Greater steps needed to protect rights of torture survivors, says MF in 2009 Annual Review

Men, women and children who have been forced into exile are battling an increasing number of obstacles that breach their human rights and seriously impede their efforts to rehabilitate after surviving severe physical and psychological abuse, warns the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture (MF) in its 2009 annual review.

The review, Surviving Torture: Rebuilding Lives, released during Refugee Week (June 15-21), highlights the need for more proactive measures on the part of governments across the world to provide greater access to justice and rehabilitation services for survivors.

"The past year has seen a number of regressive steps that threaten to further marginalise torture survivors," said Chief Executive Simon Carruth. "The resounding message from the survivors who we work with on a daily basis is that they need to be supported and deserve to be heard while reclaiming control of their lives."

The UK-based charity received more than 2,000 requests for help in 2008 from people escaping torture and violence in 79 countries.

The challenge of reaching torture survivors in the UK is increasing as they continue to be dispersed across the UK. The MF recently opened its fourth centre outside of London in a bid to reach survivors, who might otherwise be neglected because of a lack of state-supported services. Advocating on behalf of survivors remained a priority in many cases due to a growing raft of restrictions on health care and the constant threat of destitution and poverty; while children still faced detention and removal in an immigration process that is not attuned to those fleeing torture.

The MF warned that much more needs to be done to reverse the global impact of years of disregard for the prohibition against torture. "Torture is a deliberate attack on the defenceless, the manipulation of people rendered vulnerable and powerless by those in control," said Mr Carruth. "To those who survive, we have a collective duty to give survivors a chance to rehabilitate and to continue fighting the secrecy, the denials and the impunity that allow torture to take place."