kosova Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims (KRCT), to examine the effects of multidisciplinary intervention among victims of torture and war in Kosovo.MethodsA single-center, randomized, parallel-arm, single-masked, waiting-list controlled trial was implemented in northern Kosovo. Thirty-four participants meeting the recruiting criteria were randomized to either intervention group, which received integrated treatments plus a once-daily multivitamin, or the waiting list group, which received multivitamin alone. The integrated treatments consisted of 10 weekly individual 60-min sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), based on an adapted prolonged exposure therapy manual, an individual 20-min breathing exercise with an emWave biofeedback device, and 90-min group physiotherapy. The waiting list group also received the same treatment after the intervention group had completed their sessions. Outcome assessments were conducted at 3, 6 and 9 months after baseline assessment. Outcomes measures consisted of 4 subtypes: mental, emotional, physical health, functioning and social outcomes, i.e. PTSD, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, anger and hatred expression, body mass index, handgrip strength, standing balance, income, employment rate and disability score.ResultsOver 1/3 of PTSD cases were successfully treated. Inconsistent patterns with mental health and chronic pain outcomes were observed while there was a definite impact of intervention on functioning and social outcomes, i.e. the employment rate, which increased nearly 15 %, and the monthly wage, which rose 45–137 %. There was also a noticeable improvement in handgrip strength and disability score; the feelings of anger and hatred diminished. However, most of these changes did not reach statistical significance.ConclusionsThe impact of bio-psycho-social intervention is likely sensitive to the context of post-war economy in Kosovo and the treatment goals. The potential for improving the emotional well-being and employment outcome in victims was demonstrated. A larger scale RCT in a similar setting is needed, with close monitoring of treatment integrity and data reliability.Trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov (NCT01696578).

A Student-Run Asylum Clinic to Promote Human Rights Education and the Assessment and Care of Asylum Seekers

Tens of thousands of individuals flee human rights violations in their home countries and seek asylum in the United States every year. Less than 40% receive protective status, leaving many torture victims rejected. However, 90% of asylees receiving a medical-legal affidavit are granted asylum, although demand for medical evaluations far exceeds the supply of trained clinicians. By establishing asylum clinics at their medical centers, medical students and licensed clinicians can improve the probability of an asylee obtaining asylum, connect them to vital services, and train more clinicians in their area to address the demand for evaluations. Asylum clinics are also unique educational opportunities for students interested in global health, social justice, and human rights. They operate by pairing student volunteers with clinician volunteers to meet with an asylum seeker for an evaluation. The evaluation involves extensive history-taking, a psychological exam, and a physical exam to note consistency between objective findings and the client’s story. The volunteer team then drafts a medical-legal affidavit for use by the client’s lawyer in immigration court. There may also be post-evaluation follow-up and connection with healthcare or other social services. Students at the Georgetown University School of Medicine (GUSoM) established an asylum program in 2014, hosted two training workshops, and have begun accepting clients’ requests for evaluations. The GUSoM Asylum Program’s operations (including organizational structure and logistics of evaluation), educational opportunities (including mentorship and global health competency), and goals (including increasing capacity for evaluations and further developing partnerships with local stakeholders) are detailed below.

Kazemiou l’inhumaine immunité de l’État tortionnaire en droit canadien

RésuméCet article offre une critique de la jurisprudence canadienne et internationale qui octroie malaisément l’immunité juridictionnelle aux États tortionnaires et à leurs fonctionnaires. Le portrait illustre qu’une inertie s’est développée dans la jurisprudence, ce qui vient freiner l’élaboration d’une exception à l’immunité des États pour les violations aux normes dejus cogenslorsqu’il n’y a pas d’autres recours possibles. Nous avançons que le Parlement canadien devrait modifier laLoi sur l’immunité des Étatspour y ajouter une telle exception. Ce changement pourrait contribuer à la progression du droit international de sorte que l’immunité des États ne puisse être invoquée pour refuser aux victimes de torture leur droit d’obtenir justice.

The Breakdown of the Rule of Law in Sri Lanka: An Overview

This brief report, prepared for the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice and dated September 22, 2010, analyzes the state and the underlying causes of the current breakdown of the rule of law in Sri Lanka. The information herein is drawn primarily, while not exclusively, from three sources: Basil Fernando, Sri Lanka: Impunity, Criminal Justice & Human Rights (Asian Human Rights Commission: Hong Kong, 2010); Justice in retreat: A report on the independence of the legal profession and the rule of law in Sri Lanka (International Bar Association Human Rights Institute [IBAHRI]: London May 2009); Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, The Rule of Law in Decline in Sri Lanka- Study on the Prevalence, Determinants and Causes of Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims: Copenhagen, 2009). The Pinto-Jayawardena report provides a detailed analysis of the causes behind the breakdown of the rule of law in Sri Lanka, while Fernando’s work provides a conceptual and critical analysis of overarching themes that is extremely useful for understanding the situation in Sri Lanka. Facts and figures are also drawn from a wealth of other reports and analyses published by a range of actors, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists, Reporters Without Borders, the International Crisis Group, United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteurs, the European Union, and the Office of War Crimes Issues of the United States Department of State.

Neuropsychological assessment of refugees: Methodological and cross-cultural barriers

ABSTRACTCross-cultural research in neuropsychological assessment has primarily focused on Hispanic and African American populations. Less is known about the impact of language, culture, education, socioeconomic factors, and life experiences on assessment for other cultural groups. We highlight the methodological and cross-cultural barriers encountered at each stage of the neuropsychological assessment of Arabic- and Burmese-speaking refugees, who were culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD). A total of 18 refugees (13 men/five women; in their 20–50s) who were victims of torture in their countries of origin, some with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and now residents in New Zealand, were seen for neuropsychological assessment. Measures were officially translated, back translated, and administered with the assistance of professional interpreters. Multiple challenges arose in terms of administration (e.g., use of interpreters, interactions with the tester, assessment environment, assessment experience, and motivation), scoring, and interpretation (e.g., age appropriate scoring, estimation of prior function, estimation of brain injury severity, obtaining collateral information), the tests themselves, and ecological validity. There are more challenges in the neuropsychological assessment of people who are CALD than can be managed by adhering to current guidelines. The best approach is to find a balance between maintaining assessment integrity and working creatively and sensitively with this group.

The Right to a Remedy for Enforced Disappearances in India: A Legal Analysis of International and Domestic Law Relating to Victims of Enforced Disappearances

The practice of enforced disappearance has reached a global scale, and India is not immune to this human rights violation. Individuals and communities in several Indian states have been targeted for enforced disappearance and suffered injury as a consequence. Simultaneously, international law continues to develop norms to prevent, prohibit, and redress enforced disappearances. As a sovereign state in a global context, India has assumed some, but not all, of these international legal obligations. In order to assist advocates in developing strategies to promote redress for the victims of enforced disappearance, including women placed in the precarious position of losing their family breadwinners, this paper analyzes the international law applicable to enforced disappearances, examines Indian law in light of these international standards, and points to areas where advocates can use international legal standards to argue for reforms to Indian law and policy.This paper proceeds in eight parts. First, it places enforced disappearances in its historical context. Second, it discusses the development of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, a recent treaty that significantly shapes modern international law on enforced disappearances. Third, it examines the international human rights framework for enforced disappearances in India. Fourth, it discusses India’s obligations under international humanitarian law, specialized law that applies during times of armed conflict. Fifth, it reviews the relationship between international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and explores the applicability of these bodies of law to enforced disappearances. Sixth, it examines the international right to a remedy and the various forms that remedies may take. Seventh, it analyzes Indian domestic law against the backdrop of India’s international legal obligations. This analysis offers Indian activists guidance in considering the role that international norms may play in developing an advocacy strategy to promote redress for victims of enforced disappearances and torture. Part eight concludes.This Working Paper was prepared by students in the International Human Rights Law Clinic under the supervision of Laurel E. Fletcher. Angana Chatterji, Co-Chair of for the Project on Armed Conflict Resolution and People's Rights (ACRes), Center for Social Sector Leadership, Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley and Mallika Kaur, Director of Programs, ACRes provided helpful comments. Clinical Fellow Katrina Natale ’15 gave invaluable editorial assistance. We thank Olivia Layug, Associate Administrator for Berkeley Law’s clinical program for her help with production.

Problems and Solutions in US Refugee Resettlement Policy: An Interview with Liyam Eloul

Liyam Eloul is a trauma therapist specialized in the field of refugee mental health. She received her BA in Cultural Psychology from Queen’s University, Ontario, a graduate diploma in Psychosocial Interventions for Refugees and Forced Migrants at the American University in Cairo, and her MA in International Disaster Psychology from the University of Denver. Eloul has worked with resettled refugee populations in the United States and refugee populations in Egypt, Afghanistan, Syria, Oman, and Jordan. She received a Fulbright Award for cross-cultural trauma research in Oman, and has published on mental health and psychosocial programming in the United States, Oman, and Syria. Currently, Eloul is a Psychotherapist Trainer with the Center for Victims of Torture in Amman, Jordan.

Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and State Violence: Medical Documentation of Torture in Turkey.

State authorities invested in developing official expert discourses and practices to deny torture in post-1980 coup d'état Turkey. Documentation of torture was therefore crucial for the incipient human rights movement there in the 1980s. Human rights physicians used their expertise not only to treat torture victims but also to document torture and eventually found the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT) in 1990. Drawing on an ethnographic and archival research at the HRFT, this article examines the genealogy of anti-torture struggles in Turkey and argues that locally mediated intimacies and/or hostilities between victims of state violence, human rights physicians, and official forensics reveal the limitations of certain universal humanitarian and human rights principles. It also shows that locally mediated long-term humanitarian encounters around the question of political violence challenge forensic denial of violence and remake the legitimate levels of state violence.

The Government Contractor Defense and Superior Orders in International Human Rights Law

As military functions are increasingly outsourced to corporate contractors, civil courts face adjudicating issues of tort liability arising from actions occurring in war zones. Currently victims of torture and other invasive military techniques used at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay seek to prevail over issues of sovereign immunity and to hold corporations responsible for the actions of their employees. In response, corporations shield themselves with the government contractor defense, an affirmative defense developed in the context of product liability actions. Recent articles have overwhelmingly suggested that the defense will succeed and often have argued that it should succeed due to issues of sovereign immunity. This article makes a novel claim — a claim which is supported by placing the government contractor defense in the context of international law. This article examines the theoretical foundations of the government contractor defense, and comparing the elements of the defense to the international law of human rights, argues that the government contractor defense is reducible to a claim of “superior orders.” The government contractor defense is attempting to hang on the coattails of sovereign immunity — i.e., the defense is nothing more than an argument that “the government told me to do it.” Indeed, this is what one must argue to present the traditional prima facie case for the government contractor defense: specific orders and compliance with those orders. In light of the analytical similarity between the two defenses, and given the absolute ban of the superior orders defense in international law, the government contractor defense is unacceptable in the context of claims of human rights violations.