Torture Rehabilitation Experts from 80 Nations Meet in Mexico City International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims
go to original December 5, 2016

Let's erase torture (IRCT)

Rehabilitating survivors of torture - the infliction of severe mental or physical pain or suffering for a specific purpose - and enforcing the legal obligations of nations to provide help is the agenda of a world scientific symposium in Mexico City Dec. 5-7.

Over 300 participants - 70% of them clinical professionals - from 80 nations will exchange expertise, experience and research on torture rehabilitation at the three-day event, organized by the Denmark-based International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims.

More than 100 presentations will address issues ranging from widespread torture in Syria, the refugee transit camps of southern Europe and elsewhere, the plight of Central American migrants, and a trio of talks on the US detention centre opened in 2006 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the denial of help to survivors is called "torture by other means."

Torture thrives in the 21st Century. Amnesty International has documented cases over the past five years in more than 140 countries - three-quarters of all nations - leaving victims to deal with a range of long-term consequences.

Torture victims have the right to rehabilitation under the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Only a small percentage of victims, however, have access to services says the IRCT, an umbrella organization with more than 150 member institutions worldwide.

The symposium is billed as the first global event to look in detail and across disciplines at how to deliver on the right to rehabilitation.

Symposium speakers include service providers, researchers, clinicians, lawyers, funders and policymakers.

Presentations are clustered around three questions:

• What works for who, where and why? Trends and developments in research on rehabilitation methods

• What are the challenges in implementing the right to rehabilitation?

• Getting the needed political, financial, legal and public support

• What can we learn from others? Sharing knowledge with other human rights and health sectors

A complete set of conference abstracts is available online: Oral presentations | Posters

Read the rest at EurekAlert!

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