Friends of TASSC Second Annual Fundraising And Awards Dinner.
This annual event begins with a wonderful meal followed by an inspiring and thought-provoking program featuring: “A Survivor’s Perspective,” a brief talk given by one of the many survivors helped by TASSC. Awards will be presented to three individuals and organizations whose work exemplifies the dedication and passion it takes to battle torture. Our special guest, Stephen Xenakis, M.D., is a leading military critic of U.S. torture policy. A retired Brigadier General whose 28 year career in the army medical corps gives him a unique and insightful understanding of the treatment of detainees and the military’s policies on torture. Don’t miss this exciting event. For more detailed information, go to our website.
WHEN: Saturday, April 16, 2011, 6:00-9:00pm (6pm drinks, 6:45 dinner; 7:45 recognition awards; 8pm keynote address).
WHERE: Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington.
4444 Arlington Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22204.
Tickets $45, Table for eight people $360.
Attendees may also sponsor a survivor to attend the event for an additional $45.
Please note, you will not receive a ticket to this event. Once you have reserved your seat online or by check, your name will be added to our guest list and your seat will be confirmed. Seats are limited so be sure to reserve your seat today! Thank you for your support.
The April 16 fundraising dinner is sponsored by Northern Virginians for Peace and Justice (NVPJ), the Global Peace through Justice Committee (GPJ) of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, and the Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture (WRRCAT).
The sponsors and TASSC will present Recognition Awards to one individual and two organizations.
Coleen Kivlahan, M.D., MSPH, will be recognized for the work she does to provide appropriate medical examinations and careful documentation of the physical damage resulting from torture, which is not only good medical care, but it is also essential court evidence for torture survivors seeking asylum. As such, she has contributed significantly to the treatment and healing of torture survivors.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) will be recognized for the work it does in its Campaign Against Torture. In response to the systematic infliction of psychological and physical torture by U.S. forces, PHR has sought to restore the U.S. commitment against torture, ensure humane treatment of detainees, and to protect U.S. personnel from complicity in torture. Most recently PHR published its white paper Experiments in Torture: Evidence of Human Subject Research and Experimentation in the “Enhanced” Interrogation Program, in which it calls for, among other things, a thorough investigation by the White House and Congress, accountability for those responsible, and compensation for victims. As such, Physicians for Human Rights has contributed significantly to the struggle against torture.
Witness Against Torture will be recognized for their work in conducting a series of nonviolent direct actions to expose and decry the U.S. administration’s lawlessness, build awareness about torture and indefinite detention amongst Americans and forge human ties with the prisoners at Guantanamo and their families. Most recently, from January 11th to the 22nd, to mark the ninth anniversary of the detention center’s opening and to protest the Obama administration’s failure to close it, Witness Against Torture led an 11-day Fast for Justice and held daily vigils and demonstrations throughout Washington, haunting the sites of power with the specter of Guantanamo’s cruel injustice. Through their demonstrations, their sacrifice and their fierce determination, Witness Against Torture has kept Guantanamo and the U.S.‘s failure to rectify its injustices in the spotlight, and, as such, has contributed significantly to the struggle against torture.
Stephen Xenakis, M.D., the keynote speaker, is a leading military critic of U.S. Torture policy. He is a retired Brig. Gen., with a 28-year Army career as a medical corps officer, and has written widely on medical ethics, military medicine, and the treatment of detainees. He held a wide variety of assignments as a clinical psychiatrist, staff officer, and senior commander including Commanding General of the Southeast Army Regional Medical Command. When the American Medical Association publicly came out against the Pentagon guidelines by prohibiting its members from being involved in interrogations, Dr. Xenakis began working with Physicians for Human Rights to lobby the American Psychological Association to also issue a formal opposition to the guidelines. When the APA fell short of explicitly prohibiting its members from designing, implementing, or assisting in interrogations, Dr. Xenakis spoke out on behalf of military and civilian personnel caught in command structures and operational settings that demand their participation in abusive interrogation techniques. He has spoken out repeatedly about the extensive evidence that tracks how psychological torture by U.S. personnel – including sensory deprivation, sexual humiliation, and forced nudity – were not isolated to Abu Ghraib but also systematic and central to the interrogation process of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. Dr. Xenakis has an active clinical and consulting practice.
