- A Formidable Task for Torture’s Healers
Torture is the most effective weapon against democracy...Unless we find ways to understand and to heal the legacy of torture, our efforts to build democratic institutions will fail.
—Douglas A. Johnson, Executive Director, Center for Victims of Torture, USA
Despite the particular personal and political legacy of torture, the global community has only given specialized care to torture victims for about 25 years. Amnesty International's 1972 Campaign for the Abolition of Torture first targeted the distinct villainy of torture. As part of the campaign, doctors working to document cases of torture recognized the need for specialized treatment of victims. Various working groups to treat torture victims emerged from this medical network, beginning with a Chilean group in 1975. Independent centers succeeded the working groups. These include the Rehabilitation and Research Center for Torture Victims (RCT) in Denmark (1982), the Canadian Center for Victims of Torture (1983), the Center for Victims of Torture in Minnesota (1985), and since 1985 a new international arm of RCT, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), which provides global support for torture treatment.
The United Nations has also recognized the particular challenges of dealing with the effects of torture, establishing the Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture in 1981. The fund pools donations from governments, non-governmental organizations and individuals and distributes them globally to centers that provide "medical, psychological, social, economic, legal, humanitarian or other forms of assistance to victims of torture and members of their families." Until 1992, however, the U.N. fund remained a meager source of grant money.
In 1992, the United States demonstrated its commitment to human rights by increasing its contributions to the fund. In a similar vein, the United States passed the Torture Victims Relief Act in 1998 to provide significant funding to the treatment of torture victims worldwide. This led to the allocation of $20 million in 2004 to support U.S. treatment centers, $11 million to support foreign centers, and $6 million to the U.N. Voluntary Fund.
Today, there are nearly two hundred treatment centers for torture victims worldwide, with about half in Europe and North America. According [End Page 153] to the IRCT, there are also 27 in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia; 25 in sub-Saharan Africa; 17 in South Asia; 15 in Latin America; 10 in the Middle East and North Africa; and 7 in Australia and New Zealand. Many centers perform research and take political action in addition to treating clients.
As treatment centers have proliferated, so has the practice of torture. According to Amnesty International, 45 percent of countries practiced torture in 1973, but that number grew to 77 percent by 2000. The brief history of torture treatment complicates the efforts of providers to meet these current challenges. Many victims live in areas where there are no centers to help them. International funding still falls far short of the levels necessary to reach and treat these victims. Finally, there remains a paucity of research on the effects of torture and the best methods to rehabilitate survivors. Torture has had a head start in its race with caregivers, and treatment professionals are desperate to catch up.