The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) is an independent, international health professional organization that promotes and supports the rehabilitation of torture victims and works for the prevention of torture worldwide.
Based in Denmark, the IRCT is the umbrella organization for over 160 independent torture rehabilitation organizations in 76 countries that treat and assist torture survivors and their families. They advocate for holistic rehabilitation for all victims of torture, which can include access to justice, reparations, and medical, psychological, and psycho-social counseling.
The IRCT does this through strengthening the capacity of their membership, enabling an improved policy environment for torture victims, and generating and share knowledge on issues related to the rehabilitation of torture victims.
Professionals at the IRCT rehabilitation centers and programs provide treatment for an estimated 100,000 survivors of torture every year. Victims receive multidisciplinary support including medical and psychological care and legal aid. The aim of the rehabilitation process is to empower torture survivors to resume as full a life as possible.
In 1988, IRCT, along with founder Inge Genefke, was given the Right Livelihood Award "for helping those whose lives have been shattered by torture to regain their health and personality."[1]
History
The medical response to the problem of torture began in 1973 with the launch of a campaign by Amnesty International (AI) to help and diagnose torture victims. At this time, very little was known about torture methods or the physical or psychosocial consequences for torture victims.[2][3]
The first AI group to start this work was founded in Denmark in 1974 and consisted of four voluntary doctors. This group was part of a network of some 4,000 medical doctors from 34 countries worldwide.
It quickly became evident that, in addition to documenting cases of torture for use in potential legal proceedings, it was also critical to identify methods to help treat and rehabilitate victims of torture.
This resulted in the establishment in 1978 of the first medical international working group to address the rehabilitation of torture victims, which held the first international medical seminar on torture, Violations of Human Rights – Torture and the Medical Profession, in Athens, Greece.[4]
In 1979, members of the Danish medical group obtained permission to admit and examine torture victims at Copenhagen University Hospital, in Denmark. Three years later, in 1982, the Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims (RCT) was founded in Copenhagen by Dr. Inge Genefke, MD, as an independent institution with its own premises.[2]
In response to a growing need for global support and assistance in the rehabilitation of torture victims, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims was founded in 1985, initially as the international arm of the RCT, and, from 1997, as an international and independent organization.[5]
In 2010, the IRCT celebrated its 25th anniversary.
Members
The list of IRCT members includes more than 160 members in 76 countries.
Work
The work of the IRCT can be divided into three areas:
Offering rehabilitation services to torture survivors
Countering impunity for perpetrators and promoting justice for survivors
Raising awareness among policy-makers and citizens
The stated vision of the IRCT is "a world that values and accepts shared responsibility for the eradication of torture".[6] The objective of the organization is to promote the provision of specialized treatment and rehabilitation services for victims of torture and to contribute to the prevention of torture globally. To further these goals, the IRCT seeks on an international basis:
to develop and maintain an advocacy programme that accumulates, processes, and disseminates information about torture as well as the consequences and the rehabilitation of torture
to establish international funding for rehabilitation services and programs for the prevention of torture
to promote the education and training of relevant professionals in the medical as well as social, legal, and ethical aspects of torture
to encourage the establishment and maintenance of rehabilitation services
to establish and expand institutional relations in the international effort to abolish the practice of torture
to support all other activities that may contribute to the prevention of torture, and
to promote knowledge of and use of the Istanbul Protocol to promote access to torture survivors to high-quality medico-legal, or forensic, documentation of torture for use in legal proceedings.
Torture, a journal on rehabilitation of torture victims and prevention of torture.
Structure
The IRCT comprises four bodies: the General Assembly, the Council, the Executive Committee, and the General Secretariat.
General Assembly
The IRCT General Assembly meets every three years and comprises accredited rehabilitation centers and programs worldwide. The General Assembly provides a forum in which representatives of rehabilitation centers and programs, and others working in related fields, may facilitate and press forward the global work against torture.
The first IRCT General Assembly was conducted as a Written General Assembly on 16 June – 6 July 2003. All rehabilitation centers and programs that are accredited with the IRCT were eligible to participate in the General Assembly, the forum in which the IRCT Council is elected.
A total of 94 accredited rehabilitation centers and programs participated in the 2003 IRCT Written General Assembly.
Council and Executive Committee
According to the IRCT Statutes and Bylaws, the IRCT Council is elected by the General Assembly and comprises up to 30 members, 27 representing rehabilitation centers and programs worldwide, and three independent experts. The Council is the principal policy-making and advisory standard-setting body of the IRCT, and includes the seven members of the Executive Committee.
The allocation of seats to the IRCT Council by region is as follows:
Europe – 7 seats
Asia – 4 seats
North America – 2 seats
Latin America – 4 seats
Sub Sahara Africa – 4 seats
Middle East and North Africa – 3 seats
Pacific – 2 seats
Independent experts – 3 seats
Country of domicile of the IRCT General Secretariat (Denmark) – 1 seat.
General Secretariat
The General Secretariat, based in Copenhagen, Denmark, is the operational body of the IRCT, responsible for the management and implementation of the IRCT's policies and programmes in support of the rehabilitation of torture victims and the prevention of torture worldwide.
The General Secretariat consists of the Office of the Secretary-General, Administration and Finance Team, Communications Team, Membership Team, Health Team, Advocacy and Legal Team and Liaison Offices in Brussels and Geneva.
IRCT (2012). Annual report 2011 . International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims. ISBN (online): 978-87-88882-92-6.
IRCT (2011). 26 June Global Report 2011 . International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims.
IRCT (2009). Shedding light on a dark practice – Using the Istanbul Protocol to document torture . International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims. ISBN978-87-88882-21-6.
IRCT (2010). The IRCT strategy framework: Strengthening capacity, influencing policy and sharing knowledge in support of torture rehabilitation, prevention and justice, 2010–2014. International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims. ISBN978-87-88882-78-0 (pdf version).
IRCT (2007). Photobook Renewing lives . International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims. ISBN87-88882-12-8.
