Medical Foundation Statement in Support of the Torture Damages

							     Medical Foundation Statement in Support of the Torture Damages Bill

The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture (the Medical Foundation)
is the world’s largest torture treatment centre, and the only human rights organisation
in the UK dedicated solely to the treatment and rehabilitation of survivors of torture
and organised violence.

The Medical Foundation offers medical consultation, examination and forensic
documentation of injuries, psychological treatment and support, and practical
assistance to torture survivors. Its clinical services include psychiatry, clinical
psychology, counselling, individual and group psychotherapy, physiotherapy and
specialist child and family therapies. Since its inception in 1985, some 45,000 people
have been referred to the Medical Foundation for help.

In addition to its clinical work, the Medical Foundation seeks to raise awareness of
torture. Its substantial archive of reports documents the systematic use of torture and
the consequences for those who survive.

Accountability for torture is a key component in torture prevention, and it is therefore
essential that survivors of torture, or the families of those who were tortured and have
now died, are able to obtain justice in respect of the abuses they or their loved ones
have suffered.

In addition, we have found that redress, or even the prospect of seeking redress, has a
positive therapeutic impact on the recovery of many torture survivors. Where our
clients have been able to pursue justice in respect of their torture, they have felt less
helpless and powerless as a result. By contrast, where there has been a lack of justice
or reparation in the country of origin, clients of the Medical Foundation who are
returning to their homes are terrified at the prospect of encountering the perpetrator
again, many of whom remain at large, often still in positions of authority even when
there has been a change of government or where the situation in the country has
changed.

International law indicates that States must provide justice, reparation and
rehabilitation in respect of acts of torture for which it is responsible. Despite this,
access to justice can be problematic or illusory. The Medical Foundation’s clients are
very often unable to seek redress in their own countries for a number of reasons. In
many cases, those responsible for investigating allegations of torture are also the
abusers, with the prospect not only that the complaint will not be properly
investigated, but also that the individual will experience further abuse as a result of
making the complaint.
In many cases the country’s judiciary does not enjoy independence from the
Executive or is subject to interference or abuse from law enforcement or security
personnel. In addition, the country’s legal system may lack the appropriate remedies
and mechanisms to ensure the proper functioning of an action, or is otherwise unable
to guarantee the safety of those bringing the action. Physicians operating in detention
facilities and charged with recording injuries may not be able to act freely and
independently, with the result that physical evidence of torture will not be
forthcoming. In many other cases still, torture survivors have fled their country in
order to protect their own lives, and so are simply not in a position to make a
complaint to the appropriate authorities even where such a complaint would be
properly investigated.

Access to justice through regional and international judicial bodies can also be
difficult for many survivors of torture.

The remit of the International Criminal Court in respect of torture is limited to
conflict-type scenarios, encompassing war crimes, where a grave breach of the
Geneva Conventions must be shown to have taken place, or a crime against humanity,
involving a “widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian
population”. As a result, many Medical Foundation clients who have suffered torture
in detention at the hands of a repressive regime will never have recourse to this or
similar criminal tribunals. Even where a torture survivor’s claim falls within the
Court’s remit, prosecutorial investigations tend to be aimed at leaders rather than
individual, low-level perpetrators, with the effect that many torturers will remain
unaccountable for their actions. Finally, criminal processes are aimed at the success of
the prosecution, and although some models facilitate a degree of victim participation,
the process itself is not victim-centred. As a result, many torture survivors will be left
feeling sidelined or “used” by a process that did not fulfil their hopes or sense of
justice.

In addition, although regional human rights Courts are able to hear actions for torture,
such bodies are of limited capacity, issue awards of damages which may be nominal
only, and permit actions only against signatory States, not specific perpetrators.

Finally, the right of an individual to make a complaint to international human rights
treaty bodies such as the UN Committee Against Torture, the Human Rights
Committee, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the
Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination is dependent on whether the State itself has agreed that the respective
treaty bodies can consider complaints relating to the treatment of an individual. While
the treaty bodies are an important element of the international human rights system,
even where the State has accepted the right of individual petition, such bodies are
unable to impose a tangible or enforceable penalty over and above public sanction.

It is therefore vital in the fight for accountability that the international framework be
supplemented by domestic legislation such as the Torture Damages Bill, and that
survivors of torture be able to bring an action for redress in the UK where justice in
their country of origin is not accessible or achievable.
For these reasons, the Medical Foundation supports the adoption of the Torture
Damages Bill.

                                                                      February 2008