IRCT discusses torture rehabilitation in the context of armed conflict and post-conflict in Asia

November 29, 2014:

Seventeen members of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) Asia region will gather at Imphal, Manipur in the North East region of India for their annual regional meeting from 1-3 December 2014.The meeting will be centred on the theme of ‘Rehabilitation as Reparation in the context of Complex Humanitarian Crises’. Other centres from Thailand and the Republic of South Korea shall also be joining the meeting as observers.

The meeting, co-organised by the IRCT and the Centre for Organisation Research and Education (CORE) in close cooperation with the Indian Red Cross Society, will focus onthe concept and implementation of the right to rehabilitation in Asia.

Key government, human rights and health experts will meet with representatives from IRCT torture rehabilitation centres to discuss responses to torture and ill-treatment in the context of armed conflict and post-conflict in Asia. The meeting will also provide an opportunity for torture rehabilitation centres to exchange context–specific information and good practices on rehabilitation interventions undertaken at local level.

The meeting shall be opened by the Hon’ble Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Manipur. Keynote speakers include Dr Y Mohen Singh, General Secretary of the Indian Red Cross Society in Manipur, and Dr Immanuel ZarzosangVarte, Executive Director of CORE.

Talks throughout the week will inform the development of IRCT’sGlobal Strategy for 2015-2020 and identify contextually appropriate means of operationalisation of the strategy in the Asia region.

Other highlights of the meeting include a demonstration of the Dance Movement Therapy, a participatory approach to rehabilitation through dance and movement established by therapists from CORE-H2H and the Creative Movement Therapy Association of India.

Furthermore, delegates will travel to Loktak Lake to meet an indigenous community who have been subjected to torture due to opposition to a large development planthat threatens their rural communities. This Loktak Lake areas and fisher community illustrates region-wide tensions and the widespread discontent amongst indigenous peoples.

The meeting is organised under the auspices of the IRCT, a Copenhagen-based umbrella organisation that supports the rehabilitation of torture victims and the prevention of torture across more than 140 rehabilitation centres worldwide.

What is the IRCT?

As a network of 144 torture rehabilitation centres across 74 countries, the IRCT is the world’s largest membership-based civil society organisation working in the field of torture rehabilitation and prevention.

Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, its key distinctive feature lies in a holistic health-based approach to torture rehabilitation. In addition, the organisation defines itself as private, non-partisan, and not-for-profit, as well as governed by democratic structures.

IRCT’s diverse membership share three common characteristics; each is a legally independent organisation that is rooted in civil society; each provides services to at least 50 torture victims annually; and each is committed to sharing their experiences throughout the IRCT and beyond.

IRCT member centres stem from all regions of the world. Given the very nature of the organisation, some of those centres may be newly established, small or fragile from an organisational perspective, while others have long trajectories of public service, appropriate budgets and solid funding structures.

Together the movement is strong and effective in fighting torture across the globe. However, the core strength of the movement stems from a triad of values: solidarity, equality and democracy. For more information, please visit: www.irct.org

About CORE and H2H

The Centre for Organisation Research & Education (CORE) is an Indigenous Peoples’ Centre for Policy and Human Rights in India’s Eastern Himalayan Territories that focuses on advocacy and documentation of human rights abuses directly concerning indigenous peoples. CORE has a Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

The Human to Humane Transcultural Centre for Torture & Trauma (H2H) – please visit https://www.facebook.com/human2humane.imphal - is an autonomous humanitarian action service initiative of CORE, working as an independent health and humanitarian service for survivors of trauma and torture in Manipur, India since 2008. The centre seeks to address an existing gap of comprehensive and effective institution-based healthcare response to the high prevalence of widespread trauma and torture, and their consequences on the pePople of Manipur in the context of long-standing political violence, internal armed conflict, and escalating criminal violence. For more information please visit: http://coremanipur.org

Released by
Dr. Marion Staunton (Senior Advisor, Asia, IRCT);
Dr Debabrata Roy Laifungbam (President, Elders’ Council, CORE)
Notes With the cooperation of Indian Red Cross Society, Manipur
Place Hotel Classic & Hotel Imphal, Imphal, Manipur, INDIA
For more information on the IRCT Asia Regional Meeting, please contact IRCT Senior Advisor for the Asia Dr Marion Staunton at [email protected] or Deputy Director of CORE, Mr Namdithiu Pamei at [email protected].