Torture : Quarterly Journal on Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Prevention of Torture

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Prof. Henrik Marcussen, former Editor-in-Chief of the Torture Journal passed away on the 22nd of February 2022. We had the joy to share with him the 30th anniversary of the Journal last November, where he addressed some words to the readers and colleagues.

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This case seeks to demonstrate the value of remote evaluations conducted by health professionals for the purpose of applying for humanitarian parole. In this case, a survivor of labor trafficking, kidnapping, and sexual violence in her home country endures ad-ditional physical and psychological suffering after experiencing physical and sexual assaults while awaiting entry into the United States to seek asylum. As increasing numbers of mi-grants seeking protection arrive at the United States' southern border, immigration enforce-ment deterrence policies keep many asylum seekers in limbo...

INTRODUCTION: This Protocol originates from a joint project regarding documentation of psychological torture initiated by the Public Committee against Torture in Israel (PCATI), REDRESS and DIGNITY - Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY) in 2015 after the Copenhagen Conference on Psychologi-cal Torture. The project is a vehicle to estab-lish a common understanding between health and legal professions as to how to best ensure the most accurate documentation of torture.The aim of the Protocol is to improve docu-mentation of solitary confinement and therefore to clarify the facts of the case so that stron-ger legal claims can subsequently be submitted to local and international complaints mecha-nisms...

INTRODUCTION: Deprivation of sunlight (DoS) should be considered independently as a method of torture. We review the definition and the spectrum of DoS, and the harms it causes that may rise to the level of torture. METHOD: We review relevant international case law, and highlight how the harms of DoS have historically not been fully considered in torture cases, possibly legitimizing its use. CONCLUSION: A standardized definition of deprivation of sunlight be developed and in-cluded in the Torturing Environment Scale, we call for an explicit international prohibi-tion of DoS...

NTRODUCTION: The use of threats remains prev-alent in law enforcement practices in many parts of the world. In studies with torture sur-vivors, credible and immediate threats have been considered a distinctly harmful method of torture. Notwithstanding this prevalence, there is a considerable degree of difficulty in legally substantiating and establishing harms produced by threatening acts. It is also gen-erally difficult to clearly identify the harms that go beyond the fear and stress inherent (therefore not unlawful) in law enforcement practices...

INTRODUCTION: Various psychotherapies have been applied to individuals who have been subjected to torture and severe human rights violations. However, studies assessing the ef-fectiveness of such therapies are limited. Psy-choanalytic psychotherapy is said to be used frequently in practice for these patient groups. Yet, there are scarcely any studies assessing its efficacy. In this study, we aim to assess the effectiveness of psychoanalytic psychotherapy in patients with PTSD associated with torture and severe human rights violations...

INTRODUCTION: With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, most torture victim care centres had to adapt their forensic assessment methods and move to online methodologies. Therefore, it is essential to assess the advan-tages and disadvantages of this type of inter-vention, which seems to be here to stay. METHOD: Structured administered surveys were conducted with professionals (n=21) and with torture survivors (SoT) (n=21) from a sample of 21 Istanbul Protocols (IP)...

INTRODUCTION: Chile was under a civil-military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990. During that time, systematic violations to human rights were perpetrated. Oral and maxillo-facial trauma was not an exception, and such trauma was carried out through different methods of torture or ill treatment by agents of the State. Currently, Chile has laws and programs in the public healthcare system to carry out the re-habilitation and reparation process in victims, and the registration of the suffered injuries is considered an important part of these med-ico-legal procedures...

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On the 29th of June 2022, an updated version of the Istanbul Protocol was launched in Geneva, Switzerland; twenty three years after its first official endorsement by the OHCHR (Office of the Human Rights Commisioner, UN) in 1999. The Istanbul Protocol, or the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; guides human rights activists, experts, and organizations around the world. The launch of this revised version was enabled by the contributions from more than 180 experts of the anti-torture field...

Introduction to the reader In this case, a survivor of torture presents with symptoms clinically consistent with both major depressive disorder (MDD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). During her evaluation, a validated psychological questionnaire for PTSD was administered verbally through a translator and accurately identified this diagnosis. However, a self-administered (read and completed by the client) questionnaire for MDD vastly underestimated the severity of her symptoms and failed to diagnose her with depression...

In this article, we argue that the government's post 9-11 torture program was a big lie, in that the designers, executors and enablers knew all along that torture does not elicit reliable information. We review the government's own research on the matter, and we discuss the ways in which methods known to be unreliable were implemented, most saliently at the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay. We review the secrecy and propaganda surrounding the scope and horror of the torture program at Guantánamo and black sites around the world, and the painful truth of how the government knowingly adopted the terror policies of the torture program, against their own knowledge, against international human rights, and against the law...

Objective When invited to evaluate a middle-aged male asylum seeker regarding alleged torture, the following question kept coming to my mind: Would it be appropriate, perhaps even vital, for mental health professionals to participate in Istanbul Protocol (IP) based physical examinations? The intent is not to do the physical examination but to be present, observe, ask relevant questions, and witness with the client's consent. The article elaborates on this question while sharing my perspective as a clinical psychologist and referring to relevant literature...

UNLABELLED: Introduction This research, through the analysis of the case-law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), seeks to shed light on the nexus between families of the missing' claims, their agency and State compliance with reparations. The IACtHR has a unique follow-up system in the area of reparations, where victims can directly address the judges during hearings. This paper suggests that victims' participation - before and after the judgment- pervades the legal rigidity of international jurisdictions and contributes to a better understanding of reparations...

INTRODUCTION: There are 1.3 million refugee survivors of torture living in the United States today. An existing body of research with refugees has largely examined mental health, but few of these studies focused on resilience. OBJECTIVE: Using a clinical sample of refugee survivors of torture, we tested the resiliencepromoting factors of community engagement, employment, English fluency, and psychological flexibility. We conducted moderation and mediation analyses to investigate how these resilience-promoting factors impact the torture-mental health relationship...

BACKGROUND: Deprivation of prisoner food, in terms of its quality and quantity, has generally been accepted as violating the prohibition of torture and related ill-treatment, particularly when combined with other factors (i.e., harmful conditions and practices). Aspects relevant to assessing when and how food provision is considered inadequate, however, remain complex and confusing. This article presents a doctrinal review which consolidates normative understandings of adequate prisoner food...

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Torture, understood as a relationship of dom-ination in which one person breaks the will and impedes the self-determination of another human being, taking control of all aspects of the victims' life and trying to change the core elements of their identity to the perpetrator's interests (Pérez-Sales, 2017), will increasingly come to be linked to new technologies, arti-ficial intelligence, the use of media and inter-net, and to new forms of lethal and non-lethal weapons. The author reviews the implications of modern technology for the contemporary fight against torture and some of the emerging civil society initiatives that aim to face them...