[Senate Hearing 106-244]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 106-244
U.S. POLICY TOWARD VICTIMS OF TORTURE
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JULY 30, 1999
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
61-048 CC WASHINGTON : 2000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
JESSE HELMS, North Carolina, Chairman
RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., Delaware
PAUL COVERDELL, Georgia PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland
CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut
GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts
ROD GRAMS, Minnesota RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin
SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas PAUL D. WELLSTONE, Minnesota
CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming BARBARA BOXER, California
JOHN ASHCROFT, Missouri ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey
BILL FRIST, Tennessee
Stephen E. Biegun, Staff Director
Edwin K. Hall, Minority Staff Director
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SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS
ROD GRAMS, Minnesota, Chairman
JESSE HELMS, North Carolina BARBARA BOXER, California
SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts
BILL FRIST, Tennessee RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Cooper, Angelique, torture survivor from Liberia, Minneapolis, MN 22
Prepared statement of........................................ 39
Freeman, Bennett, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of
Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Department of State........ 4
Prepared statement of........................................ 7
Genefke, Dr. Inge, secretary-general, International
Rehabilitation Council for Victims of Torture, Copenhagen,
Denmark........................................................ 20
Prepared statement of........................................ 36
Johnson, Douglas A., executive director, Center for Victims of
Torture, Minneapolis, MN....................................... 23
Prepared statement of........................................ 40
VanDusen, Ann, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Policy
and Program Coordination, U.S. Agency for International
Development.................................................... 10
Prepared statement of........................................ 12
Report to the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, House
Committee on Appropriations, concerning USAID
Programming to Prevent and Treat Torture............... 15
(iii)
U.S. POLICY TOWARD VICTIMS OF TORTURE
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FRIDAY, JULY 30, 1999
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on International Operations,
Committee on Foreign Relations,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:03 p.m., in
Senate Foreign Relations Committee room S-116, U.S. Capitol,
Hon. Rod Grams (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Senators Grams and Wellstone.
Senator Grams. I would like to bring this hearing to order.
Of course, we apologize for the delay, but we thank you for
taking the time and staying around. I know we are 4 hours late
because of all the votes that we are having on the floor today.
We still have a number of them left. So we might have to just
take brief recesses and run back and forth. But we should be
able to get the majority of the hearing in. It will probably be
a little more abbreviated than we had hoped or expected.
I would just like to say a couple words to start with. I
know Senator Wellstone will be here momentarily to join us as
well. I talked to him on the floor, and he told me that he will
be here. So we are expecting him to come in in just a moment.
I think most Americans are aware that torture still occurs.
And they may have heard about the rape camps in Bosnia or the
cellar at the police station in Pristina, Kosovo. But I do not
think they believe it is as widespread or so crippling the
effects that it has on societies.
And torture is practiced or condoned in more than 100
nations around the world. And torture, as we know, is not used
as a weapon just against an individual, but it is used as a
weapon against democracy.
Now the only provision of the Torture Victims Relief Act
that has been fully implemented is the authorization of the
increased U.S. contribution to the U.N. voluntary funds. No
other funds have been forthcoming to date, although the
Department of Health and Human Services did include the full
$7.5 million authorization for fiscal year 2000 in its budget
request for domestic treatment centers. USAID did not request
any funds for treatment centers abroad.
It remains possible for USAID to designate funds in our
multi-billion dollar foreign aid budget for grants to torture
victims treatment centers. And I encourage USAID to do so.
Today Senator Wellstone and I are going to raise the bar by
introducing the Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act.
This bill will increase the authorization level to $10 million
for domestic treatment centers, $10 million for international
centers, and $5 million for a United States contribution to the
Voluntary Fund for Tortured Victims through fiscal year 2003.
I look forward to hearing from the administration witnesses
today about the reasons why it has not fully implemented the
Torture Victims Relief Act and steps that can be taken to move
that process forward. And I hope the administration listens to
experts like Doug Johnson from the outstanding Center for
Victims of Torture in my home State of Minnesota and also Dr.
Inge Genefke of the International Rehabilitation Council for
Torture Victims, because they have a real proven record of
excellence in this field.
And as we will hear from a very courageous torture
survivor, Ms. Angelique Cooper who we know, that lives do hang
in the balance.
So I would like to also just make a motion that my entire
statement be offered into the record as read. But I wanted to
just abbreviate it a little bit, so we can take a little more
time hearing from our witnesses today. And like I said, when
Senator Wellstone comes, he will have a chance, also, if he
wants to make his opening statement, as well.
[The prepared statement of Senator Grams follows:]
Prepared Statement of Senator Rod Grams
I think most Americans are aware that torture still occurs. They
may have heard about the rape camps in Bosnia, or the cellar of the
police station in Pristina, Kosovo. But they don't realize that it is
so widespread, or its crippling effect on entire societies. Torture is
practiced or condoned in more than 100 nations. And torture isn't used
as a weapon just against an individual--it is used as a weapon against
democracy. It is designed to physically and emotionally cripple
individuals, to render them incapable of mounting an effective
opposition to a regime or a system of beliefs. Torture doesn't affect
just the victim--it sends a strong message to the victim's family,
community, and nation that dissent will not be tolerated. That's why
torturers so often target the leadership of political opposition. As a
nation, we cannot stand by and continue to let the victims of torture
suffer in silence. We must do more than proclaim that the practice of
torture is abhorrent. We must provide assistance to torture survivors,
for they truly are not able to help themselves.
While the practice of torture is not a problem in this country,
many victims of torture flee to the United States to seek refuge. As
many as 400,000 torture survivors now live in the United States, and
many of the survivors are not getting the assistance they need. Other
survivors of torture remain abroad; they deserve effective treatment as
well. These foreign torture treatment centers not only help individuals
physically and mentally heal, they give people a safe place to go where
they can create the networks necessary to continue their missions.
Last October marked two important steps toward greater efforts by
our government to address the needs of victims of torture. First, the
enactment of the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998
[Public Law 105-277] effectively imposed an obligation on the U.S.
Government not to return people to countries in which they face
subjection to torture. It's hard to believe that before that change our
law actually permitted the deportation of people to places where it was
more likely than not they would be tortured, but that was the case. I
am proud to have been the author of that provision, along with
Congressman Chris Smith.
Second, the Torture Victims Relief Act [Public Law 105-320] which
Senator Wellstone and I cosponsored was finally enacted. It authorized
$12.5 million over two years for assistance to torture victim treatment
centers here in the United States and another $12.5 million for
treatment centers around the world. It also authorized a U.S.
contribution in the amount of $3 million per year to the United Nations
Voluntary Fund for Torture Victims, and required that Foreign Service
Officers be given specialized training in the identification of
evidence of torture and the techniques for interviewing torture
victims.
The only provision of the Torture Victims Relief Act that has been
fully implemented is the authorization for the increased U.S.
contribution to the UN Voluntary Fund. No other funds have been
forthcoming to date. While the Department of Health and Human Services
did include the full $7.5 million authorization for fiscal year 2000 in
its budget request for domestic treatment centers, USAID did not
request any funds for treatment centers abroad. It remains possible for
USAID to designate funds in our multibillion-dollar foreign aid budget
for grants to torture victim treatment centers. I encourage USAID to do
so.
Because today Senator Wellstone and I are going to raise the bar by
introducing the Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act. This bill
will increase the authorization level to $10 million for domestic
treatment centers, $10 million for international centers, and $5
million for a United States contribution to the Voluntary Fund for
Torture Victims through fiscal year 2003.
I look forward to hearing from the Administration witnesses today
about the reasons why it has not fully implemented the Torture Victims
Relief Act and steps that can be taken to move this process forward. I
hope the Administration listens to experts like Doug Johnson from the
outstanding Center for Victims of Torture in my home state of Minnesota
and Dr. Inge Genefke of the International Rehabilitation Council for
Torture Victims, because they have a proven record of excellence in
this field. And as we will hear from a very courageous torture
survivor, Ms. Angelique Cooper, lives do hang in the balance.
Senator Grams. So I am going to probably go through this a
little bit faster and ask some of the questions a little
quicker than normal. But again, I want to thank you all for
being here.
I would like to start out by asking a couple questions from
the State Department. Mr. Bennett Freeman, who is here, the
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State from the Bureau of
Democracy, Labor and Human Rights.
Also, let us see who else we have. Ms. Ann VanDusen, who is
Deputy Assistant Secretary from the Bureau for Policy and
Program Coordination, USAID. And, of course, Dr. Genefke,
secretary-general of the International Rehabilitation Council
for Victims of Torture, and Doug Johnson, who is the executive
director for the Center of Victims of Torture in the Twin
Cities. And, as we mentioned, Ms. Cooper is also here to lend
us some testimony here today.
I am going to kind of take the questions from left to
right, if that is all right.
So, Mr. Freeman, I would like to start with you. Many of
the nearly 200 treatment centers for victims of torture around
the world exist in countries where torture has been, and
continues to be, a very serious problem. Often the host
governments are hostile to these centers and to their clients,
and the safety of the personnel and their ability to do work
that can benefit from an acknowledged relationship with U.S.
Embassy personnel.
So my first question is: Are you aware of any U.S.
Embassies which have made contact or been able to establish any
kind of relationships with treatment centers for the victims of
torture?
Mr. Freeman. Yes, Senator. Let me begin by thanking you for
chairing this important hearing on this extremely sensitive
topic. I want to salute you, as well as Senator Wellstone, for
your leadership on this very important issue.
To answer your question directly, the State Department,
both here in Washington and our embassies abroad, is very well
aware and very appreciative of the important work done by the
centers around the world. In order to get an even sharper
appreciation and more specific information on these efforts,
recently the State Department sent out a cable to every one of
our diplomatic posts in the world asking for any information
they had available on centers where victims of torture can be
treated and counseled.
We have gotten back a number of interesting and encouraging
responses from our posts. I can give you an example of one in
particular, which I provide more detail on in my statement, and
which I would like to have included in the record.
Senator Grams. Without objection, it will be included.
Mr. Freeman. Thank you very much.
That is the example of a very good effort in Sri Lanka. Our
embassy in Colombo has established a direct relationship with a
torture center. And, there is another very good effort underway
in Nepal, where our embassy has worked directly with USAID and
with the Department of Defense to secure the donation of a
plane load of surplus medical supplies and other equipment to
benefit the Center for Victims of Torture in Kathmandu.
Those are just two examples of the very many positive
efforts underway around the world. The people who are working
in these centers with the support of Dr. Genefke and, of
course, with Doug Johnson and his center in Minneapolis, are
really doing the Lord's work. We salute them for it.
Senator Grams. You have to excuse. I forgot to ask if
anybody had opening statements. If you did, I would go ahead
and entertain those statements.
And, Mr. Freeman, I apologize. So if you had a statement
that you would like to read parts of or all--it will be all
entered into the record. But if you have some comments that you
would like to start out with for the committee, it would
helpful as well.
STATEMENT OF BENNETT FREEMAN, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF
STATE, BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND LABOR, DEPARTMENT
OF STATE
Mr. Freeman. Well, thank you, Senator. I will very briefly
just highlight a few aspects of my prepared statement. Again, I
want to salute you, together with Senator Wellstone, along, of
course, with Congressman Smith and Congressman Lantos on the
House side, for your outstanding and sensitive leadership.
I also want to salute Dr. Genefke, whom I had the privilege
of meeting the other day, as well as Doug Johnson, for their
fine humanitarian work in this area.
I should say on a personal note that I had the privilege of
visiting the center in Minneapolis in the spring of 1993 with
then Secretary of State Warren Christopher. It was that visit
that brought home to me personally for the first time the very
important, caring work that is done in your home State.
I am not going to go into any discussion of the substance
of the work that is done in the centers, both in Minneapolis
and elsewhere around the world. You have two of the foremost
experts in the world who can do just that. But I want to
emphasize that the United States is firmly committed to ending
torture and to helping individuals who have suffered from this
debilitating practice.
We are pleased that the Clinton administration has been
able to work together with the Congress to advance these goals.
My Bureau is headed by Assistant Secretary Harold Hongju Koh,
who is not with us today for one reason, and that is he is in
Turkey undertaking discussions with Turkish officials on human
rights issues.
The single-most important thing that our Bureau does in
order to shine a spotlight on the practice of torture is to
publish every February, our Country Reports on Human Rights. As
you know, Mr. Chairman, the report on each individual country
includes a section covering findings of torture and other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
It is a hallmark of our Country Reports that they openly
report on torture wherever it occurs. We believe that that
criticism itself helps to curtail the practice of torture in
some countries.
In addition to this essential reporting function, our
Bureau works through its Offices of Bilateral and Multilateral
Affairs, in particular, to advance our diplomacy against
torture around the world. I am delighted that my colleague,
Steve Wagenseil, the Director of our Office of Multilateral
Affairs and a very experienced diplomat, is behind me today. He
has spearheaded much of our work through the U.N. Human Rights
Commission in Geneva, where we have been very active in
supporting resolutions against torture in both generic and
country-specific contexts.
I should say very clearly that not only do we document
torture through our report, not only do we work multilaterally
and bilaterally, but we als0 demand an accounting. We feel
strongly that torturers must be shown they cannot act with
impunity.
It is for that reason above all that we have worked very
closely with the Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to document
a wide array of human rights abuses, war crimes, and crimes
against humanity, including torture, in Kosovo.
But demanding justice is only half the battle. I would also
like to emphasize that the United States is the largest single
donor to the United Nations Voluntary Fund on Torture. We
provided $3 million to the fund in this current fiscal year.
And by the way, that $3 million is both an increase of $1.5
million over the last fiscal year and dramatically and quite
necessarily up from what was just $100,000 contribution as
recently as 6 years ago.
We also strive to help torture victims in a variety of
other ways, ranging from protecting survivors from return to
countries where there is a substantial risk of torture, to
providing technical assistance to victim treatment facilities.
Let me say a very quick word about asylum, which of course
is an important focus of the U.S. Government's overall efforts
on torture. As stipulated by the U.N. Convention Against
Torture, asylum seekers are not returned to countries where
they are most likely than not to suffer torture. In fact, in
response to the legislation passed last year, the State
Department and INS have together promulgated regulations
establishing procedures to ensure that people in the United
States are not returned to face likely torture in other
countries.
I have already mentioned, in direct response to your
question, Mr. Chairman, how the State Department has encouraged
our posts throughout the world to look for ways to work with
and to help local torture centers. But we are doing this in
other contexts as well, perhaps no more dramatically or
urgently than in the Balkans, where, sadly and tragically,
torture has taken place in Kosovo in recent months.
In a report the State Department released on May 10
entitled, ``Erasing History, Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo,'' we
detailed human rights abuses in Kosovo up to that point,
including many instances of torture. A second volume will
complete the story and highlight new evidence about mass
graves, burning of bodies and evidence, as well as using
civilians as human shields.
Let me emphasize that in the Kosovo context, and also more
globally as well, we have focused on different aspects of
torture. One I want to highlight just for a minute is very
specific violence directed against women. This has been a
horrifying reality in Kosovo and elsewhere.
We have been working hard to try to address the special
needs of those who have suffered such atrocities in the context
of our larger efforts to aid all Kosovar refugees. We have
funded a $10 million Kosovar women's initiative, which will be
the centerpiece of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugee's
efforts to provide psychosocial support to Kosovar refugees
affected by violence against women.
I want to underline the section in my testimony that
explains that our support to countries for military and police
training takes into account human rights violations, including
perpetrators of torture. The Leahy amendment has been an
important tool in that regard.
I would like to address one other specific area that is
very precisely laid out in the landmark act passed last year,
and that is the provision of training for State Department
personnel, specifically for our consular officers. We have been
well aware of concerns about the administration's compliance
with that specific portion of the act.
I would like to tell you, Mr. Chairman, and Senator
Wellstone that I met recently with Ambassador Ruth Davis and
Steve Browning of the Foreign Service Institute, together with
several of their colleagues, to discuss in very specific terms
the Department's efforts to ensure compliance with this
provision.
We reviewed our efforts to enhance existing training
programs for our consular officers on how to identify and
interact with victims of torture and to direct them toward
expert assistance.
The statement you have kindly accepted for the written
record, Mr. Chairman, includes several paragraphs about the
ongoing training efforts, particularly for consular officers.
It also includes a couple suggestions as to how we might
further enhance those efforts in the months ahead, so that we
can be absolutely sure that our training efforts are fully
consistent with the letter and the spirit of the landmark act.
I would like to conclude by simply saying that it is a
privilege and a responsibility to be part of the Bureau of
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. We expend a considerable
amount of effort working on the horrifying reality of torture,
that is still too much with us.
It is the efforts of the NGO's, in your home State of
Minnesota, as well as organizations like Dr. Genefke's around
the world, that really show the way. We appreciate the
leadership of our two Senators from Minnesota, as well as
Members on the House side. The State Department looks forward
to continuing to work with you to do the best job we are able
to, to confront these very, very painful issues.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Freeman follows:]
Prepared Statement of Bennett Freeman
Mr. Chairman and Members of the subcommittee: It is a privilege to
testify on such an important topic on behalf of the Bureau of
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and Assistant Secretary Harold
Hongju Koh. Before leaving for Turkey on Wednesday evening, Assistant
Secretary Koh spoke at the reception honoring you, Mr. Chairman, and
Senator Wellstone, together with Congressmen Smith and Lantos, for your
work on the Torture Victims Relief Act and your commitment to helping
victims of torture. The reception also paid tribute to the individuals
and organizations, including the Center for Victims of Torture in
Minneapolis, and the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture
Victims in Copenhagen, that are doing so much to help.
I want to salute you, Mr. Chairman, and Senator Wellstone, for your
sensitive work on behalf of the Center for Victims of Torture in
Minnesota and other torture treatment centers around the United States.
Moreover, your leadership on behalf of legislation to help torture
survivors and their families is an inspiration and an investment in
healing wounds and repairing lives.
I first gained an appreciation for the importance of this work in
May 1993, when I visited the Center in Minneapolis with then-Secretary
Christopher. It was a moving experience that made me understand the
difficult challenge of overcoming both the physical and psychological
wounds brought about by torture. For most Americans, torture is
virtually inconceivable; it is simply beyond our frame of reference.
But for all too many around the world, it is a brutal reality that
leaves scars for a lifetime. Those organizations and individuals that
work with the victims make a positive impact on shattered and
traumatized lives, helping torture survivors to recover and become an
integral part of the larger community.
In the second panel you will be hearing testimony from expert NGO
witnesses who work with torture survivors. Therefore, my statement
focuses on U.S. Government efforts to support the international fight
against torture and to aid those whose lives have been horribly and
unjustly damaged by torture.
Let me emphasize that the United States is firmly committed to
ending torture and to helping individuals who have suffered from the
debilitating practice of torture. Both the Clinton Administration and
Congress share these goals, and we are pleased to work toward them
together. As President Clinton said last October when he signed the
Torture Victims Relief Act ``The United States will continue its
efforts to shine a spotlight on this horrible practice wherever it
occurs, and we will do all we can to bring it to an end.'' Even prior
to passage of that legislation, and since, the Administration has been
working on the commitments embodied in the bill.
One of the backbones of my Bureau's--and indeed the U.S.
Government's--work to promote human rights is our annual Country
Reports on Human Rights. In these reports, which we submit to the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee every February, we strive to cover
the internationally-recognized individual, civil, and political rights
set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, specifically
including freedom from torture. Mr. Chairman, as you know, the report
on each individual country includes a section covering findings of
torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
It is a hallmark of our Country Reports that they openly report on
torture wherever it occurs. We believe that that criticism itself helps
to curtail abusive practices in many countries.
In addition to this essential reporting function, our Bureau for
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor works on these issues on a regular
basis, especially in our Offices of Bilateral and Multilateral Affairs.
When we find evidence of torture, we use bilateral channels to raise
our concerns forcefully with offending governments, consistently
raising these important concerns at the highest levels. I had the
opportunity to raise concerns related to torture with the governments
of Vietnam and Cambodia when I visited those countries two weeks ago.
In what was the 7th round of our bilateral human rights dialogue with
Vietnam, I discussed prison conditions, including beatings of
prisoners, with Vietnamese officials. In Cambodia, because torture in
that country is closely bound up in its culture of impunity and is
common in police custody when securing confessions from suspects, I
gave the Minister of Justice a copy of a recent report on impunity
authored by Human Rights Watch together with two leading Cambodian
NGOs.
Mr. Chairman, we also work through a number of multilateral
institutions to press our specific concerns about torture. We can be
proud that the U.S. has long played a vigorous leading role in
formulating the United Nations Declaration on Protection from Torture
and the Convention Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which we ratified in 1994. We are
proud to comply with the terms of the Convention. At the same time, we
urge countries that have ratified the Convention to abide by its
tenets, and we urge countries that have not yet ratified to do so.
At the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, we support
country-specific resolutions that mention cases of torture and thematic
resolutions that support the work of the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on Torture. We urge all countries to cooperate fully with
the Rapporteur, underscoring how vitally important it is that the
Rapporteur be independent and have full access to human rights
activists and abuse victims with full safeguards protecting these
sources.
Simply put, where there is evidence of torture, we demand an
accounting. Torturers must be shown that they cannot act with impunity.
For example, the United States took the lead in pushing for the
formation of International Criminal Tribunals on the former Yugoslavia
and Rwanda, to bring to justice those responsible for torture and other
crimes. Most recently, we have worked very closely with the Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia to document a wide array of human rights
abuses, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, including torture in
Kosovo. We are also seeking to establish mechanisms of accountability
for the Khmer Rouge and the current regime in Iraq, and we support the
work of truth commissions the world over, including the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, as well as those in
Guatemala and El Salvador.
But demanding justice is only half the battle. Let me also
emphasize that the United States is the largest single donor to the
United Nations Voluntary Fund on Torture, providing $3 million in FY99,
and increase of $1.5 million over FY98. We also strive to help torture
survivors in a variety of ways, ranging from protecting survivors from
return to countries where there is a substantial risk of torture to
providing technical assistance to victim treatment facilities.
We are committed to protecting those at risk of torture by ensuring
that, as stipulated by the U.N. Convention Against Torture, asylum-
seekers are not returned to countries where they are more likely than
not to suffer torture. In fact, in response to legislation passed last
year, the Department of State and the Immigration and Naturalization
Service promulgated regulations establishing procedures to ensure that
persons in the U.S. are not returned to face likely torture. The
Department of Justice is also establishing a working group that will be
dedicated to identifying and taking appropriate action--prosecution,
extradition, or deportation--against torturers who may be in the U.S.
Mr. Chairman, the State Department also encourages our posts
throughout the world to look for ways to work with and help local
torture centers. One recent example is a cable we sent all of our posts
asking them to contact and establish relationships with treatment
centers and report examples of financial and diplomatic support of such
centers' activities. We have received many encouraging responses from
posts around the world. To cite just one example, our Embassy in Sri
Lanka maintains close contact with two organizations that treat torture
victims, the Family Rehabilitation Center and a group called Survivors
Associated. In addition, the U.S. has funded a $4,400 grant to the
Family Rehabilitation Center administered through the Asia Foundation
to raise awareness in Sri Lanka about the issues that torture victims
face.
Often, torture is accompanied by a wide range of other human rights
abuses or occurs in the context of humanitarian crises, as we have seen
in the Balkans and the Great Lakes region of Africa. Therefore, a full
response to torture requires addressing the broader situation in which
it has been perpetrated. The United States is the leading contributor
to international humanitarian assistance and has funded psychosocial
and other aspects of health care in response to the needs of refugees
and conflict victims around the world who have suffered torture.
In Kosovo, our current human rights and democratization priorities
focus on long-term structural goals such as judicial training and
establishing a human rights ombudsman. Of course, we seek to find long-
term solutions while at the same time ensuring that the human rights
protection mechanisms in the immediate post-conflict environment
provide effective remedies for all Kosovars. We will continue to work
with the U.N. Mission in Kosovo toward these important goals.
On May 10, the State Department released a report entitled,
``Erasing History: Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo,'' which detailed human
rights abuses in Kosovo up to that point, including instances of
torture. A second volume will complete the story and highlight new
evidence about mass graves, burning bodies and evidence, using
civilians as human shields, and other violations of human rights. We
hope to release this report later this year and we will be prepared to
brief interested Senators and staff as soon as that report is
available.
As we noted in ``Erasing History,'' Kosovo is among the recent
conflicts in which we have seen rape and other violence against women
used as a weapon of war. Because violence against women is of great
concern to us, the U.S. is working hard to address the special needs of
those who have suffered such atrocities in the context of its larger
efforts to aid all Kosovar refugees. We funded a $10 million Kosovar
Women's Initiative which will be the centerpiece of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees' efforts to provide psycho-social support to
Kosovar refugees affected by violence against women. The UNHCR has also
sought to identify victims of such violence in its overall assistance
efforts to Kosovar refugees. As relief efforts continue to shift from
short-term to long-term efforts, more programs will emerge that address
refugees' psycho-social needs.
The U.S. has also funded a project by the World Health Organization
(WHO) that will provide counseling and health follow-up to survivors of
violence against women. This initiative is being designed and will
begin to be implemented soon.
To aid victims of rape and other women's human rights abuses around
the world, the U.S. has established the Women Survivors Project. This
project, which my Bureau is in the process of funding, will work with
indigenous non-governmental organizations in several countries to
provide counseling, social reorientation activities, and training in
income-generating activities to mainly women survivors of genocide. The
project includes a $100,000 grant to an indigenous nongovernmental
group in Rwanda called Rwanda-Women-Net that is working particularly
with traumatized survivors of genocide and rape.
Through its Polyclinic of Hope project, Rwanda-Women-Net provides
treatment services to women of different ethnic backgrounds who shared
a common trauma of rape and violence during the 1994 genocide. In
addition, it constructs shelters for vulnerable women and their
families. Our grant will assist widows and girl heads-of-household and
their families in psycho-social adjustment, shelter building, and
skills training activities.
We also maintain a firm commitment to see that U.S. military and
police training do not benefit known human rights violators, and that
security forces that engage in abuses do not use U.S.-produced
equipment to do so. The Administration's commitment to this principle
was reinforced by recent legislation requiring increased attention to
the record of security force units receiving our assistance. We have
worked hard to ensure that our embassies understand the new provisions
of the Foreign Operations and the DOD Appropriations and that each
embassy has in place a plan to ensure that it will comply with the law.
In sum, we believe that our efforts against torture, especially our
support for treatment programs gives hope to those seeking human rights
and democracy. We believe that this support reflects and reinforces our
national commitment to combating the practice of torture and upholding
our most cherished American values.
We are well aware of concerns about the Administration's compliance
with the portion of the Torture Victims Relief Act that calls for
training for consular personnel on how to interact with victims of
torture. This issue was highlighted again at a hearing on the House
side last month on this same topic. I recently met with Ambassador Ruth
Davis and Dean Steve Browning of the Foreign Service Institute (FSI)
and several of their colleagues to discuss the Department's efforts to
ensure compliance with this provision. We reviewed our efforts to
enhance existing training programs for our consular officers on how to
identify and interact with victims of torture and to direct them toward
expert assistance. This is an interagency process involving not only my
Bureau and FSI, but also the Bureau of Consular Affairs, and
potentially others like the Bureau Population, Refugees, and Migration
(PRM).
Currently, FSI's basic consular training course includes a role-
playing session in which an American citizen has been tortured in a
foreign jail, and the consular officer must know how to identify
symptoms of torture, be sensitive to the victim's needs, and point the
person toward help. We plan to enhance this important segment by
emphasizing more fully and explicitly that such concerns and need for
sensitivity apply to non-American citizens as well.
In the advanced consular course, my Bureau and others have the
opportunity to conduct a class on our issues, and we are committed to
ensuring that torture victims' concerns are included in the human
rights dimension of this training. FSI's training for political
officers also includes components on torture, along with a wide range
of other global issues, including human rights concerns.
Mr. Chairman, I know you have heard from other Administration
representatives that the U.S. report to the Committee on Torture, as
required by the Convention on Torture, is near completion. I am pleased
to inform you that we expect the report to be submitted shortly, and we
would be pleased to brief the Committee on this report when it has been
submitted to the United Nations Committee Against Torture.
In closing, we extend our concern and regard to individuals who
have experienced the cruelty of torture. We honor those at the Center
for Victims of Torture, and others, who labor at direct care,
education, and prevention. And finally, we reaffirm our commitment to
this cause, as well as our desire and willingness to work closely with
Congress on these complex and wrenching issues.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am ready to take any questions you may
have.
Senator Grams. I would also like to hear from Ms. VanDusen
and the other members of our panel today. But Senator Wellstone
has joined us, and I would like to give him an opportunity, if
he has any, to give any remarks that he would like to make as
well.
Senator Wellstone. I appreciate it. I actually a little
later on to maybe get a chance to speak, but let us--we still
have a final vote. And I just apologize that we have had all
these votes all day. Let us just hear from the panel. I
appreciate your courtesy, though.
Senator Grams. All right.
Ms. VanDusen.
STATEMENT OF ANN VANDUSEN, DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR,
BUREAU FOR POLICY AND PROGRAM COORDINATION, U.S. AGENCY FOR
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Ms. VanDusen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Wellstone. I
appreciate the opportunity to be here today to talk a little
bit about the USAID's efforts to prevent and control the
worldwide problem of torture.
And given that you still have another vote and time is
short, I am just going to make five points. My testimony for
the record has a lot of details about specific country
programs. But if I could focus just on how we approach this
very difficult issue and deal with some of the questions that
USAID is asked about our program, I think that will set the
framework for the discussion that I know you want to have.
First, our definition of torture is an inclusive one. It
includes a man who has been beaten or maimed, a woman who has
been raped, especially when rape is used as an instrument of
war, or an individual, and it is often a child, who has been
forcibly recruited into a rebel army through beatings and
threats. All of these people badly need help and understanding
in dealing with their trauma, trauma that lasts long beyond the
initial acts.
USAID's focus is also a broad one, focusing both on
treatment and on prevention. In treating the victims of
torture, we try to focus on the community and strengthening the
community's capacity to deal with the effects of the trauma.
And our goal ultimately is to establish and strengthen the
programs that will continue to serve the community after U.S.
funds are withdrawn.
In the prevention area, our goal is to encourage the
development of institutions, such as free press, independent
judiciaries, human rights watchdog groups, that have been
proven effective in preventing torture from occurring, and
helping to develop the mechanisms that hold perpetrators
accountable.
Our report to Congress, which was submitted in April, has
many specific details on the program that we are undertaking
now. But it was prepared in March and submitted in April when
the full dimension of the Kosovo conflict was only barely
understood.
Must we stop?
Senator Wellstone [presiding]. No. No. Please. And by the
way, when I said another vote, we will run out quickly and come
right back. I do not think you should rush. This is too
important. It is way too important. Do not rush.
Ms. VanDusen. All right. Well, thank you. There are only
three other points.
I do want to provide you with update on our program,
because a significant amount of additional work has been done
in the last 3 months because of the Kosovo crisis.
As everyone is very acutely aware, many Kosovars suffered
torture and other forms of brutality, as well as the trauma of
being forced from their homes, seeing their friends and family
killed, and return to a devastated homeland. And I would say
the systematic use of rape has been particularly traumatic
given the terrible stigma that it places on the women in that
society.
We have mounted major programs just in the last several
months to try to address the psychosocial counseling needs of
the refugees and the returned refugees. I have detailed
information which may be of interest to you. What we have tried
to do is set up programs that can follow the refugees when they
go back to their homeland.
For instance, in Macedonia we have been supporting programs
by the International Catholic Migration Committee and the
Doctors of the World that include therapeutic activities for
girls and women suffering from rape and other forms of trauma.
Doctors of the World is also working with local Kosovar
NGO's, including the Center for the Protection of Woman and
Children, to improve their ability to take on more programs.
In Albania, the Catholic Relief Services social workers
have provided trauma counseling to woman and girls. The
activities range from simple trauma counseling, although hardly
simple, to training of social and community workers in the
identification and referral of severe cases.
In addition to this, which we estimate has added another
$3.7 million in specific psychosocial work to our ongoing
program, we are currently reviewing proposals for a 3-year
program focused on social rehabilitation in Kosovo.
The other two points I want to raise have to do with
questions that keep coming up about the USAID program. I want
to try to clarify. The first one has to do with why the
administration has not requested funds specifically authorized
in the Torture Victim Relief Act.
The answer is that the administration does not see the need
for a separate appropriation in order to fund these programs.
Rather, USAID draws on funds that are already appropriated for
health programs, for democracy programs, for humanitarian
assistance programs, for programs in Eastern Europe to fund
programs that prevent torture and treat torture victims. It is
comparable to the way we fund programs for orphans, for
displaced children, for victims of war.
In our report, which was submitted in April, we estimated
that we would be committing roughly $7.5 million to programs
that prevent, treat and deal with the consequences of torture.
The $3.7 million additional that has gone so far into the
Kosovo program and the additional amount that will be committed
as a result of the social rehabilitation programs means that
this year we will probably be committing in excess of $10
million to this specific area.
The second question that we are often asked is why do we
not support the work of treatment centers affiliated with the
International Rehabilitation Council for Tortured Victims. The
simple answer is that we do, and we hope to do more.
In Sri Lanka, as Mr. Freeman mentioned, we are supporting
the work of the Family Rehabilitation Center, which provides
trauma counseling to victims of torture, as well as physical
and psychological therapy for victims of war.
And we are working with the center specifically to continue
a campaign on preventing torture and raising public awareness
of the legal and human rights aspects of torture.
In Peru, we have been working with another affiliate of the
International Council, the National Coordinator on Human
Rights. There, we are doing studies on human rights abuse
related to torture. And we will be following that up with a
public campaign against torture.
But we are not stopping there.
Senator Wellstone. If you could--I might make you
summarize, because then I will have to quickly vote. And then
we will come right back for your testimony.
Ms. VanDusen. Let me conclude by saying we are not going to
stop with that. That is not enough. We have met with Dr.
Genefke. She has provided us with specific proposals related to
centers in countries where USAID has programs. And we are
sharing those with our missions. We are quite certain that this
will result in increased collaboration.
Senator Wellstone. Well, let me thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. VanDusen follows:]
Prepared Statement of Ann VanDusen
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: I appreciate this
opportunity to outline the U.S. Agency for International Development's
efforts to prevent and control the worldwide problem of torture, and to
assist in the treatment of victims of torture.
In December, we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which prohibits torture and
reaffirms the rights of all individuals to life, liberty and security.
USAID has recommitted itself to ensuring that U.S. foreign assistance
helps to secure all the rights outlined in that Declaration. Certainly
the concerns of both Congress and the Administration were embodied in
the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998, which the President signed last
October.
Last month, many people gathered in Washington to commemorate the
2nd annual UN International Day in Support of Torture Victims and
Survivors. We at USAID strongly support their cause. Many of our
programs, especially those in the democracy and human rights area,
focus on preventing torture from occurring in the first place. Other
programs fund activities that address victims of torture and severe
trauma, and that train health care workers and others who must treat
these victims.
Our definition of torture is an inclusive one. It includes the man
who is beaten or maimed, the woman who is raped for reasons that are
both political and psychological--rape as an instrument of war, and the
child who is forcibly ``recruited'' for a rebel army by threats and
beatings. All of these people need help and understanding in dealing
with trauma that lasts far beyond the initial act of violence.
USAID has long provided assistance to non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and other institutions for programs to prevent
torture and trauma and to treat their victims. Let me summarize some of
our specific activities around the world.
latin america
The spread of democracy in Latin America in recent years has
dramatically reduced the incidence of torture and human rights abuse in
the region. USAID has strengthened that trend in a number of ways.
Our funding of justice and rule of law programs in Latin America
began more than fifteen years ago. In Fiscal Year 1999, our Bureau for
Latin America and the Caribbean designated about $42 million, or 42
percent of its democracy programs budget, for rule of law programs.
About $10 million of that was designated for police reform programs,
implemented by the Department of Justice's International Criminal
Investigation Training Program, with programs in Bolivia, Dominican
Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and
Panama. These programs work in a variety of ways to overcome the long
history of police abuse that exists in some countries.
We have supported regional institutions that protect and promote
human rights, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,
the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (which marks its 20th
anniversary this year), and the Inter-American Institute of Human
Rights. As part of its regional democracy programming, USAID supports
the work of the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights with a three-
year grant of $4.7 million that started in 1997. As part of its
program, the Institute supports the work of about fourteen ombudsman
offices, through a federation of ombudsmen. The purpose of these
offices is to create a visible mechanism to deal with government-
sponsored abuses of human rights. Torture is an important focus of
their work.
The Institute also has created a Program for the Integrated
Prevention of Torture. Initially, the focus was on training health
professionals in the rehabilitation of torture victims. The current
objective is to train prison officials, improve prison conditions, and
otherwise give priority to prevention of torture.
In Colombia, USAID is assisting torture victims through assistance
to human rights training programs, including training of the Human
Rights Units of the Office of Prosecutor General. In Guatemala, USAID
has supported work in two relevant areas. The Historical Clarification
Commission received $1.5 million in FY 1997 and FY 1998. Another $2.7
million has been invested in treating victims of human rights abuses in
the last two fiscal years. Most of this funding was managed by the
International Organization for Migration (IOM), which in turn makes
sub-grants to local and community groups best suited to respond to a
variety of human rights abuses, including torture.
In Haiti, since 1994 USAID has supported the Human Rights Fund. The
initial year's funding of $1 million assisted victims of human rights
abuses, including rape, beatings in custody and other forms of torture.
More than $1 million was spent during the next two years, also
exclusively on assisting victims. The most recent extension of the fund
through the end of August 1999 is for $2 million, of which
approximately $600,000 is for victim assistance and treatment. This
funding is directed where it can do the most good, primarily to
individual physicians who run their own treatment programs and who work
to establish a countrywide network for referral and treatment. The
remainder goes to prevention programs directed at police/community
relations and public human rights education. We are pleased that the
incidence of human rights abuses in Haiti has declined in recent years,
in part because of improved training of the national police.
In Peru, since 1994, USAID has extended assistance to victims of
gross violations of human rights through an umbrella agreement with
Catholic Relief Services, which in turn provides grants to local NGOs.
These groups provide legal assistance to those wrongly accused of
terrorism, many of whom have been tortured. Other programs document
torture cases. Last year about $375,000 was used to support the Legal
Defense Institute and the Legal Coordinator for Human Rights, and the
government's Office of the Ombudsman. This year's commitment of
$125,000 funds studies on human rights abuses related to torture, to be
used in a public campaign against torture.
africa
In Africa, USAID has a variety of programs directed at torture and
trauma. For example, in 1998 the Agency provided $1.5 million for a
human rights program in South Africa, with strong emphasis on victims
of violence and torture.
In Angola, twenty years of civil war have taken an enormous toll on
the emotional, psychological and physical health of Angola's people.
The USAID program includes treating and rehabilitating war-traumatized
children, landmine victims, widows and former child soldiers. USAID
supports several interventions addressing the impact of this violence
on children and other war victims.
In Liberia, the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund supports a
number of programs that assist children and youth who have been
severely affected by years of conflict in that country. The Patrick
Leahy War Victims Fund supports clinics that assist landmine victims
and treat people who have been tortured.
In Sierra Leone, USAID is providing $1.3 million through UNICEF to
assist children who have been separated from their families,
involuntarily conscripted into military groups or otherwise severely
affected by violence. Many of these children were physically or
psychologically tortured.
In Uganda, with financing from the Displaced Children and Orphans
Fund, USAID initiated a $1.5 million program to treat and rehabilitate
demobilized child soldiers and other affected children who were
recruited or impressed into insurgent armies and who suffered beating,
torture and rape. Many of these children and youths were forced to
practice, or were witnesses to, extreme forms of cruelty.
asia/near east
In Cambodia, to address the harsh aftermath of the Khmer Rouge
reign of terror, the Harvard School of Public Health's Program of
Refugee Trauma has joined with the Ministry of Health in training
primary care physicians to recognize and treat mental illness and
trauma. We have supported this program, which has refugees, children,
landmine victims and widowed women as its target beneficiaries.
USAID is also taking action to address one of the most serious
human rights, health and economic problems in Asia: the trafficking of
women and girls in a modern-day slave trade, for both labor and sexual
purposes. This year, USAID launched the Anti-Trafficking in Women and
Children Initiative. Among other goals, this five-year effort will help
develop and implement innovative, on-the-ground trafficking prevention
efforts in South and Southeast Asia.
europe/new independent states
In Bosnia, USAID has supported programs that provide trauma
counseling and medical assistance for war victims, including those
tortured and raped. Implementing partners include the International
Human Rights Law Group and Delphi International. Other funding to local
NGOs has been provided to offer counseling to victims of torture, rape
and other atrocities.
In Georgia, assistance is provided through the Horizontal
Foundation for organizational development and training to such groups
as the Committee Against Torture, Organization for the Defense of Human
Rights and Social Security of Prisoners, Media (medical experts), and
other human rights NGOs. Also, the Liberty Institute has received
funding to track human rights abuses, particularly by police.
Finally, we are all painfully aware that many Kosovars suffered
rape, torture and other forms of brutality, as well as the trauma of
being forced from their homes, seeing their friends and loved ones
killed, and returning to a devastated homeland. Rape has been
particularly traumatic. In Kosovo, to have been raped places a terrible
stigma on a woman. The community, even her family, may shun her for a
violent act of which she was the innocent victim.
In general, no matter the cause of the trauma, the symptoms
manifested are the same, and include depression, nervousness and
tension. The more severely traumatized require trained and skilled
assistance to work through the crisis. USAID moved rapidly to address
the counseling and treatment needs of Kosovo's refugees while they were
in camps in Macedonia and Albania.
In the refugee camps, USAID supported assistance to trauma victims,
mostly through our Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, by training
health providers, teachers, and parents, and by strengthening local
service providers. In Macedonia, we supported programs by the
International Catholic Migration Committee and Medecins du Monde that
included therapeutic activities for girls and women suffering from rape
and other forms of trauma. In Albania, Catholic Relief Services social
workers provided trauma counseling to girls and women. We estimate that
USAID's total funding so far this year in Kosovo for trauma treatment
and training activities has been about $3.7 million.
USAID intends to use supplemental funds made available for FY 1999
to continue treatment services for victims of torture and rape in
Kosovo. The Kosovo Humanitarian and Social Assistance Program will
provide $20 million over three years to design and implement activities
that respond to the most crucial and evolving needs of Kosovars as they
rebuild their lives. A major objective of this program is to provide
treatment and training efforts that assist communities, and
particularly children, to cope with trauma, displacement and loss.
Mr. Chairman, we at USAID share your concern about torture wherever
it exists. In Kosovo and throughout the world, we intend to use every
means at our disposal to prevent these abuses from happening and to
care for the victims of torture and trauma.
Thank you. I will be glad to take your questions.
______
Report to the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Committee on
Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives, Concerning USAID
Programming to Prevent and Treat Torture
HAC Report No. 105-719, accompaning H.R. 4569, recommends that
USAID make best efforts to allocate $5 million to support treatment
centers and programs in foreign countries for victims of torture. The
Committee requested USAID to report by December 1, 1998 on
implementation of this recommendation.
This year, we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which prohibits torture and reaffirms the
rights of all individuals to life, liberty and security. USAID has
recommitted itself to ensuring that U.S. assistance helps to secure the
``universal and effective recognition and observance'' of the rights
outlined in that declaration. Many Agency programs, especially those in
the democracy and human rights area, are directed at preventing torture
from occurring in the first place. We are confident that, with a
variety of program interventions suited to local circumstances, USAID
is meeting the intent that we address the specific needs of torture
victims. From experience, the Agency believes that both treatment and
prevention are necessary for an effective response to the scourge of
torture. Overall, USAID treatment, prevention and related programs
amount to more than the $5 million benchmark recommended by the
Committee.
background
For many years, USAID has, particularly through its democracy and
human rights programs, provided assistance to non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and others both to help prevent the occurrence of
torture and to treat directly the victims of torture. For instance, in
1998 the Agency's human rights program in South Africa totaled $1.5
million and placed strong emphasis on victims of violence and torture.
In 1995, the Minnesota-based Center for the Victims of Torture received
a $250,000 grant to provide training and technical assistance for
Turkish doctors and human rights workers. Additional sums also went to
the Center to train Bosnian and Croatian torture treatment volunteers.
With USAID funding, the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights
initiated in 1995 a region-wide effort to train medical personnel to
recognize and to treat torture victims. These programs are designed to
help rehabilitate the victims ot torture both physically and
psychologically, and to help reintegrate them into society.
There are many other examples of torture treatment programs, but
their racognition within USAID as a unified, discrete programming
element has not been distinguished from Agency responses to a range of
other human rights abuses. Nonetheless, in order to be responsive to
the Subcommittee's request, USAID surveyed country programs where the
Agency has undertaken programs that address the different aspects of
the crime of torture. For a variety of reasons, the data has been
difficult to gather.
First, while the definition of torture is relatively clear, the
term torture is not officially used as a programming category, although
USAID programs may address problems associated with torture. For
instance, USAID is increasing activities designed to reduce the
incidence of rape, trafficking in women and girls, and other sexual
crimes. Although rape is often used as a weapon of war and is one of
the most pervasive and demonic torture methods, USAID programmming in
this area is not explicitly identified as addressing either the
prevention or treatment of torture. Similarly, USAID is involved in
treating victims of landmines and other terrifying means of
intimidation resulting in loss of limbs. Yet these, too, are not
categorized as torture treatment programs. There is also important
programming to demobilize child soldiers, many of whom have been
tortured to inflict the requisite level of fear to keep them under
arms. Money spent to treat them medically and to provide psychosocial
counseling is not recorded as a torture treatment program, although
certainly this is the goal of the effort.
Second, to limit program focus on treatment of torture victims
often miscasts the importance of addressing prevention concerns. The
sheer magnitude, for instance, of treating the torture and other
victims of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia highlights the need to direct
attention to prevention work. Activities falling under the prevention
rubric include assistance in the drafting of anti-torture legislation
and training police officials to do their jobs without resort to
torture. Futhermore, in settings where funds are used for truth
commissions and other reconciliation tools, the line distinguishing
prevention from treatment is not clear.
Third, with rare exception, budgeted amounts which might include
funding for victims of torture are characterized as programs assisting
victims of human rights abuses or war.
Finally, and based on the above, dollar amounts associated with
either prevention or treatment programs necessarily are imprecise.
usaid programming for victims of torture
The following provides short summaries of the types of specific
program activities that USAID implements which address either torture
prevention or treatment concerns. Many of these programs will continue
in FY 2000, but, given the informational constraints described above,
we are providing approximate figures for this year.
Latin America (LAC)
Regional: Offices of the Human Rights Ombudsman have been supported
by USAID in a number of countries, including Bolivia, Ecuador,
Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Peru. Legislation creating these offices
exists throughout the region. The purpose of these offices is to create
a visible mechanism to deal with government-sponsored abuses of human
rights. As is outlined in a few of the following entries, but is
generally the case throughout the region, an important focus is
torture, including promoting treatment for its victims but increasingly
to prevent it from occurring in the first place.
USAID also supports, as an element of its regional democracy
programming, the work of the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights.
The current three year grant of $4.7 million was signed in 1997. The
Institute supports the work of the various Ombuds offices. It also has
created a Program for the Integrated Prevention of Torture, initiated
in 1995. Initially, the focus was on training health professionals in
the rehabilitation of torture victims. The current objective, set in
1997, is to train prison officials, improve prison conditions, and
otherwise give priority to prevention of torture.
Colombia: USAID is assisting torture victims through assistance to
human rights training programs, including training of the Human Rights
Units of the Office of Prosecutor General. Specific, dedicated amounts
are not easily segregable.
Guatemala: USAID has supported work in two relevant areas. The
Historical Clarification or Truth Commission received $1.5 million in
FY '97 and '98. Another $2.7 million has been invested in treating
victims of human rights abuses in the last two fiscal years. Most of
this funding was managed by the International Organization for
Migration (IOM), which in turn makes sub-grants to local and community
groups best suited to fashion responses for a variety of human rights
abuses, including torture.
Haiti: Beginning in 1994, USAID has supported the establishment of
a Human Rights Fund. The initial year's funding of $1 million assisted
victims of human rights abuses, including political rape, beatings in
custody and other forms of torture. More than $1 million was spent
during the next two years, also exclusively on assisting victims. The
most recent extension of the fund through the end of August 1999 is for
$2 million, some $600,000 of which is for victim assistance and
treatment. This funding is directed where it can do the most good,
primarily to individual physicians running their own treatment programs
and who are working to establish a country-wide network for referral
and treatment. The remainder is going to prevention programs directed
at police/community relations and public human rights education. The
move to more forward-looking prevention oriented activities is
noteworthy, as well as the fact that the incidence of gross human
rights abuses in Haiti has declined in recent years due, in part, to
increasingly better trained and self-disciplining national police.
Peru: Since 1994 USAID has extended assistance to victims of gross
violations of human rights through an umbrella agreement to Catholic
Relief Services, which in turn provides grants to local NGOs. These
groups provide legal assistance to those wrongly accused of terrorism.
A significant number report they have been tortured. Unspecified
amounts also have gone to document torture cases. In the last fiscal
year about $375,000 was used to support the Legal Defense Institute and
the Legal Coordinator for Human Rights (NCHR), and the government's
Office of the Ombudsman, Human Rights Division. This year's commitment
of $125,000 to the NCHR funds studies on human rights abuses related to
torture, to be followed by a public campaign against torture.
Africa
Angola: Twenty years of civil war has taken an enormous toll of the
emotional, psychological and physical health of Angola's people,
especially children. The USAID program includes treating and
rehabilitating war-traumatized children, landmine victims, and widows
and former child-soldiers. USAID supports several interventions
addressing the impact of this violence on children and other war
victims. Assistance is provided through the Displaced Children and
Orphans Fund to identify, reunite, and reintegrate children who have
been separated from their families, including underage soldiers. USAID
supports a nation-wide program to strengthen family and community
capacity to identify and address symptoms of psychological and social
distress in children. The process uses elements of western psychology
and traditional Angolan culture to provide teachers, parents, and other
child-care providers with the understanding and tools to assist in the
reintegration into the social, educational and communal mainstream of
about 350,000 children. USAID also provides, with resources from the
Leahy War Victims Fund, support for the manufacture, fitting, and
maintenance of orthopedic devices for landmine victims provides, and
support for counseling and vocational training for these victims.
Liberia: The Displaced Children and Orphans Fund supports a number
of programs that assist children and youth who have been severely
affected by years of conflict in that country. The Patrick Leahy War
Victims Fund also, in part, supports clinics assisting amputees through
psychological and medical treatment. The percentage of these victims
who were tortured is quite high.
Sierra Leone: USAID is providing $1.3 million through UNICEF to
assist children who have been separated from their families,
involuntarily conscripted into military groups or otherwise severely
affected by violence. Many of these children were physically or
psychologically tortured. Funds also are available in this country to
assist the many victims of amputation and other forms of physical
mutilation.
Uganda: With financing from the Displaced Children and Orphan's
Fund, USAID initiated a $1.5 million program to treat and rehabilitate
demobilized child soldiers and other affected children who were
recruited or impressed into insurgent armies. Many of these children
and youths were trained to practice, or were witnesses to, extreme
forms of cruelty.
Asia/Near East
Cambodia: To address the harsh aftermath of the Khmer Rouge reign
of terror, Harvard's School of Public Health's Program of Refugee
Trauma has joined with the Ministry of Health in training primary care
physicians to recognize and treat mental illness. Geared to training
some 100 doctors and then institutionalizing the training program in
the curriculum of the National School of Medicine, the effort will
invest some $800,000 from January 1996 through the end of 1999. Target
beneficiaries are refugees, children, landmine victims and widowed
women.
Europe/New Independent States
Regional: USAID programming in this region, as in the other parts
of the world, generally does not explicitly target torture treatment
programs. However, through our strong emphasis on human rights
programming throughout the region USAID funds a number of programs,
generally through NGOs, seek both to prevent torture and to assist the
victims of torture.
Bosnia: USAID has supported programs that provide trauma counseling
and medical assistance for war victims, including those tortured by
rape and other means. Implementing partners have been the International
Human Rights Law Group and Delphi. Other funding to local NGOs has been
provided to offer counseling services to victims of torture, rape and
other atrocities. The incidence of these crimes has greatly diminished
since the signing of the Dayton Accords, resulting in more expansive
human rights and training programs.
Russia: Assistance to work on torture issues is provided
indirectly, in part through the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Center,
which focuses on memorializing the horrors of the previous regime as a
way of ensuring that they are not repeated.
Georgia: Assistance is provided through the Horizontal Foundation
for organizational development and training to such groups as the
Committee Against Torture, Organization for the Defense of Human Rights
and Social Security of Prisoners, Media (Medical experts), and other
human rights protection NGOs. The Liberty Institute received funding to
track human rights abuses, particularly by traffic police.
budget summary
With the caveats noted above, USAID estimates the following amounts
addressing issues relating to treatment, prevention and other related
human rights matters.
Fiscal Year 1999
[$ estimates]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Treatment Prevention Other Related
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAC Regional........................................... $150,000 ................. $1,500,000
Haiti.................................................. 600,000 $700,000 700,000
Guatemala.............................................. 50,000 ................. .................
Peru................................................... 80,000 125,000 .................
Colombia............................................... na na na
Sierra Leone........................................... ................. ................. 1,300,000
Liberia................................................ na ................. .................
Uganda................................................. ................. ................. 1,500,000
Bosnia................................................. na ................. .................
Russia................................................. na ................. .................
Cambodia............................................... 200,000 ................. .................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
na = not available.
Senator Wellstone. And, Dr. Genefke, we will go forward
with your testimony in a moment. You have not testified yet, I
gather.
Dr. Genefke. No, I have not.
Senator Wellstone. And I would be interested in the
response to what Ms. VanDusen has said. I am particularly
interested in getting USAID to put more of a focus on the
centers. I mean, we may have a semantics problem here, as to
what it means to put more of a commitment to the international
part of this.
But I think we need to get some of these centers that have
a proven record into some of these developing countries where
the people who have been tortured live. And so I do not think
it is enough just to do it here. I would like for us to focus
on that as we go forward.
Rod, have you voted?
Senator Grams [presiding]. Yes.
Senator Wellstone. Then we can move right along. But then,
I--can you do the--I would much appreciate it if you would give
me a 3-minute break. I would like to hear the testimony of Dr.
Genefke.
Senator Grams. Sure.
Senator Wellstone. I will just run right up there and vote.
The Senate does not do anything unless I tell it to.
Senator Grams. They are waiting for Paul.
Maybe I can ask a question while he is gone, because I
know--that was our last vote for the day. But I know a lot of
us have airplane flights that we have to catch at 5:30.
So, Ms. VanDusen, I would like to ask you a quick question.
We were talking some of the most recent examples of torture, of
course, comes out of Kosovo, Pristina. In the cellar of the
Pristina, Kosovo, police station, where NATO forces found
wooden batons, heavy metal chain, black ski masks, bloodstains,
a lot of other evidence that mass torture had been carried out
by Serb forces before they fled.
Has USAID or any other U.S. Government entity provided
direct grants now to any treatment centers for torture victims
in Pristina as part of the USAID package?
Ms. VanDusen. We have provided resources to a variety of
non-governmental organizations that are working specifically
with victims of rape, victims of torture. These programs range
from work with the Catholic Relief Services, with Doctors of
the World.
They have focused on treatment and counseling. They started
out in the camps, because that is where the victims were. The
victims have gone back to Kosovo. The programs are moving back
to Kosovo.
And we currently are reviewing proposals for a major $20
million, 3-year program to continue services in the social
rehabilitation area in Kosovo.
Senator Grams. Where will those fundings come from? Will
they come from the $500 million emergency aid package that has
been put together?
Ms. VanDusen. The second, the 3-year program will come from
the emergency supplemental. The earlier ones that dealt with
the refugees in the camp were drawn from our humanitarian
assistance funds.
And as I mentioned earlier, we draw from a number of
accounts to fund these programs, from our health account, from
our democracy account, from our humanitarian assistance
account, from funds that are set aside for Eastern Europe in
the case of the Kosovo women.
Senator Grams. I am interested, too, in whether the
enactment of the Torture Victims Relief Act has had any impact
on priorities of USAID. In other words, what is USAID now doing
that is different than maybe before this act became law?
Ms. VanDusen. Well, I think it has provided greater focus
in a number of respects. I think it has caused us to look at
what we are doing in a variety of centers and how they fit
together to both deal with the victims of torture and to
establish the institutions that will prevent it from recurring.
We also have initiated training of all of our democracy
officers, so they are aware and are able to identify situations
where torture will occur and are knowledgeable about the types
of programs that are meaningful in terms of addressing it.
So I think it is not that we were not dealing with this
before the act, but the act has helped to focus on the full
range of activities that are needed to deal with this very
difficult problem.
Senator Grams. And also, I would hope that all the
statements could be entered into the record as if they were
following each other. And then the questions be put in the same
kind of order, so anybody reading back on this transcript will
not hear opening statements, questions, opening statements. So
I hope we can have that done where all the opening statements
can be put in order into the record.
Now that Senator Wellstone is back, Dr. Genefke, we would
like to hear your comments.
STATEMENT OF DR. INGE GENEFKE, SECRETARY-GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL
REHABILITATION COUNCIL FOR VICTIMS OF TORTURE, COPENHAGEN,
DENMARK
Dr. Genefke. Yes, I would be very happy. But first, I want
to thank you, Senator Grams, and to Senator Wellstone for the
leadership you have had during all these years and for the very
important work you have been doing and so that now there is
this great Torture Victims Relief Act. I think on behalf of all
the victims, we thank you very deeply.
I will just give a short overview of the 25 years of
professional, medical, psychological health professionals work
we have been doing and then some visions for the future.
The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture
Victims is the health professional organization working for
victims of torture and against the practice of torture. We work
to heal shame and horror so unspeakable that we still, after
many years, become deeply affected when confronted with it.
Torture is horrible. What it does to people is truly a
nightmare. It makes strong people weak. It induces grief and
horror into their souls, altering them forever. Everybody can
be broken.
Luckily we have found that survivors of torture can be
helped, and we believe that they should. Thus, the main focus
of IRCT is to ensure that necessary treatment is offered to
torture survivors all over.
Historically, the work began 25 years ago. A group of
medical doctors was founded under the auspices of Amnesty
International in Denmark. As physicians, we began to document
torture and to diagnose torture victims. We soon learned that
there was a pattern in how victims reacted and kept reacting
years after the torture had taken place.
We felt competent in treating the bodily wounds, but we
soon realized that the victims were often even more devastated
psychologically. Torture is extreme trauma, physically and
psychologically. And we realized what the torturers had known
all the time. Torture is a psychological weapon, a very
effective one.
The same story was true over and over again by the victims
we examined. How the fear was even bigger than the physical
pain. How they kept having flashbacks, unable to live normal
lives.
Treatment should have a holistic approach, where you take
the psychological, somatic, social, legal, spiritual, familial
and cultural aspects into consideration, as all these areas are
affected by torture.
Early in our work, we discovered that the victims had often
been strong and courageous persons. Torturers target
leadership, seeking to silence the leadership of political
opposition. We met ethnic minority leaders, student leaders,
politicians and journalists, who had spoken out on human rights
conditions in their country, people who had fought for freedom
of speech.
And now, after the torture, they could barely look us in
the eyes, so shamed by what had happened to them. Even if they
rationally knew that they were not at fault, they could not get
away from the horrible feeling of shame and humiliation.
With torture, we face the most devastating attack on any
sort of freedom. This is why we see our work to rehabilitate
torture survivors not just as an important support to restore
the lives of these people. We also see it as an indispensable
way of ensuring true democracy.
Nelson Mandela is a torture survivor. Despite the cruel and
prolonged detention Mandela suffered, he was able to overcome
this suffering and promote reconciliation in South Africa. In
popular terms, one can speak of the Nelson Mandela effect. He
symbolizes the difference in establishing decent, uncorrupted
democracies.
I am convinced that a much more comprehensive
rehabilitation effort can boost such a Nelson Mandela effect in
many more countries. By providing rehabilitation services, a
country is less likely to be afflicted by revenge and more
likely to provide an environment where uncorrupted people like
Mandela can be leaders in transitional societies.
Rehabilitation can provide infant democracies with leaders,
the leaders they need so desperately, uncorrupted leaders, who
know their country and have suffered with their people.
One of the strongest assets of IRCT is that we are an
organization based on a strong network of treatment and
rehabilitation centers across the world. IRCT cooperates with
almost 200 treatment programs, professional programs, and
centers globally and has conducted training and awareness
activities all over the world.
IRCT has a unique expertise in developing and supporting
new centers and programs. The overall strategy for funding of
rehabilitation centers and programs is to use the expertise of
rehabilitation centers in OECD countries, to support centers in
less developed countries. This is to take place in a
partnership with the bilateral development agencies in the
respective OECD countries.
Danish NGO's working with rehabilitation are currently
administrating rehabilitation programs with funding from the
Danish International Development Assistance. We are hoping to
witness such a construction develop in other countries, too,
also in the United States.
A recent grant of $2.5 million from the European Union to
the IRCT has encouraged us to pursue this strategy. The
donation from EU will make it possible to expand rehabilitation
work in less developed countries. The aim of this grant is to
strengthen the regional professional capacity for
rehabilitation of torture victims and to initiate 15 new
rehabilitation projects for torture victims.
Still the EU grant cannot provide a long-term financial
support to many of these centers. In this respect, the Torture
Victims Relief Act can play a crucial role. It can enable
centers in the U.S., like the Center for Victims of Torture, to
engage in developing rehabilitation centers in less developed
countries through a partnership with USAID.
As a matter of fact, IRCT hopes and expects that USAID,
together with the Center for Victims of Torture in Minneapolis,
which is the oldest and most experienced center in the U.S.,
will join this effort in supporting rehabilitation
internationally.
With the Torture Victims Relief Act, this is all possible.
Indeed, I am greatly pleased that it now seems that the United
States will also play a major role in financing and developing
treatment facilities. I wish to thank you, Senator Grams, and
you, Paul Wellstone, as well as Tom Lantos and Christopher
Smith for the genuine commitment and remarkable work you have
shown in working for the Torture Victims Relief Act.
And also, I want to thank Douglas Johnson and John Salzburg
from the Center for Victims of Torture in Minneapolis for the
tremendous job they have been doing and for their dedication to
the cause.
The Torture Victims Relief Act, signed into law by
President Clinton, authorized nearly $31 million to assist
victims of torture in the United States and abroad. As
secretary-general of the network representing thousands of
extremely courageous health professionals dedicated to the work
of treating torture victims, I wish to thank the United States
for this very important step. On behalf of the victims, I am
grateful. Their needs can now be given well-deserved priority.
What is required now is the timely appropriation by
Congress of this act, as well as a commitment to renew this act
this year. As the only surviving super power in the world, the
United States has the main responsibility for supporting the
humanitarian work and treatment of torture survivors.
The improvement in the life quality of the survivors is a
goal in itself. Treating torture survivors also builds the
foundation for establishing true uncorrupted democracies in the
world. These are two noble objectives that the United States
not only should but must fully support.
Torture is the strongest obstacle to democracy in the
world. It is a big step forward that the United States as the
strongest democracy in the world today has taken action against
the strongest obstacle to democracy, torture.
It is my sincere hope that other countries will follow the
lead you take. If countries are not part of the solution, they
are definitely part of the problem.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Genefke is on page 36.]
Senator Grams. Thank you, Dr. Genefke.
Ms. Cooper.
And again, your entire statements will be entered into the
record.
STATEMENT OF ANGELIQUE COOPER, TORTURE SURVIVOR FROM LIBERIA,
MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Ms. Cooper. My name is Angelique Cooper. I am a West
African woman and a survivor of the 7-year civil war in
Liberia.
My life before 1990 was what one would consider a normal,
day-to-day life. I was brought up in a Christian home, which
instilled discipline and morals. I went to school and then to
the university with the goal of becoming a lawyer.
Unfortunately, these dreams were shattered in 1990, when the
civil war started in my country.
My life changed overnight from what we would call normal to
a world of mental torture. I watched family members being
killed because of their personal beliefs. Innocent people were
beaten and killed because they did not belong to a certain
ethnic group or because they did not support the so-called
revolution that was going on.
I was tortured mentally and physically because of my
personal beliefs, because I believe that this revolution had no
meaning, and because of my involvement in an organization I
started, the Liberian Youth Anti-Drug Campaign.
Liberian children between the ages of 10 and 18 were
deprived of a chance to grow up as any normal child should.
They were turned into animals by the warlords, who gave these
children drugs and guns and made them believe that the guns
were an easy way to survive. Women and young girls were
harassed and taken away from their families. Some parents were
made to watch their daughters being raped. After such
incidents, most of these young women were affected mentally and
physically by the trauma. They lost hope of having a normal
life. Some committed suicide because the mental torture was too
much to handle.
I look at myself as being extremely lucky. I was able to
escape Liberia and came to the U.S. But I still had sleepless
nights when I cried and had nightmares about what I
experienced. I wondered how I could start over. In the process
of applying for political asylum, my attorney referred me to
the Center for Victims of Torture because he had heard what I
had experienced and thought that the center would be the best
place for me.
I was never really able to talk about the war until I
started my treatment at the center. I attend weekly counseling
that has helped me regain confidence in myself and a hope for a
better future. I was given medication to help me sleep, which
also has done wonders for me. I now work full time as a travel
agent and plan to start work on a business degree in the fall.
I hope my story has helped you understand a little bit of
what Liberians have been through and are still going through.
There is no safety in Liberia. The warlord who started the war
now runs the country. There are a lot of Liberians with
temporary protected status in the U.S. who deserve the same
opportunity I have had for a safe refuge in this country and
treatment.
Thank you.
Senator Grams. Ms. Cooper, thank you very much.
Senator Wellstone. Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Cooper is on page 39.]
Senator Grams. Mr. Johnson, I know you can comment on that.
I was just going to say what a great job you do at the center.
And I think the important work the center has done and is
doing is kind of representative of the people who have visited
there, all the way from former Secretary of State Mr.
Christopher to Bill Richardson, Richard Holbrooke, nominee for
U.N. Secretary--or Ambassador for the United States. So there
are a lot of people who have made stops to look at what is just
a small home in Minneapolis, but which does such great work.
So now we would like to hear from you.
STATEMENT OF DOUGLAS A. JOHNSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR
VICTIMS OF TORTURE, MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Mr. Johnson. I would also like to thank the two of you for
bringing Secretary General Kofi Annan to visit the Center for
Victims of Torture as well. That was a very important
opportunity, I think, to bring a message of hope. I would like
to ask that my statement be included in the record and to
divert myself from it somewhat, both in the interest of time
and to move things forward.
One thing we have learned over the last 14 years is that
torture is an extremely powerful weapon that creates fear in
communities. Knowing that intellectually, I was still very
surprised at one point when we had a focus group of wealthy
people in Minnesota. We were asking the question: Why do some
people donate and some people do not? Why is it so hard to
raise money for client care and for the work that we were
doing?
And as I sat on one side of one of these special windows,
not able to interfere with this conversation, within 2 minutes
this group of prominent Minnesotans focused on the problem of
fear, that even they, living very safely in our community,
found the word torture so filled with fear that it was much
easier to turn the page, to move along, to pretend, really,
that this is not occurring than to act.
Two points on that. First, I think it has been remarkable
that we have had such incredible support from the political
leadership of Minnesota, not the least of which are our two
Senators, who have faced their own fears on this issue and are
willing to speak out and take political risks on behalf of
torture victims in our communities.
But second, I want to underscore that the fearsomeness of
torture operates even more powerfully in places where torture
occurs. There is a phenomenon that some psychologists call the
art of knowing what not to know about, where communities deny
that torture exists, because it is too fearsome to admit, and
because to admit it is often to call oneself to moral action.
And that, of course, is to put one's self in danger.
Torture is, we say, the most powerful weapon against
democracy, because it targets leadership to destroy leadership
for the long term. It also creates a culture of fear and apathy
in the communities that have experienced it. We believe that it
is very important to underscore that part of the difficulty in
the transition to building democratic cultures in post-
repressive regimes is not just that the police have not been
trained, and not just that there are not all the institutional
frameworks in place, but that there is a legacy of fear that
has been the intentional strategy of repressive regimes. We
also have to pay attention to this legacy in order to build
democratic societies.
We are extremely grateful for the leadership of the Torture
Victims Relief Act. We are also grateful that the State
Department, in particular, has moved forward with the very
important support of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for
Victims of Torture. Part of that support is, of course, the
donation. But equally important is the leadership that it
entails. It enables us to talk to other governments about not
only the importance of the fund, but the importance of renewed
public commitments against the work of torture.
We are also very grateful that the Office of Refugee
Settlement, although no funds were distributed in fiscal year
1999, as called for by the bill, has nevertheless requested the
funds for fiscal year 2000. And ORR appears to be very willing
to move forward with us.
But we were disappointed that USAID did not request the
funds for fiscal year 2000. The funds may still be taken from
other funds and there is very good work that is being done with
groups on the issue of prevention. It is nevertheless
disappointing because not requesting the funds directly for the
Torture Victims Relief Act misses the opportunity for the
United States to clearly define itself on this issue in our
foreign policy. USAID in particular misses the opportunity to
avow publicly that it is part of the solution, valued by the
American people, not only to work to prevent torture, but to
value the individuals who have been targeted by torture by
helping them to recover.
Law, of course, has two important dimensions. One of those
dimensions is the very concrete, practical, programmatic
results that emerge when we pass legislation. And we want that;
we want the funds. But law also has a very important symbolic
and moral effect. And the later is, I think, particularly
important right now. We need USAID, the Department of State,
and all American institutions to declare that this is a
priority for the American people, and that in turn through its
visibility, welcomes torture victims as well as treatment
programs to step forward, not to thread their way through a
bureaucracy or thread their way through other programs, but
rather reaches out to them, recognizing that torture is
fearsome for people. Let us make it easy for people to step
forward, knowing that they will get support, not create
roadblocks that will keep them away from support.
The second point I wanted to make on this is that over the
history of the human rights movement the last 50 years, we have
largely emphasized the leadership of the legal community. It
has been very important leadership. It has established many
breakthroughs. But it is still only one form of thinking and
one group of tactics. Those institutional tactics have
developed, but they are still highly limited.
As an example, I work on the OSCE Advisory Panel on Victims
of Torture. I am very pleased to say that the OSCE has created
a new training manual for all their field staff on the issues
of torture to help them focus on the question of torture
wherever they are. I have been asked to review that manual.
Because of the interaction with the treatment centers, this new
manual does train people to ask a series of questions to
torture victims about what happened to help document.
But at the same time, it was written by lawyers. And so
reading the manual, there is not a hint that a torture victim
would have a great deal of fear as they come to the interview.
There is not a discussion of how the OSCE field staff should
conduct an interview in a way that is supportive and helpful to
get the information they want, but also to create a bond of
trust with the survivor. There is not a discussion that the
human rights worker, the OSCE staff person himself or herself,
will have tremendous reactions to their own fear as they hear
these stories. These are all insights that have been developed
within the community of learning centers and treatment programs
abroad. I would argue that we need this broadening of the
experience and the understanding of the effects of torture in
order to broaden our tactical responses to it, and not solely
focus, as so much has in the past, on institutional changes.
Third, I think what was extremely important about the way
you all constructed the Torture Victim Relief Act, by looking
at domestic issues, international issues and bilateral issues,
was not simply to create three different programs and three
pots of money, but rather to see that this is a problem that
fits of a whole, that the domestic treatment centers need the
international treatment centers. We need to be able to have
colleagues in Ethiopia that we can consult to understand our
Ethiopian clients better. They need us to see more clients in
order to produce more experts, so that we are helpful to them
in training them in their circumstances. The administration,
the State Department, USAID, ORR, need to come together to look
at how these programs interrelate with each other.
ORR, for example must cope with the problems that refugees
have as they come here. If there are not treatment centers in
Africa, then torture victims must come here for care. We need
treatment centers in Africa so that many of those leaders can
remain in their country and still get the resources and the
care that they deserve. So this issue must be dealt with as an
interdependent strategy with different tactics to pull it
together to be more effective.
We believe it is extremely important to see the treatment
centers as learning centers that affect their communities, that
accumulate knowledge, that push the envelope on what we know
about torture and its impact, that accumulate sufficient
intellectual knowledge and intellectual capital that local
people can begin to experiment with new ways of approaching
community care in their areas, and so that the rest of us can
learn from their efforts. And of course, fundamentally, the
process of creating the treatment centers is creating the
opportunity to recover leadership that many of us thought was
lost, but now we know from the experience in the treatment
centers can be regained, can be put back to work once again.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Johnson is on page 40.]
Senator Grams. I would mention the center, too. I always
like to mention that Governor Rudy Perpich was pretty
farsighted when he encouraged the center and helped support the
opening.
And then we talk about important visitors, I think people
like Ms. Cooper and other residents are very important
visitors, too. And as you said, leadership can be put back to
work. And I think it is very important.
I have had a chance to make a statement and ask a couple
questions. So I will turn to Senator Wellstone.
Senator Wellstone. I appreciate it. I think what I would
like to do is--I am also going to have to leave town soon, but
I want to----
Senator Grams. Voluntarily?
Senator Wellstone. Voluntarily today, yes.
I think that, again, recognition of Ms. Cooper--thank you
very much for your courage. It is people like you that inspire
both of us as Senators. And I think the center in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, is something that we are very proud of.
I would like to thank all of you for being here. Dr.
Genefke, you are a giant. And you never once say it, but it is
true. Everybody knows that.
I think I want to focus really on one--I guess it is more--
and please thank Secretary Koh and thank you for your testimony
today, Mr. Freeman. I would really like to see--and I talked to
Mr. Anderson when he came to my office. We had a discussion
about this.
And I really would like to see USAID have a--when we passed
this legislation and the President signed it, he said that this
would lead to expanded assistance to treatment centers around
the world. And I would like to see USAID make that more of a
priority. I really do believe that if there is any one thing we
could do that would sort of add to the work and really would be
excited, important.
And I think, Ms. VanDusen, I appreciate all that USAID is
doing, but I really am going to, I guess, in a loving way, I am
going to really push hard for you all to think about how you
can more directly provide assistance to some of these centers
in some of these developing countries, where, again, these poor
people, who have been tortured where they live, far better may
be able to get treatment there.
In a sense, it would be better. And if it does not happen
there, then they come here. And there is only so much that we
can do here.
So I do not know whether you want to respond, but I guess I
am not--I am persuaded by the good work you do, but I am not
persuaded actually by your testimony in relation to what I
think USAID ought to do specifically.
Ms. VanDusen. If I could just make a couple of comments----
Senator Wellstone. Sure.
Ms. VanDusen [continuing]. Because a lot has been said. And
I agree with virtually all of it. We do see the work on
preventing and treating torture as integral to building
democracies. It is one of the fundamental goals of USAID.
And I also agree that if you can build the capacity in the
country where the abuse is occurring, the capacity to prevent
abuse from occurring, it is much more effective. And that is
really the goal of what we are trying to do.
No question, we can do more, and we are going to try to.
And Dr. Genefke has been very helpful to us in coming up with
specific suggestions in specific countries. I think you will
see a lot more collaboration between USAID and specific
centers, as well as with programs outside those centers that
are dealing with similar issues.
Just a final point that has to do with the United States
demonstrating its leadership, we probably can do more to make
visible what we are already doing. And I will certainly spend
some time with my colleagues at the State Department looking
for ways that we can highlight how important this is to the
United States and what we are prepared to do.
Senator Wellstone. Do you think we can see USAID supporting
more foreign treatment centers?
Ms. VanDusen. We already are, and I think with the help of
the international Council, we will be able to expand our
efforts.
Senator Wellstone. I guess the only--I was going to ask
you, Doug, about the role of the centers in advocating for
human rights and democracy abroad. I think the way you spoke to
it in your testimony--this is really the piece that I want to
focus on is what we can do by way of supporting these centers
in other countries, and particularly some of the developing
countries.
And I think Rod and I will work very closely together in
this to make sure that we can get the job done. And we have, I
think, from the time I first came to the Senate, every year,
worked on this piece of legislation. And the last couple of
years the two of us have worked together, and I think we are
both very committed to making this happen.
Since I have to leave, I just again would like to thank
everybody. I would like to thank you for what you are doing,
and I would especially like to--it is not polite to point; I
should not have pointed. But thank you for your testimonies.
Senator Grams. Thank you, Paul.
Speaking of funding quickly, I would like to go to Mr.
Freeman real quick because I have one question here about the
funding.
Do you know of cases in the State Department funds for
democracy and human rights have been used for grants to
overseas treatment centers for torture victims? I know there is
always a lot of different areas of funding, but has the State
Department been committed?
Mr. Freeman. The State Department focus in terms of
funding, is directed at the U.N. voluntary fund. That $3
million contribution is significant and, as was underlined by
Doug Johnson and also Dr. Genefke, it has a symbolic, as well
as a substantive value. It demonstrates that we are
unequivocally on the side of torture victims and are doing what
we can to lead by example.
That is the State Department role in this issue, as
distinct from the USAID funding.
Senator Grams. Dr. Genefke, the IRCT solicited comments and
response to the recent USAID report to the House Foreign
Operations Subcommittee on support for torture victims
treatment centers and programs in foreign countries, as we
talked about.
The question I would like to ask first, does the IRCT
believe the USAID report contains a number of activities
outside the scope of support for the treatment and
rehabilitation of torture victims?
Dr. Genefke. Well, I think, like Doug has expressed, Dr.
Johnson has expressed, we have been also disappointed
concerning exactly this. We have been very concerned with the
USAID support for what they call rehabilitation programs,
because we have seen the--we have seen the analysis. And I
think we had a positive meeting, and I think we have had some
positive answers here. But we have been very concerned.
And rehabilitation programs are something which should have
high technical knowledge. There should be really knowledge and
also rehabilitation knowledge, medical, psychological
knowledge. And we have had that during so many years. We have
built it up. It should not be given scattered like that. And
that should be taking off really as a rehabilitation program.
And I hope we can work out that it could be more like that
in the future.
Senator Grams. Has the International Council applied to
USAID for grants for treatment centers abroad? And were any of
those grants rejected?
Dr. Genefke. In our network, yes, there have been centers
in different countries who have applied directly and have not
got the money. I was a little surprised hearing that the
extremely well-functioned centers--that some has got money,
because I heard it was not given to them. But Russians have
applied. Romanians have applied and have not gotten this money.
And I know also that our close-working consortium partner,
IRCT, the center which operates in Minnesota, has applied
several times. They have got one positive answer concerning
Turkey. But other applications have been without response or
with a negative response so far.
But as was also mentioned by Ms. VanDusen, we have handed
over this list of 36 program centers, where there are 19
existing centers. We are working with nearly no money for
consideration. And there are 17 new projects. And we are very
happy to provide much more background material, anything. And
it can be started, may I say, tomorrow to assist them.
And may I also add that we are asking for a very modest
amount of money. To run centers out in developing countries is
not something extremely expensive. It is about $150,000 to
$250,000 a year. So what we have handed over here 2 days ago to
USAID is a demand for between $7.5 million up to $9 million.
And we hope very much that we will have a positive reply.
Senator Grams. In our bill, we were hoping that the funding
would lead by example. In other words, the U.S. showing the
commitment and taking a leadership role and hoping that other
countries would join in. Are there other developing countries
that have shown an interest, or do you have information on a
number of other centers? But what are some of the most
supportive developing countries?
Dr. Genefke. Well, maybe I should say that amongst
developing countries, there are not very many who can
themselves provide money. I mean, Nepal has given some money to
the Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture. But I may mention
that my own government in Denmark has given--I have had really
high priority, having consistently providing this kind of
support, have given it high priority. They are now for this
year, they are giving $3 million to rehabilitation efforts in
Denmark.
They are giving $2 million out to developing countries to
different projects through the NGO's in Denmark, just as we
want USAID to supply the money through the very professional
working consortium party we have in CVT in Minneapolis, because
then you have the technical skills. I think that is very
important, the technical skills, the knowledge. We know how to
do it. We are working together. We have the training programs.
We have all of this ready.
And that is with $2 million from the Danish Government. And
they give our organization $1 million they give for the
voluntary fund. So $3 million in the total.
But I must say I am going regularly to the government,
pushing them to give more money because this is still not
enough. But I am pushing them. And I am always received very
positive. So it would be--I think that that will also be giving
more money next year.
Senator Grams. Mr. Johnson, you know, a lot of your
clients, I know, come from a lot of countries where torture is
still being practiced. Are there torture treatment centers in
many of those countries, or are they being established?
Mr. Johnson. You know that IRCT was the first center, and
the Center for Victims of Torture in Minneapolis was the third
in the world. We think there are now over 250 centers around
the world. But this is an idea whose time has come. It was a
breakthrough in thinking that we could actually do something.
What is particularly encouraging is the number of new treatment
programs that are starting in countries where repression has
recently occurred or where torture is still active.
With the help of USAID, and really at the request of USAID,
we went to Turkey to work with our colleague organizations
there. And I think this was a very interesting experience,
because it again shows what the treatment centers can do. They
do an incredible job of documenting and publicizing that
torture occurs, which helps, of course, maintain pressure on
the government generally, in addition to helping specific
individuals recover.
But what has been particularly interesting in the Turkish
example is the way our colleagues there have organized the
medical community and stimulated the Turkish Medical
Association itself to be an extremely active human rights
organization. In other words, they built a constituency, a new
constituency for human rights, and a very prestigious one, I
might add, that brings new political weight in the struggle
against torture in Turkey.
Out of that, we, along with the medical association, also
spent quite a bit of time, again with USAID support, training
the forensic doctors of Turkey, the government officials who
have the responsibility to testify that prisoners have not been
tortured.
I might note that one of the requests we made of Secretary
Koh on his current trip to Turkey is to visit one of those
forensic doctors, who, after going through both the technical
and ethical training programs on identifying torture, began the
very forthright way of making medical reports, stating that a
given person was tortured. This doctor is now being prosecuted
by the Turkish Government for allegedly supporting terrorist
organizations with false reports, essentially because they did
not like the results of his medical exams.
So we have an ongoing role with colleagues we train who are
in those kinds of circumstances, as does IRCT, in that when we
also need to protect them so that they can do the work that
they set out to do.
And I am pleased to say--going back to the question you
asked Deputy Secretary Freeman about places where the embassies
have been very supportive--that this is a place where there has
been a very good interrelationship of support from USAID,
technical assistance from a treatment center, and protection
from the embassy, that is really making a significant
difference in a country where torture is, unfortunately, very
active.
Dr. Genefke. May I just add a few remarks? Because I should
not only mention Denmark. I mean, we have also been in contact
with New Zealand, supporting through consortium parties, also
have been assisting in Cambodia; Sweden, also through an NGO in
their country, assisting consortium partner for us and for CVT,
assisting in Zambia.
Canada, I think, are very interested in helping us through
their NGO's. We are working together helping in Nigeria. And
Greece, I could say are also--they are already helping. So the
Greek center for victims of torture in West Bank and so on. But
it is not the amount of money which U.S.--we are hoping for
having when they are appropriated for the Torture Victims
Relief Act.
So you will have the lead, and that is what we want to take
with us when we go around to governments, when we go around to
the governments in countries. And then we can say ``Look
here.'' So that is very, very important. And of course we want
to have their money, as I said, through the CVT.
Senator Grams. We have talked about a lot of funding
through USAID. But one question I had maybe for you, Doug,
would be, why do you believe it is important for USAID to give
grants toward the treatment centers instead of just giving to
NGO's, who a lot of those organization have experience dealing
with victims who have been traumatized? Why is it important
then to also include USAID in the picture?
Mr. Johnson. Why is it important to include USAID or to
focus on the treatment centers? Why do we think USAID should
focus on the treatment centers?
Senator Grams. Well, why they should--I mean, have the
NGO's done a good job? Was that a good way to support the
treatment centers, or why is it a good idea also to bring USAID
into it as well?
Mr. Johnson. Well, we have been involved in training some
of the NGO's who have traditionally been involved in refugee
situations. And it has really been a new idea for them that
they should include psychosocial work in this area, and in
particular work on trauma. So, first of all, I am a bit
concerned how deep the knowledge is in this area and, in
particular, whether or not it is sufficiently detailed and
technical to meet the needs of victims of torture. All
organizations do what they know how to do. And it is important
not to confuse what we know how to do with what is appropriate
to the situation. I am not arguing that we are necessarily
better, but that the treatment centers add a new dimension and
expand the capabilities and tactics that can be brought to bear
on the situation. That is why it is very important.
I think that the treatment centers push the envelope by
working with the most difficult cases. Based on our
understanding of how people respond to trauma, we can help in
the most difficult cases. The most difficult cases are people
who are targeted for torture. It is incumbent on us to
understand that governments establish often elaborate
infrastructures in order to eliminate those individuals. We are
arguing that we need to also create the infrastructure to help
those individuals recover.
When there is a learning center in Africa that is truly
pushing the envelope, they can create trained people who can
help bigger NGO's intervene in the situation. But right now,
when those NGO's must request training from us, we literally
have to steal time away from our own clients in order to lend
our expertise to them. We need more colleagues in the field who
are doing this work in the same depth that we are, so that we
can cover more territory in the future.
Senator Grams. Ms. VanDusen, how can USAID be more
supportive of more treatment centers in the future?
Ms. VanDusen. Well, I think there are a number of things
that we can do and will be doing. Certainly making those that
currently are established known to our missions. We have a very
decentralized structure. And we are basically now letting our
field offices know about these organizations and encouraging
them to learn more about them, to see how they can contribute
to the programs. So one is from Washington encouraging our
field programs to get involved.
Another I think is basically we will continue to encourage
the Minnesota center to get involved in our central programs.
And we have met with Mr. Johnson and told him about some of the
competitions that are coming up, where we think the center can
really make a contribution. And we will continue to do that.
USAID, as you know, makes its awards through a competitive
process. But we certainly can encourage organizations like the
center in Minnesota to respond, and we will continue to do
that.
Senator Grams. I think what we would all like to see is all
of you be able to work yourselves out of a job.
Ms. VanDusen. Exactly.
Senator Grams. Ms. Genefke, do you think that a lot of the
work and efforts that we have done in showing some leadership
that it has had an effect on reduction in the amount of torture
going on, or is it a battle that is a big fight ahead?
Dr. Genefke. No. I think it is really very positive. And I
think it is extremely helpful. And I think the torture
government, they can see some sort of signs when the struggle
for democracy has taken this very important step. And I hope
for more steps forward, and I am sure that will come. But I am
really sure that it has a preventive effect.
May I also add that in many of the centers there are around
in the world, they are doing rehabilitation, of course because
we have treatment, but after a while, after some years, in some
of the places they have been able to take preventive measures
in a very good way. Because before making really prevention,
you have to know what is really out there to prevent and study
the thing. And they have done it. So they can make this
preventive measures. And some of them are doing it in a very
good way.
Maybe I should add that also it is a sign for a fragile
democracy that they permit some of the countries, where there
are torture, that they permit--that there are centers, that
there are even small centers. That is the first fragile sign
that it is going in a good direction.
And I know, for instance, in EU who is supporting us, we
have been working for having also a line, a rehabilitation line
also for rehabilitation.
And they are looking most positive, and the countries would
permit this work to be done. And I think that has also added to
the prevention.
Senator Grams. For countries that have permitted it to be
done, are there countries that reject?
Dr. Genefke. Yes. Yes, there are. But I do not think I can
mention them here, by prudency. I do not think it will be
dangerous if I say it, because we have contacts. In fact, ICRT
has contacts all over the world, except in 16 countries. So you
imagine, some of them are dangers, and some of them--I mean, it
is dangerous work. It is extremely courageous colleagues we
have here. Some of them are arrested, also.
So of course if there are assistance from your country, it
will mean enormously. And I may say, I cannot mention the
countries here now, but in old times I could mention that it
was dangerous for our colleagues in there, that we were there
and under the dictatorship. It was very difficult in the
Philippines where I was also under the dictatorship and so on.
And we were secretly training people there. And that was
with risk for their lives. And torture--and I have recently
been in a country where the people were saying to me, ``If it
was only me, but it is my family they will take.''
So, you see, that is what we are up against. This is power
instrument. All over the world there are these courageous
people. We need to assist and help them. And really what we
need is the finance, but also that you take the leadership and
say this is not acceptable in our days.
Senator Grams. Ms. Cooper, I think most of us sitting here
cannot really understand what goes on in the minds of people
who can commit these acts of torture, very gruesome acts. What
do you think were the motivations of the people who tortured
you?
Ms. Cooper. To instill fear. They try to stop you from
talking or stop you from doing things that are not in support
of what they want. If you are not actually supporting them or
speaking out for them, then you are not their friend. And so
they try to do things that will keep you quiet. And they will
personally attack you or make you watch your relatives being
killed. For myself in particular, my uncle and his wife were
shot in cold blood, just because they did not really believe in
or support the revolution that was going on. My granddad, I
watched him die and live as a vegetable for 1 week straight,
because he had a heart attack. And his son was murdered for no
reason, just because of his beliefs. They do whatever it takes
to keep you quiet. They do whatever it takes to make you
afraid.
Senator Grams. Now were you held captive, charged with any
crime, or are people tortured and then really kind of sent back
into the community as an example of what they want you to do?
Ms. Cooper. In my situation, we had fears of uprisings.
During the third one, I was organizing an NGO, because the
situation in my country, was that a lot of kids, babies between
the ages of 10 and 18, were combatants. They were sent to the
front lines. A 10-year-old would not--normally will not be able
to go out on a battleground. But they gave them drugs, anything
they felt would make them brave to go out there. So I decided,
with some friends at the university, to organize a NGO called
the Liberian Youth Anti-Drug Campaign to create awareness among
the little children to understand that you are taking these
drugs, but this is what happens to you.
And there were certain individuals who did not like my
organization, did not think it was wise. There were people who
thought that a child stealer, if I may say, happened to be of a
group called the Americo Liberian, a group that I am somehow
related to because of my ancestors. And it was like, ``Why are
you not supporting someone that you are supposed to be a part
of, you are supposed to be ethnically connected to?''
But I could not possibly support someone who thinks he
comes and liberates me from a dictatorship government but who
is committing all the things that are even worse than what the
person is fighting ever did. My family was affected. My whole
future just changed in a matter of seconds. And it was just
unthinkable for me as an individual to support such a person.
If you came to liberate me, why were you affecting me? I mean,
I was being affected, and you are supposed to be--I just could
not work with them or support this person. And that made people
who were loyal to him really upset.
This individual, they are attacking personally, he is like
a personal aid to this child stealer. He would stand in front
of bullets to risk his life for child stealer's life. And that
irritated him. And he had asked me before why I was not in
support of the child stealer. And at that time, we had the West
African peacekeeping forces around--ECOMOG. And I was a bit
sarcastic to him, when he confronted me in public. But they
were all involved in their elections of becoming president and
their own personal things.
They really sort of forgot about me for a while, until the
last incident took place on April 6, 1996. There are times
before a child stealer goes to a certain area that he sends
people to do mopping-up situations, to make sure that people
who do not support him are not there. And in the process of
this mopping up situation, this individual went to a house that
I was sort of seeking refuge at. And he said, ``Oh, so you are
still here. I am coming back.'' But they were fighting at a
front line. And we all talked that they were really
concentrating on their front line.
And it was just this person's regular bluff until he came
back to try to prove his point. And he promised to come back to
take me away to teach me even more of a lesson.
And it was when he left that I just walked. I just got up
that morning with just my passport and just walked to the
free--strangely, ECOMOG was in our neighborhood. And they were
manning checkpoints, the peacekeeping forces. So we felt safe
when we went to bed at night. But when we woke up in the
morning, ECOMOG was nowhere to be found. They had all retreated
to their base. And we had guerilla fighters all around us. The
checkpoints were all set up again, and we had to go through the
same checkpoints. We had to go through the same questions of
``What ethnic group do you belong to? Why do you not support
this group,'' and all of that.
After what had happened to me, I just felt I had to get
out. I did not care whether I had clothes. I just had to get
out. And so I walked for 50 kilometers to where ECOMOG had
retreated to.
I stayed in a container overnight which they usually used
for shipping vehicles and stuff like that. I slept in there and
got in the ship the next morning and went to a neighboring
country and then on to the refugee camp, where I stayed for a
couple months and then went on another ship and came over here.
Senator Grams. What difference has--this treatment at the
Center for Victims of Torture, what difference has that
treatment made in your life?
Ms. Cooper. It has made a lot of difference because I never
really could talk about what had happened. My attorney has
said, ``Why did you not talk about it?'' And I told him that I
figured if I just put it behind me, tried to put it behind me,
just get on with things, it would be OK. I did not want to talk
about it because it was--I did not want to relive it. It was
better to just try to forget about what had happened and try to
see if I could just go on.
But my attorney said that it would help me a lot if I would
talk to people about it. And then I started working with a Dr.
Garcia at the center. And we talked about my life before the
war, my life during the war, and what my plans are and what it
is like to sleep at night. For years I do not really think I
slept 5 hours straight at night. I would get up in the middle
of the night and just--with cold sweats.
I would have dreams of watching war tanks roll down the
street. And I would jump up from my sleep. I had to take a
medication called Paxil. And that has helped me sleep a lot. I
never really slept a full night through until I took that
medication. And I have to take that every night in order to
sleep and until I feel comfortable with readjusting into a
normal way of life.
The center has really been a lot of help to me. They have
helped me. I do not know how to say. They have really, really
helped me on that. I can say that. I still go to counseling
every Thursday.
Senator Grams. Are you working now?
Ms. Cooper. Yes. I work with a travel agency. And they help
me with my concentration. Because normally, to study was not a
problem for me. But after what happened, I would study at
night, and I would read a paragraph, and my mind would just
wander away. And things that before would take me maybe just 10
minutes to comprehend would take me 30 minutes to comprehend,
because it was a problem. I always strayed away. I have to be
on my medication to help me relax.
Senator Grams. Dr. Genefke, did you want to add something?
Dr. Genefke. Yes. I think I just would like to add also
that I think we are all very moved by what you have been saying
and courage of this young woman. What is needed also from the
part of your country, I think, is--because this work could be
expanded very much.
All over the world there are these courageous people, who
want to help and assist your country. To go into this if there
is more protection--and what is needed is protection to these
people.
And I want also to underline that the rehabilitation
centers, they are not doing political work. They are just doing
their ethical duty as doctors and as nurses. That is the only
thing they are doing. And they are in danger, life danger,
danger of being tortured and so on by people. It is nothing
political. We are just doing our duty as medical doctors.
So the Torture Victims Relief Act and what you can do from
USAID and what has been done from CVT, this is--this can
change. It can make an enormous change. And it would be an
enormous support for protection of these courageous people.
Senator Grams. I want to thank you all for being here. I
know we need to--in case somebody has a plane to catch or
whatever. But I will leave the record open. I would like to
leave it open until the end of next week in case other members
of the committee who could not be here today would like to
submit questions.
I know Senator Boxer wanted to be here today and could not
because of other commitments. But I am sure she will probably
have a couple questions. And I want to answer Senator
Wellstone's, as well as others.
So we would like to leave the record open. If you have
anything else you would like to add, please do so. And if we do
submit questions to you in writing, if you would promptly
answer them and return them to the committee, it would be very
helpful.
So again, I want to thank you all. Mr. Freeman, Ms.
VanDusen, Dr. Genefke, Ms. Cooper, thank you very much. And,
Doug, it is always great to see you. Thank you for all your
good work as well. I appreciate it. Thanks.
This hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:36 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
Prepared Statement of Inge Genefke, MD, DMSc hc
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims is a
health professional organisation working for victims of torture and
against the practice of torture. We work to heal shame and horror so
unspeakable, that we still, after many years, become deeply affected
when confronted with it.
Torture is horrible. What it does to people is truly a nightmare.
It makes strong people weak. It induces grief and horror into their
souls, altering them forever. Everybody can be broken. Luckily we have
found that survivors of torture can be helped. And we believe that they
should. Thus, the main focus of the International Rehabilitation
Council for Torture Victims is to ensure that necessary treatment is
offered to torture survivors.
Historically, the work began twenty-five years ago. A group of
medical doctors was founded under the auspices of Amnesty International
in Denmark. As physicians, we began to document torture and to diagnose
torture survivors.
We soon learned that there was a pattern in how victims reacted and
kept reacting years after the torture had taken place. We felt
competent in treating the bodily wounds, but we soon realised that the
victims were often even more devastated psychologically. Torture is
extreme trauma: physically and psychologically.
And we realised what the torturers had known all the time. Torture
is a psychological weapon. A very effective one. The same story was
told over and over again by the victims we examined. How the fear was
even bigger than the physical pain. How they kept having flashbacks.
Unable to live normal lives.
Treatment should have a holistic approach, where you take the
psychological, somatic, social, legal, spiritual, familial and cultural
aspects into consideration as all these areas are affected by torture.
Early in our work, we discovered that the victims had often been
strong and courageous people. Torturers target leadership. Seeking to
silence the leadership of political opposition.
We met ethnic minority leaders, student leaders, politicians and
journalists who had spoken out on human rights conditions in their
country. People who had fought for freedom of speech. And now--after
the torture--they could barely look us in the eye, so shamed by what
had happened to them. Even if they rationally knew that they were not
at fault, they couldn't get away from the horrible feeling of shame and
humiliation.
With torture we face the most devastating attack on any sort of
freedom.
This is why we see our work to rehabilitate torture survivors not
just as important support to restore the lives of these people. We also
see it as a necessary means to improve and restore the freedom
necessary to build democracies.
Nelson Mandela is a torture survivor. Despite the cruel and
prolonged detention Mandela suffered, he was able to overcome that and
promote reconciliation in South Africa.
In popular terms one can speak of the Nelson Mandela effect. He
symbolises the difference in establishing decent democracies.
I am convinced that a much more comprehensive rehabilitation effort
can boost such a Nelson Mandela effect in many more countries. By
providing rehabilitation services, a country is less likely to be
afflicted by revenge and more likely to provide an environment where
uncorrupted people like Mandela can be leaders in transitional
societies.
Rehabilitation can provide infant democracies with the leaders they
need. Uncorrupted leaders who know their country and have suffered with
its people.
One of the strongest assets of IRCT is that we are an organisation
based on a strong network of treatment and rehabilitation centres
across the world. IRCT co-operates with almost 200 treatment programmes
and centres globally and has conducted training and awareness
activities over the world.
IRCT has unique expertise in developing and supporting the
initiation of new centres and programmes. The overall strategy for
funding of rehabilitation centres and programmes is to use the
expertise of rehabilitation centres in OECD-countries to support
centres in less developed countries in a partnerships with the
bilateral development agencies in the respective OECD countries.
Danish NGO's working with rehabilitation are currently
administrating rehabilitation programmes in less developed countries
with funding from the Danish International Development Assistance. We
are hoping to witness such a construction develop in other countries
too. Also in the United States.
A recent grant of 2.5 million USD from the European Union to the
IRCT has encouraged us to pursue this strategy. The donation from EU
will make it possible to expand rehabilitation work in less developed
countries. The aim of this grant is:
strengthen the regional professional capacity for
rehabilitation of torture victims.
initiation of 15 new rehabilitation projects for torture
victims.
The IRCT structure behind the implementation of this programme is
five regional programme officers working in the headquarters, and a
number of rehabilitation experts working as regional or sub-regional
co-ordinators in the different parts of the world.
Still, the EU grant cannot provide a long-term financial support to
many of these centres.
In this respect, the Torture Victims Relief Act can play a crucial
role. It can enable centres in the U.S. to engage in developing
rehabilitation centres in less developed countries through a
partnership with USAID. As matter of fact, IRCT hopes and expects that
USAID together with the Center for Victims of Torture in Minneapolis,
which is the eldest and most experienced centre in the U.S., will join
this effort in supporting rehabilitation internationally.
With the Torture Victims Relief Act this is all possible.
Indeed, I am greatly pleased that it now seems that United States
will also play a major role in financing and developing treatment
facilities. I wish to thank Senators Rod Grams and Paul Wellstone, as
well as Representatives Tom Lantos and Christopher Smith for the
genuine commitment and remarkable work they have shown in working for
the Torture Victims Relief Act. From the bottom of my heart I also wish
to thank Douglas Johnson and John Salzburg from the Center for Victims
of Torture for the tremendous job they too have done and for their
dedication to the cause.
The Torture Victims Relief Act, signed into law by President
Clinton, authorised nearly 31 million USD to assist survivors of
torture in the United States and abroad.
As Secretary-General of a network representing thousands of
courageous health professionals dedicated to the work of treating
torture victims I wish to thank the United States for this very
important step. On behalf of the victims I am grateful. Their needs can
now be given well-deserved priority.
What is needed now is the timely appropriation by Congress of this
act. As well as the commitment to renew this act in due time.
As the only surviving superpower in the world, the United States
has the main responsibility for supporting the humanitarian work and
treatment of torture survivors. The improvement in the life quality of
the survivors is a goal in itself. Treating torture survivors also
builds the foundation for establishing true democracies in the world.
These are two noble objectives that the United States not only should
but must support fully.
Torture is the biggest obstacle to democracy in the world today. It
is a big step forward that the United States as the strongest democracy
in the world today has taken action.
It is my sincere hope that other countries will follow the lead you
take. If countries are not part of the solution, they are definitely
part of the problem.
Thank you.
[Attachment]
Implementation of the Torture Victims Relief Act
comments by the international rehabilitation council for torture
victims on the report to the subcommittee on foreign operations,
committee on appropriations, u.s. house of representatives, concerning
usaid programming to prevent and treat torture
The IRCT has warmly welcomed the pioneering initiative of USA
legislators to promote and adopt the first comprehensive legislation in
the world providing direct assistance to the many victims of torture
residing both inside and outside the USA.
The IRCT reiterates its claim that existing multinational funds
currently available to support direct service provision to victims of
torture are far from covering the need for international funding of
such services especially in developing countries and countries in
Central and Eastern Europe. This in spite of the substantial and most
welcome increase in the US contribution to the UN Voluntary Fund for
Victims of Torture received this year.
The IRCT has therefore increased its efforts to motivate National
Development Assistance agencies to include direct support for centres
and programmes for victims of torture among eligible candidates for
financial support within the human rights and democracy programmes of
these agencies.
The IRCT has seen the TVRA as a break-through in this context
coming at a time where for a number of reasons many centres and
programmes are facing serious financial problems or even closure due to
lack of funding.
The IRCT has its basis in the need for and possibility of providing
appropriate health care services to victims of torture and thereby
assisting them in returning to their previous often important social
and political roles in their communities.
The IRCT does not underestimate the importance of prevention in the
fight against torture but as in many other public health challenges--
and torture is a cancer on society--providing services to those already
afflicted by the scourge cannot be neglected in a comprehensive
approach to a health problem.
The IRCT therefore submits its deeply felt conviction that
provision of direct services to victims of torture is such an urgent
need that the TVRA cannot be properly implemented with a broadening of
its purpose to include other forms of human rights violations or other
approaches to the fight against torture--however justified these other
needs are in an overall context.
The IRCT finds it justified to add that the accumulation of medical
documentation of physical and mental consequences of torture which is a
side benefit of systematic clinical work with victims of torture has
proven the strongest indicia of past and current practice of torture.
So any preventive action would need as control of its effectiveness the
kind of credible data which can only be provided by centres and
programmes providing direct services to victims of torture.
The IRCT therefore strongly recommends that the resources which--
thanks to the TVRA may now be made available as bilateral assistance
through USAID should as a first priority be reserved for direct service
provision to primary and secondary victims of torture as defined in the
UN Convention against Torture. As a second priority training programs
aiming at enabling health professionals to better identify and provide
appropriate care to victims of torture would also be justified.
The IRCT finds that using such criteria and priorities only few of
the otherwise excellent activities enumerated in the USAID report to
the Subcommittee could be accepted as falling within the strict
purposes set out in the TVRA, viz.:
1. The part of the human rights program for South Africa went
into direct service provision for victims of torture.
2. The part of the grant to the Minnesota based Centre for
Victims of Torture used to provide training and technical
assistance for Turkish doctors.
3. The part of USAID funding of the Inter-American Institute
for Human Rights that supported a region-wide effort to train
medical personnel to recognise and to treat torture victims.
4. The part of the funding of the International Organisation
for Migration which has been used for service provision to
victims of torture. (As far as we have been informed the IOM
while providing general health care services to refugee
populations has yet to engage in specific services for severely
traumatised victims of torture).
5. The part of the funding of the Haiti Human Rights Fund
that has been used to provide assistance and treatment to
victims of torture.
6. The support given in Cambodia to the training of primary
care physicians and medical students to recognise and treat
mental illness in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge reign of
terror.
7. The part of the programs supported in Bosnia that provided
trauma counselling and medical assistance to war victims
tortured by rape and other means as well as other victims of
torture.
The IRCT is bound to conclude that the USD 1,680,000 listed as
FY'99 estimates for treatment related activities almost exclusively
addresses short term projects and does not provide support for the
large number of institutionalised centres and programmes (more than 160
such centres exists globally).
The IRCT hope that the review of the current low level of USAID
support for such services will lead to a change in policy and allow a
determined effort to support a number of these centres from now on.
This support should preferably be in the form of several year
commitments that will allow the dedicated staff of these centres to
concentrate on providing care to a most deserving population rather
than spending too much time on writing applications and constantly
worry over even the short term survival of their programmes.
The IRCT is convinced that a determined lead by the USA in this
respect will convince other national development assistance agencies to
follow suit.
Maria Piniou-Kalli, MD,
President, IRCT
Erik Holst, MD,
Deputy General Secretary
______
Prepared Statement of Angelique Cooper
Senator Grams and Members of the Committee:
My name is Angelique Cooper. I am a West African woman, and I am a
survivor of the seven-year civil war in Liberia. My life before 1990
was what one would consider a normal, day-to-day life. I was brought up
in a Christian home, which instilled discipline and morals. I went to
school, and then to the University with the goal of becoming a lawyer.
Unfortunately those dreams were all shattered in 1990 when the civil
war started in my country.
My life changed overnight from what we would call normal to a world
of mental torture. I watched family members being killed because of
their personal beliefs. Innocent people were beaten and killed because
they didn't belong to a certain ethnic group or because they did not
support the so-called revolution that was going on. I was tortured
mentally and physically because of my personal beliefs, because I
believe that this revolution had no meaning, and because of my
involvement in an organization I started, the Liberian Youth Anti-Drug
Campaign.
Liberian children between the ages of 10 to 18 were deprived of the
chance to grow up as any normal child should. They were turned into
animals by the warlords who gave these children drugs and guns and made
them believe that the guns were an easy way to survival. Women and
young girls were harassed and taken away from their families. Some
parents were made to watch their daughters being raped. After such
incidents, most of these young women were affected mentally and
physically by these traumas. They lost hope of having a normal life.
Some committed suicide because the mental torture was too much to
handle.
I look at myself as being extremely lucky. I was able to escape
Liberia and come to the U.S., but I still had sleepless nights when I
cried, and had nightmares of what I had experienced. I wondered how I
could start all over. In the process of applying for political asylum,
my attorney referred me to the Center for Victims of Torture because he
heard what I had experienced and thought the Center would be the best
place for me. I was never really able to talk about the war until I
started my treatment at the Center. I attend weekly counseling that has
helped me regain confidence in myself, and hope for the future. I was
given medication to help me sleep, which has also done wonders for me.
I now work full time as a travel agent and plan to start work on a
business degree in the fall.
I hope my story has helped you understand a little bit of what
Liberians have been through, and are still going through. There is no
safety in Liberia, the warlord who started the war now runs the
country. There are a lot of Liberians with Temporary Protected Status
in the U.S. who deserve the same opportunity I have had for a safe
refuge in this country and treatment.
______
Prepared Statement of Douglas A. Johnson
Senator Grams and Members of the Committee:
Thank you for the opportunity to address the issue of United States
policy towards victims of torture.
June 26, 1999 commemorated the second annual United Nations
International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. As Secretary-
General Kofi Annan said last year on this occasion ``This is a day on
which we pay our respects to those who have endured the unimaginable.
This is an occasion for the world to speak up against the unspeakable.
It is long overdue that a day be dedicated to remembering and
supporting the many victims and survivors of torture around the
world.'' He went on to pay tribute to the efforts of governments,
organizations, and individuals to ``relieve the suffering and assist
the recovery of torture victims around the world.''
This hearing is timely because the Torture Victims Relief Act (PL
105-320)--the first comprehensive U.S. program to address the needs and
hopes for recovery of torture victims--hangs in the balance.
We deeply appreciate your leadership, Senator Grams, that of
Senator Wellstone and the other principal sponsors of TVRA, in winning
the bill's enactment in October 1998. The Act recognizes that the
effects of torture are long term both on the individual and the society
in general, and that ``repressive governments often use torture as a
weapon against democracy.'' It endorses the ethical and economic
imperative that the many torture victims living in the United States
``should be provided with the rehabilitation services which would
enable them to become productive members of our communities.'' For
fiscal year 1999 the Act authorized $5.0 million for the Department of
Health and Human Services to support services for rehabilitation of
victims of torture in the U.S., $5.0 million for USAID to support
foreign treatment centers, and $3.0 million as a contribution to the
United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture. For fiscal year
2000 the Act authorizes $7.5 million for the Department of Health and
Human Services, $7.5 million for USAID to support foreign treatment
centers, and $3 million to the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of
Torture.
On October 30, 1998, the President signed the Torture Victims
Relief Act into law and stated: ``This Act authorizes continued and
expanded U.S. contributions to the treatment centers, both in the
United States and around the world, for persons who suffer from the
mental and physical anguish of having been tortured.'' And on December
10th, the President committed in fiscal year 1999 $3 million to the
United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture. This amount was
contributed to the UN several months ago in time for the annual board
meeting; thanks to the American contribution, the Fund was able to
distribute its largest support for treatment programs. Despite this
fact, about one third of the requests still could not be fulfilled.
But with this one exception, no other funding has been forthcoming.
And without the funding, the Act remains only a set of unrealized
principles. It is my hope that this hearing will serve to help
reinvigorate the Congressional will to see that the appropriations for
fiscal year 2000 will include this funding, and that the Administration
will find emergency funds in 1999 to begin the investments Congress
authorized and endorsed.
We are pleased that the President followed through with requests to
Congress for appropriations for fiscal year 2000 for two of the three
categories of aid to victims of torture. President Clinton requested
$7.5 million to assist victims of torture in the U.S. through the
Office of Refuge Resettlement of the Department of Health and Human
Services and he requested $3 million for the UN Fund. Now it is up to
Congress to ensure that these funds are appropriated.
We were very disappointed, however, that the administration did not
request the $7.5 million authorized by TVRA for USAID to support
treatment centers for victims of torture in the developing world and in
the former Soviet block. This omission is not consistent with the
President's pledge in his signing statement to support treatment
centers around the world as well as domestically. TVRA calls for
support of foreign treatment centers because many of the victims of
torture are grass roots leaders who have been in the forefront of the
struggle for human rights and democracy. Support for them is an
effective way for the U.S. to support democratic movements throughout
the world. Moreover, documentation by health professionals at foreign
treatment centers provides credible evidence of torture. The Department
of State, Amnesty International, and other NGO's use these reports, as
shown by the excellent work of the physicians in Turkey. Documentation
provides the basis for pressuring governments to end the practice of
torture.
Yet despite passage of the Torture Victims of Relief Act as well as
repeated recommendations by the appropriations committees, USAID has
been unresponsive to Congressional calls for financial support for
foreign treatment programs for victims of torture. USAID has never
explained why it apparently is uncomfortable helping people who have
received the cruelest form of treatment. When asked by the
appropriations committee to report on how it had implemented the
committee's recommendation to support treatment programs, USAID
responded as though it had followed the letter and spirit of the
recommendation. In fact, most of the projects it cited as complying
with the recommendation did not involve treatment programs for victims
of torture. And the projects with some semblance of supporting victims
of torture involved organizations that are not recognized
internationally for competence in the field.
We are grateful that in contrast to USAID the Department of State
has responded energetically to Congressional calls to increase the U.S.
contribution to the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture. The 1999
$3 million contribution is an increase from only $100,000 six years
ago. Even so, some European countries exceed us on a per capita basis,
an especially humbling fact given that the European Union has its own
(separate) grant program totaling about $6 million, in addition to
bilateral support from their development agencies.
The UN Voluntary Fund assists nearly 100 projects in more than 50
countries. It provides significant support to U.S. centers whose
clients are frequently not covered by any form of health insurance. We
are encouraged that that the Department of State authorization bill
provides for a $5 million yearly contribution.
The Center for Victims of Torture is the U.S. member of a
consortium of treatment centers from eight industrialized nations,
working together to coordinate resources to create and support
treatment centers in areas of repression or recent repression. We meet
under the auspices of the International Rehabilitation Council for
Torture Victims (IRCT), an association of treatment centers around the
world. IRCT received a grant of about $2.5 million dollars from the
European Union to help the start-up of new programs to aid torture
survivors, with the objective of finding bilateral foreign aid agencies
to provide longer term operating support until the programs can be
self-sustaining. We met last month in Copenhagen to review the urgent
needs of survivors where there are no treatment facilities and to
determine which of us could provide technical assistance and funding.
Representatives of the other nations lauded American action to pass
the TVRA, and indicated they were using the legislation as a model for
their own government actions. So we were somewhat chagrined to point
out that there was actually no money available for the needs we were
reviewing. Hence, the funding authorized in TVRA is critical. We are
pleased that both and Senate and House committees on appropriations
have recommended that USAID allocate $7.5 million for this purpose. We
urge you to press USAID to comply with this recommendation.
There are now over 200 treatment centers for victims of torture
around the world with more than 100 in developing countries and the
countries of eastern and central Europe. This results in an estimated
worldwide need for funding of at least $33 million. The UN Voluntary
Fund for Victims of Torture provides slightly more than $5 million, and
the European Union about $6 million. This leaves a gap of about $22
million. The EU grant to IRCT is being made with the purpose of
obtaining more support from the industrialized countries with
development aid programs. USAID will not be alone in this venture. We
fervently hope that USAID will join with other countries in making this
investment in recovering the leadership stolen by repression.
So far, my comments have been largely limited to the international
scene. We believe that the U.S. should not only provide support to
torture survivors abroad but certainly to those in our own country as
well. Many of them have also been grass roots leaders in their own
country. Now, they are becoming adjusted to a new land. But, in
addition to all the cultural and linguistic adjustments that have to be
made as an immigrant, they must also overcome the effects of torture.
Clearly they deserve our help and not only for altruistic reasons. With
treatment they can recover their lives and become productive members of
our communities.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement has done some groundbreaking
work in providing outreach to resettlement workers and others who come
in contact with torture survivors. Its training programs have helped
people learn how to relate to torture survivors and how to make
referrals for care. Trainers for these purposes need to be health
professionals with clinical experience in the care of torture victims.
There are only a handful of centers in the U.S. with experienced
clinicians. The Center for Victims of Torture and the other leading
treatment programs have tried to fill ORR's call for trainers, as we've
also responded to the call of the Minnesota legislature to train the
health care systems in our state in order to mainstream services. But
we have reached our limit, still unable to meet the many requests we
have for training.
Mr. Chairman, there are not yet formal training programs that can
produce experts in the field outside the current treatment centers.
When we try and meet training demands, we must pull our experts away
from client care. We've fine-tuned our system to strike a balance
between our responsibilities to our clients and our obligations to help
others become involved. And we've realized that the only way we can
meet these demands is by producing more experts ourselves: finding good
clinicians and putting them to work with torture survivors under the
guidance of our staff. This means that to create the long-term
resources to make care widely available, we must first invest in the
treatment centers capable of being learning centers for the nation.
During the war in Bosnia, when we were first asked by government
agencies how many torture survivors we could take for them, we argued
that the U.S. should create the capability to respond to emergency
needs as part of our national strategic repertoire. Once again, the
same calls have come, asking about the support available to highly
traumatized Kosovars, survivors of another series of human rights
atrocities. Our capacity is still highly limited.
We need to expand the capabilities of the current treatment
centers, as emergency sites in times of catastrophe, and as learning
centers, producing the experts needed for disseminating knowledge and
stimulating commitments. Assuming Congress does appropriate funds under
TVRA to ORR, we hope it follows this approach. We need investment in
client care as the most effective way to expand treatment services
available to torture survivors.
It should be noted that the investments in both domestic and
international treatment programs are not only parallel initiatives, but
will be most effective when conceived and conducted in an
interdependent fashion. We can not produce enough trainers and
technical expertise to assist our international colleagues without
increasing our own treatment capacity. But unless we also create and
support the creation of learning and service centers in countries of
repression, the victims must seek refuge in the U.S., Europe, and other
places where adequate care is available.
Finally, it should be mentioned that the Torture Victims Relief Act
only authorizes support for treatment programs in fiscal years 1999 and
2000. Congress needs to authorize for fiscal year 2001 and succeeding
years. Given that the administration begins preparation of the fiscal
year 2001 budget shortly, this needs to be done as soon as possible. We
are also very pleased, Mr. Chairman, that you and Senator Wellstone are
introducing legislation to authorize increased appropriations for
future years under the Torture Victims Relief Act. Given the huge gap
between the domestic and worldwide need for treatment services and
available resources, significant increases should be made in the
authorization dollar amounts.
While the focus of this testimony and the Torture Victims Relief
Act is on care for the victims, United States must do everything
possible to prevent the practice of torture around the world. It is
appalling that the U.S. is several years late in filing the required
initial report as a state party to the United Nations Convention
Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment. How effective can we be in impressing upon other
governments to comply with the convention if we do not fulfill our own
obligations?
There are other key areas where American leadership would be
welcomed in the struggle against torture. Negotiations are underway at
the United Nations to create an optional protocol to the torture
convention that would allow the Convention's Committee against Torture
to make visits to prisons in countries where it has special concerns.
States ratifying the protocol would give the Committee authority to
visit its prisons at any time. This would parallel an agreement for
transparency in the European Convention against Torture, which has
proven to be one of the most effective tools against torture in that
region. This Committee should encourage the negotiators to move forward
and the U.S. participants to assist in completing the text as soon as
possible.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Sir Nigel Rodley
of the United Kingdom, has been doing an excellent job uncovering the
practice of torture around the world. He must carry on this difficult
assignment as a volunteer. To make matters still worse, he has almost
no support staff available to him. This Committee could encourage the
Department of State to make a voluntary annual to the advisory services
trust fund for technical assistance and training of prison authorities
and to assist in providing staff for the Special Rapporteur and the
Committee Against Torture. They are both severely understaffed.
Regional organizations, such as the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, have made renewed commitments in the struggle
against torture, including a call to establish at least one treatment
program for torture survivors in each member state. The State
Department should encourage these partners in the struggle against
torture by supporting broad initiatives as well as experimental
projects that advance our understanding of how we can end the scourge
of torture in our region and in our lifetime.
Mr. Chairman, your leadership in the field both of prevention of
torture and care for the survivors has led to significant changes in
the attitude of our government towards torture victims. But what has
been done so far in concrete terms is just the tip of the iceberg in
terms of need in the U.S. and worldwide. We need your continued
leadership so that appropriate treatment is available to every torture
victim. While we must not let up in our efforts to prevent torture, we
also can not let down those who have been afflicted by this horrendous
human rights abuse.