Torture in Children - Staff Publication
This is a review article that studies the problem of torture in children. Torture in children is a significant worldwide problem, but there are no official or reliable independent statistics to measure the magnitude of the problem. The definition of torture in the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punish ment applies to adults and children. The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines children as “every human being below the age of eighteen years”. Torture in children happens during peace times and during political violence and war conflicts. The majority of torture victims happen during peace times. The high-risk groups are impoverished children living in the street, children deprived of parental care, children in conflict with the law, and children in detention. [DOWNLOAD]

Approaches to Torture Rehabilitation - Staff Publication
Torture Journal published a desk study: Approaches To Torture Rehabilitation by Roger Gurr and José Quiroga in 2001 (Torture 2001, 11: Supplement 1: 1-35). It covered the scientific literature within the global medical work against torture collected in 1997-98. Almost immediately, the editors of Torture Journal responded to the need for corrections in respect to the evolution in service programmes for the rehabilitation of torture survivors. It is therefore a great pleasure now, in co-operation with the International Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims (IRCT) who initiated and financed the follow up study, to be able to publish Politically-Motivated Torture And Its Survivors by José Quiroga and James M. Jaranson. [DOWNLOAD]

Torture vs. Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment
After the reports of human rights abuses by the US military in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan, questions have been raised as to whether certain detention and interrogation procedures amount to torture. Therefore, the objective of this article is to examine the distinction between various forms of ill treatment and torture during captivity in terms of their relative psychological impact. [DOWNLOAD]

Difusing the Ticking Time Bomb Scenario
Defusing the Ticking Bomb Scenario reaffirms and reinforces the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of torture and all other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, against challenges based on the so-called ticking bomb scenario. Torture must be seen for what it is: abhorrent and shameful. Torture is never courageous or honourable. There is good reason why torture, like genocide and slavery, became taboo in the modern era, and taboo it must remain. [DOWNLOAD]

U.S. Detention of Asylum Seekers: Seeking Protection, Finding Prison
In March 2003, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) took over responsibility for asylum and immigration matters when the former INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) was abolished. With this transfer, DHS was entrusted with the duty to ensure that the United States lives up to its commitments to those who seek asylum from persecution. These commitments stem from both U.S. law and international treaties with which the United States has pledged to abide. Yet, those who seek asylum—a form of protection extended to victims of political, religious and other forms of persecution—have been swept up in a wave of increased immigration detention, which has left many asylum seekers in jails and jail-like facilities for months or even years... [DOWNLOAD]

Arbitrary Detention of Refugees Who Fail to Adjust to Permanent Resident Status
Each year, the US government sends officials to refugee camps overseas to interview thousands of people displaced by persecution and conflict, classifies a select number as refugees in need of resettlement, and brings those refugees to live in the United States. After one year in the United States, every resettled refugee is required to apply for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status, more familiarly known as a “green card.” However, refugees’ limited english, ignorance about the requirement, confusion over the legal process, and lack of resources, as well as the government’s failure to notify them of the requirement, often prevents them from timely filing to adjust their legal status. In some parts of the country, the consequence of not applying can be lengthy, indefinite and arbitrary detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)... [DOWNLOAD]

About Rehabilitation - IRCT
The aim of rehabilitation is to empower the torture survivor to resume as full a life as possible. To this end, rehabilitation centers use a variety of different treatment approaches, taking into account survivors' individual needs, as well as the cultural, social and political environment. [DOWNLOAD]