Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims
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What is Torture?
26 of June
United Nation Day in support of Victims of Torture
June 26
26 of June - the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
On the 12 of December 1997, the United Nations General Assembly officially proclaimed Day of 26 June the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, because on this day in 1987 the UN Convention against Torture first entered into force. Till present, CAT had been ratified by 141 from 189 states members.
The goal of the UN International Day in Supporting Victims of Torture is to promote „prevention and the total eradication of torture, and the effective functioning of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and/or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”.
Torture had being used by different totalitarian regimes and continues to be used in many countries of the world. The necessity to join „Together against Torture” becomes evident as never in the last years.
During the 2005 year, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations had collected information about the utilization of torture in more than 100 countries that means more than half of members’ countries of the Convention. The fight against torture should involve all of us: physical persons, NGOs and other public organizations as well as governments, to work together at the local, national and global level. That’s why the slogan “Together against Torture” was proposed for global campaigns of 26 June in the last years.
Fighting against torture needs multi-directional actions:
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Defamation and condemnation of the torturers and instigators;
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Payment of compensations, reparations and restitutions of the prejudice;
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The psycho-social and physical rehabilitation of torture victims;
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Training the police collaborators and the penitentiary/ prisons staff;
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Elaboration and application of the national and international legislation against torture and spreading the information about human right;
The necessity of a common and complex replay to the torture phenomenon was recognized by the six international, non-governmental organizations. On April 1999, at the 55th Session of the United Nations Commission of Human Rights was created the Coalition of International Nongovernmental Organizations (CINAT). The Coalition members are: Amnesty International; Association of Prevention of Torture; the International Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (FiACAT); IRCT (International Rehabilitation Council of Torture Victims); REDRESS Foundation and World Organization against Torture.
Each year, the rehabilitation centers from the international network, including RCTV “Memoria”, together with other governmental and non-governmental organizations, lawyers, students, medical professionals and mass media, organize commemorative events for supporting victims of torture. These include press conferences, seminars, cultural events, festivals and other activities.
It is necessary to joint the capacities and resources in order to undertake the specific activities for eradication of torture; to support victims and to denounce the perpetrators spreading all the aspects of the torture phenomenon; to elaborate common strategies against this dangerous phenomenon for any society, using national and international legal instruments;
We invite you to join us every year in commemorating of the UN International Day in Supporting Victims of Torture. Only with common efforts we will increase the awareness of torture utilization and its consequences, to support the rehabilitation of victims and to choose the best ways for prevention of this horrible ordeal, wide-spread in the world.
Respectfully,
Team of RCTV Memoria