TASSC Survivor Home Complete!

January 21, 2011
TASSC Survivor Home Complete!

Thanks to everyone for all the hard work that has gone into completing our brand new Survivor Home! On December 9, 2010, TASSC International celebrated a ribbon-cutting ceremony at our new home for survivors of torture. Together with our generous donors and supporters, we want to thank each one of you for standing with survivors and their families throughout the year. A special thanks to Shelters Plus and the Homebuilders Care Foundation. Without these two incredible organizations, this dream would never be a reality. And thanks to our many generous friends and supporters, who have continued to support us year after year. We are proud to present our new home.  Because of you, we can now...
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Witness against Torture Fast to Close Guantanamo

January 19, 2011
Witness against Torture Fast to Close Guantanamo

            Dear Friends, Greetings from Washington, DC and Day Seven of the Fast for Justice. We are 40 or so in Washington, DC and over 100 throughout the country. In this brief note, we hope to share with you some sense of what our days have been like as we pass the halfway mark of the Fast for Justice. We have been getting to know Washington “under the hood”  – so to speak- as we process in black hoods and orange jumpsuits. It is a strange and revelatory perspective on our Nation’s Capitol. The landscape in DC is studded with monuments to war heroes, epic battles, and larger than...
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TASSC Celebrates UN Human Rights Day with Survivors of Torture

January 8, 2011
TASSC Celebrates UN Human Rights Day with Survivors of Torture

On December 10, TASSC International celebrated the United Nations Human Rights Day with recognition awards for friends of survivors of torture. Sr. Alice Zachmann (SSND), Dr. Harold Nelson, Mary Harding and Helen Schietinger received the Compassion and Education Award for significant contributions to the struggle against torture and healing of torture survivors. Theresa Harris, Executive Director of Human Rights USA, gave the keynote address. In her address Ms. Harris reported on the United Nations Human Rights Council review of human rights in several countries, including the United States. She also announced that human rights defenders and legal scholars will soon publish a document on the United States and its responsibility to hold accountable those who are guilty of torture.
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Bush Cancels European Trip under Pressure of Torture Allegations

January 7, 2011

On the eve of the filing of complaints with the Swiss authorities by the IRCT and a coalition of other NGOs, former US President George W Bush has cancelled his planned trip there. While it is regrettable that there is now no chance Bush will face trial in Switzerland, however, the cancellation of his trip is at least a particle victory and helps bring attention to the global movement to bring Bush to justice.   There must be no impunity for torturers anywhere, including Bush’s home country, and therefore the IRCT repeats it call on President Obama to pursue legal action against the former President.   Once again we refute Mr Bush’s recent claim...
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New UN Convention against Enforced Disappearances

December 22, 2010

TASSC International congratulates TASSC member Aileen Bacalso, Executive Director of AFAD, for the great victory of a new UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, fruit of the work of families of the disappeared the world over who have been working on behalf of their disappeared loved ones for more than 35 years. We also remember, in a special way, Patrick Rice - survivor of torture and involuntary disappearance in Argentina – whose entire life was devoted to organizing family members and survivors to strengthen international protections against torture and enforced disappearance. Patrick led TASSC International’s first Human Rights Training in June 2010 before his tragic and untimely death a month later.
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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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