WHAT IS TORTURE?



In 1984 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention
Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Under the Convention, torture is defined as acts perpetrated by or with
the approval of government officials which are designed to inflict extreme
physical and/ or psychological suffering. Last December,, the General Assembly
passed a resolution declaring, June 26, the International Day in Support
of Torture Victims/ Survivors. 



WHY IS TORTURE USED?



- To destroy individual personalities of those considered dangerous
to the regime. 



- To terrorize into submission whole communities, as well as ethnic, religious,
and political groups.





- To extract information and/or a confession.



WHO ARE THE TORTURED?



- According to Amnesty International, people in 117 countries are tortured
by their own governments.





- Undoubtedly these figures are understated because torture survivors,
frequently, do not wish to discuss their traumatic past for fear of retaliation,
persecution or because of unwarranted feelings of shame.





- No ethnicity, gender, age, class, profession, religion, or political
belief guarantees exemption from torture.



WHAT ARE THE METHODS OF TORTURE?



Although torture is practiced in widely diverse areas of the world,
the methods and techniques employed are remarkably similar. Some of these
common methods are the following:



- Solitary confinement 

- Electric shock



- Sexual torture (e.g. rape)



- Burning (by cigarettes or red-hot iron bars)



- Falanga (repeated blows to the soles of the feet)



- Mock executions



- Suffocation (e.g. head is forced into water filled with excrement
or the air tight "hood.")



- Forced witnessing of the torture of others



- Forced participation in the torture of another



- Blows to the head and ears



WHAT ARE THE PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF TORTURE?



The consequences of torture are multidimensional and interconnected;
no part of the survivor's life is untouched. While the effects of the physical
pain which was suffered may diminish over time, such physical impairments
resulting from torture as amputation, deafness, blindness, scars, and poorly
healed fractures are permanent reminders of the trauma suffered.



The psychological effects of torture often include: recurrent nightmares,
the inability to sleep or fear of sleep, flashbacks, chronic anxiety, feelings
of betrayal and the inability to trust any other person. These psycho-
logical consequences are likely to have devastating, long-term effects
not only on survivors but their families, friends, and communities as well.



Two characteristics of torture survivors are often overlooked. First, survivors
are profoundly marked by the experience of torture. Second, in most cases,
survivors are simply not the same as they were before the experience. While
family, friends, and mental health professionals tend to focus attention
on the negative effects of torture on the survivor, they often fail to
recognize the strength of the survivor. To survive torture and to live
with its effects is a triumph of the human will-- the very thing torture
is aimed to destroy.





IS THERE LEGISLATION PENDING TO HELP TORTURE SURVIVORS?



Approximately 400,000 survivors of foreign governmental torture reside
in the U.S. alone. Yet only about a dozen treatment centers for survivors
of torture are operating and do so on shoestring budgets. Most torture
survivors are not covered by public or private health insurance. Hence,
these centers must struggle to raise the necessary private funds. With
the treatment services these centers provide, survivors may more readily
resume their lives and become 

contributing members of our communities.



The Torture Victims Relief Act (TVRA) and the Survivors of Torture Support
Act (STSA) have both been introduced in the U.S. Congress this year. TVRA
was introduced in the Senate by Senator Wellstone (S 1606) and in the House
by Representative Christopher Smith (HR 3161). Senator Rod Grams introduced
a similar bill, the Survivors Torture Support Act (S 1603). The legislation:



- Would authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to provide
funds to support direct services to treatment centers for survivors of
torture.



- Would increase the U.S. contribution to the United Nations Voluntary
Fund for survivors of torture from $1.5 million to $3.0 million.



- Would provide assistance to torture survivors residing in the U.S.
and seeking asylum. It states that in accordance with our obligation as
a state party to the U.N. Convention Against Torture, no one should be
returned to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing
he/she would be tortured.



- Would ease immigration restrictions and strengthen protection procedures
for torture survivors and mandate training for immigration officers about
immigration procedures as they affect torture survivors.













WHAT CAN I DO TO STOP TORTURE?



The United States has trained, funded, and otherwise supported governments
that engage in torture (for example, Indonesia, Turkey, Guatemala, Israel,
Columbia, China, etc...).



In U.S. government files, there are thousands of documents detailing acts
of torture by these and other governments. Relatives of people who were
killed or who have disappeared after torture and torture survivors themselves
need this information to begin a process of healing.



The Human Rights Ombudsman of Honduras and the Guatemala Historical Clarification
Commission have repeatedly made formal requests to President Clinton to
release all documents pertaining to human rights abuses in their countries.
To date, U.S. government declassification of documents has been sorely
inadequate.



The United States government can demonstrate its commitment to seeing torture
ended in the world. As a beginning, please ask the president and your representatives
in Congress to:



- Declare public support for the Code of Conduct on Arms Transfers Act
of 1997 (S 1067) to prohibit military assistance and arms transfers to
governments which do not adequately protect human rights or are engaged
in acts of armed aggression.



- Declare public support for the Human Rights Information Act (S 1220 and
HR 2635) which would declassify U.S. documents dealing with human rights
abuses in Guatemala and Honduras.



- Declare public support for the Torture Victims Relief Act and the Survivors
of Torture Support Act.		

WHAT IS TASSC?



- TASSC is a coalition of nongovernmental organizations dedicated to
the eradication of torture around the world. 



- TASSC was formed to commemorate June 26th, the U.N. International
Day in Support of Torture Victims/ Survivors.





- TASSC is open to individuals or groups who are committed
to human rights achieved through nonviolent means.





- TASSC seeks to raise public awareness about torture with
the hope that this practice ultimately will be abolished either through
legislation or other forms of social action. 





WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO ON JUNE 26





On June 26th, as we renew our commitment to eradicate the
practice of torture in our world, let us remember those who have suffered
torture in the past and those who at this very moment suffer this same
fate in cells around the world. Light a candle, ask a church to toll its
bells, or write an Op-Ed or letter to the editor.







TASSC

"We can make our world a

torture free one!"





Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Committee







3321 12th Street, NE

Washington DC 20017







    

      

        


        

        

      

    






www.kurdistan.org/you-can-end-it

dianna@igc.apc.org















Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Committee(TASSC)

3321 12th Street, NE

Washington, DC 20017



Tel: (202) 529-6599

Fax: (202) 526-4611



E-mail: dianna@igc.apc.org

Home Page: http://www.kurdistan.org/you-can-end-it



We Can Make Our World a Torture Free One!