Honduras reaching a milestone in the fight against torture 24. September 2010 National Committee of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture is established. On September 17, Honduras took a significant step forward in the prevention of torture with the swearing in by President Porfirio Lobo Sosa of the last two Commissioners of the National Committee for the Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CONAPREV). Hereby, Honduras is fulfilling its long due obligation under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture to designate a national body, which will be responsible for conducting visits to places of detention in order to prevent torture and other ill-treatment. With this...
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09-07-2010 Brazilian psychologist and human rights activist Vera Vital Brasil knows from experience what she is talking about when she tells about her years of work with torture victims.   As a student of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, in the late ’60s, Vera participated actively in the university student movement, a major focus of resistance to Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964-1985). Because of her activism, in December 1969, she was arrested and tortured on the premises of the notorious DOI-CODI, the Destacamento de Operações de Informações – Centro de Operações de Defesa Interna (in English: Department of Information Operations – Center for Internal Defense Operations) in Rio de Janeiro,...
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Statements & declarations 15-07-2010 A leading group of international forensic specialists has, in an open letter to the President of Ecuador, condemned the recent killing of forensic expert Dr. Germán Antonio Ramírez Hererra in Ecuador and called for an “urgent, thorough and impartial investigation to identify and hold accountable those responsible for his murder.” The International Forensic Expert Group, established by the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) in partnership with the University of Copenhagen, last year, also raised their concern for Dr. Ramírez’s family, staff at the local torture rehabilitation centre and IRCT member, PRIVA (The Foundation for Integral Rehabilitation of Violence Victims) and experts in the PRIVA network. They called on...
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News 23-09-2010 Grupo Tortura Nunca Mais Rio de Janeiro (GTNM/RJ) – the Never More Torture Group of Rio de Janeiro – is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month. GTNM/RJ, an IRCT member, works to fight for human rights; to provide physical and psychological rehabilitation to people affected by torture and organised violence; to support human rights defenders in Brazil and abroad; for the clarification of the deaths and disappearances of political activists and remembrance of past abuses; to struggle against impunity; for justice and for the denunciation of torture and all forms of violence. On its 25th anniversary, GTNM/RJ can take the opportunity to celebrate important achievements. For example, it succeeded in placing pressure...
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