International Day in Support of Victims of Torture: No torture survivor should be sent back to torture
Reports concur to say that about 40 per cent of asylumseekers arriving in Switzerland have been tortured either in their home countryor along their migration route.
Torture leaves indelible traces forever that are ofteninvisible to the uninformed eye, but that can be easily confirmed by forensicexperts.
For one, torture survivors often have unconsciouslyblocked out of their brain the violence they have endured in order to survivewith it. When they remember it, they can be ashamed or find it hard to disclosethe enormity and absurdity of the pain they were inflicted. That is especiallytrue when asylum proceedings staff and other state officials who deal withtorture survivors are not made aware of the forms and consequences of widespreadviolence nor of how to address torture survivors.
Switzerland is a country with highly trained medicalstaff capable of identifying and documenting signs of torture among asylumseekers and then offering them proper treatment.
All that is missing is the political will to ensurethat those in need of protection are systematically treated fairly,considerately and humanely throughout asylum and extradition proceedings.
OMCT and its partners Action des chrétiens pour l’abolition de la torture (ACAT),Organisation suisse d’aide aux réfugiés (OSAR),the United NationsOffice of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and InternationalRehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) and many othersincluding NGO Platform Human Rights,believe that Switzerland must make sure torture survivors are protected both frombeing retraumatized while interrogated in an inconsiderate fashion and frombeing pushed back home to more violence. That is part of States’non-refoulement legal obligation.
For that, it is important that asylum and migrationofficials, doctors, lawyers and judges all better understand what torture is,how it affects victims psychologically and physically, become familiar with anduse the full range of that tools can be used to identify and document it. In particular they must be trained on state obligationsunder the UN Convention Against Torture and, when relevant, resort to and givedue weight to medical examinations that follow the guidelines of the Istanbul Protocol. Thensurvivors of torture and ill treatment must get access to rehabilitation andredress to recover and rebuild their lives and fruitfully contribute to society.
Weprotect #torture victims – we don’t send them back to more violence.
Whatdo you stand for?
Our campaign, dubbed #protecttorturevictims, issupported by a documentary film coming out soon. Please feel free to share thisfirst taste of it.