Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances Celebrates Victory

December 22, 2010

December 23, 2010 – Today, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (the Convention) enters into force. For the disappeared and their families, this is a historic moment, a cherished victory in the global struggle against this scourge of enforced disappearance. The Convention is a legally-binding instrument protecting people from enforced disappearances and establishing the right of everyone not to be subjected from this crime. No circumstance whatsoever, be it a state or threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency may be invoked to justify enforced disappearance. The Convention provides that enforced disappearance constitutes an international crime and, when committed as part of a widespread...
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The Sudanese Government Releases Human Rights Defender Dr Abdelbasit Murgany

December 20, 2010

Press releases 17-12-2010 News update on 20-12-2010: The IRCT has been informed that Dr Abdel Basit Murgany was released and is in good condition. The IRCT today received information that one of its colleagues, Dr Abdelbasit Murgany, was recently arrested by the Sudanese authorities. According to local doctors the 55-year-old doctor is currently detained without charges by the Sudanese security services in an undisclosed location A professor of clinical psychology at the Algazira University and founder of the human rights organisation Alfanar, Dr Murgany has been a prominent human rights defender for the past 30 years. Dr Murgany is suffering from hypertension and other cardiac problems that require consistent medical care. The IRCT is extremely concerned that his...
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Long-Term Solitary Confinement: A Method of Torture

December 19, 2010

Facts about torture 19-01-2011 Medical evidence has shown that long-term solitary confinement is a form of torture. Dr Joost J den Otter, Medical Director at the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), adds that while there is no doubt about the damage caused by long periods of isolation, solitary confinement for a short period may also cause psychological harm. Dr den Otter highlights the fact that many qualitative and quantitative scientific studies have documented how solitary confinement in prison has damaging health effects. He asserts that the scientific debate on solitary confinement as a method of torture has been settled for many years, but that it seems there is still confusion among policy...
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Sudanese Human Rights Activist Detained Without Charges

December 17, 2010

Joe DeCapua  17 December 2010 Sudanese authorities are being called on to give the whereabouts and condition of a prominent human rights activist. The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims says Professor Abdelbasit Murgany, a trustee of the organization, was arrested Tuesday in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. In Copenhagen, IRCT Secretary-General Brita Sydhoff says, “Dr. Abdelbasit Murgany is actually a professor of clinical psychology at the Algazira University and he is the founder of (the human rights group) Alfanar Association, working in Khartoum. Murgany, who’s 55, has been a human rights activist for the past 30 years. “The relationship that we have is that he’s also working with rehabilitation for victims of torture,” says...
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Professor June Caridad Pagaduan-Lopez Announced as Inge Genefke Award Winner

December 16, 2010

News 16-12-2010 On Friday 10th December, Professor June Caridad Pagaduan-Lopez was announced as winner of the 2010 Inge Genefke Prize by Professor Bent Sørensen. The ceremony took place as part of the IRCT’s 25th anniversary celebrations at the Danish Medical Institute in Copenhagen. In commending Professor Pagaduan-Lopez for the award, Professor Sørensen, one of the founders of the IRCT said: “Your work, June, for achieving understanding for raped women, and for treating and rehabilitating them is respected all over the world. You have managed to have the rehabilitation and preventive work on torture and other repression recognized as an academic discipline. You are a full time professor of psychiatry.” Due to ill-health, the award...
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Thank You! Your Help Provides the Beacon of Hope for Survivors and Their Families

December 13, 2010
Thank You! Your Help Provides the Beacon of Hope for Survivors and Their Families

Make no mistake.  Your help and support make a huge difference in the lives of torture survivors.  Thanks to your generosity the story of Aida is repeated over and over at TASSC.  I want to share a few statistics with you to show you how important your help is to survivors.   In 2010 alone: -110 survivor students have attended the volunteer led TASSC English classes and 15 have completed the TOFEL exam preparation class offered by volunteers TASSC. -54 survivors registered with our volunteer job training/resume assistance program.  27 have found jobs ranging from kindergarten teacher to airline service personnel.  -67 survivors were granted asylum. -11 survivors who used to live with friends of...
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Preventing Torture within the Fight against Terrorism

December 12, 2010
Preventing Torture within the Fight against Terrorism

 The so-called “war on terrorism” has seen democratic governments resort to torture and ill treatment of persons suspected of involvement in terrorist activities and has reignited the age-old debate about whether torture can be justified if the purpose is to save innocent lives. In this context, prominent opinion and decision-makers as well as members of the general public in leading democratic countries have argued that new forms of transnational terrorism necessitate a revision of existing legal and moral norms related to torture and ill treatment. At the same time, authoritarian rulers around the world have exploited this climate to step up their oppression of political opposition groups.
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Open Letter to the President of Guatemala

December 10, 2010

Statements & declarations 10-12-2010 Open Letter to the President of Guatemala Your Excellency Alvaro Colom, President of the Republic of Guatemala The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) in partnership with la Oficina de Derechos Humanos del Arzobispado (ODHAG), condemns in the strongest possible terms the recent kidnapping and killing of sociologist, investigator of human rights violations and advisor of political issues to indigenous organizations in Huehuetenango, Emilia Quan, in Guatemala. Emilia Quan was kidnapped on Tuesday 7/12 and was found dead on Wednesday 8/12 in Todos Santos Cuchumatanes, Huehuetenango. She had been working at Guatemala’s Centro de Documentación de la Frontera Centro Occidental (CEDFOG), and had previously worked at the “Oficina de...
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Carta Abierta al Presidente de la Republica de Guatemala

December 10, 2010

Noticias en español 09-12-2010 Su Excelencia Alvaro Colom, Presidente de la República de Guatemala El Consejo Internacional para las Víctimas de la Tortura (IRCT) en colaboración con la Oficina de Derechos Humanos del Arzobispado de Guatemala (ODHAG), condenamos de manera más severa el secuestro y asesinato reciente de la socióloga Emilia Quan, investigadora en violaciones de derechos humanos y asesora en la formación política de organizaciones indígenas en Huehuetenango. Emilia Quan fue secuestrada el martes 7 y apareció muerte el miercoles 8 en Todos Santos Cuchumatanes, Huehuetenango. Actualmente trabajaba en el Centro de Documentación de la Frontera Centro Occidental de Guatemala (Cedfog), y trabajo en la Oficina de Derechos Humanos del Arzobispado en una investigación sobre Violencia en Guatemala, además en...
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