THANK YOU!  Your help and support make a huge difference in the lives of torture survivors.  Thanks to your generosity this year’s survivor week was a huge success! For pictures, visit  Survivor Week Photos. Fifty survivors completed the 2nd annual Human Rights Training, offering testimony of their immigration, detention, asylum and family reunification experiences, and taking part in three workshops with policy organizations, service providers, and peacebuilding facilitators. Forty survivors joined forty student interns from The Washington Center to lobby 25 Congressional Offices and to ask the U.S. to end or condition its aid to countries that torture. Seven people, including five survivors from TASSC, offered testimony before a Congressional briefing with the Tom Lantos...
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WE REMEMBER: The Names. The Faces. The Souls of the Tortured. The Disappeared. The Lost. So They Are Not Forgotten. TASSC 12-Hour Vigil June 25, Saturday, 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM Southeast Quadrant of Lafayette Park, in front of the White House   Theme I: Gathering and Sharing  7:00     Arrival 7:30     Lighting of the Candles 8:00     Welcome 8:10     Opening Ceremony 8:40     TASSC International Communities of Healing 9:00     Cultural Expressions 9:20     TASSC International Communities of Healing 9:40     Cultural Expressions 10:00   TASSC International Communities of Healing 10:20   Cultural Expressions 10:40   TASSC International Communities of Healing   Theme II: Breaking the Silence and Speaking Out 11:00   Cultural Expressions 11:15   Reckoning with Torture 11:30   Preparation for a Public...
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ADVOCACY DAY: Developing a U.S. Response to Countries that Torture Thursday, June 23, 3:00 – 5:00 PM,  Congressional Briefing, 2168 Rayburn In conjunction with the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission “Developing a US Response to Countries that Torture: Survivor Witnesses from Four Continents” Presenters: Ethiopia: Hussein Ahmed, Delegate from the Oromia Support Group and Witness before the 45th Session of the Committee against Torture (CAT) in November 2010 Philippines and Asia: Mary Aileen Bacalso, Secretary-General, Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) Pakistan: Munawar Laghari, Executive Director of the Sindhi American Political Action Committee (SAPAC) and co-founder of TASSC International Philippines: Melissa Roxas, US citizen and human rights activist Honduras: Nora Miselem, Coordinator of the Office for the Attention...
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June 20, Monday, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM (TASSC Office, 4121 Harewood Road, NE, Washington DC 20017) Sponsored by TASSC International and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service This program aims to share the dramatic experience of torture survivors and their immigration, detention, asylum, and family reunification journey. We hope to strengthen collaboration among advocates who work with immigrants, refugees, and torture survivors in the Washington DC Metropolitan area. Two survivors from TASSC International will participate on each panel. 9:00     Gather and Welcome 9:30     Introduction to the Survivor Journey 10:00   Survivor Panel 1: The Immigration Journey: From Africa to Latin America to the US 10:30   Response: Leslie Velez, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service; Annie Sovcik,...
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June 22, Wednesday, 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM Catholic University of America, Aquinas Hall Facilitated by Dr. Carl Stauffer, Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) Sponsored by TASSC International and the Summer Peacebuilding Institute of EMU 9:00     Building Justice 12:00   Lunch 1:00     Survivors Respond 2:00     Building Justice 4:00     Final Words This workshop is concerned with understanding and embracing a form of justice that satisfies human need. Beginning with key theoretical underpinnings and a multi-disciplinary approach to concepts of justice, this course will explore the contemporary applications of justice in post-war settings internationally. We will critique and compare various popular expressions of societal justice through structures such as: The International Criminal Court Truth and reconciliation commissions Restitution /...
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