What is Torture?
The word "torture" comes from the Latin word "Tortura," i.e., to twist, torment, rack, or intimidate.
The World Medical Association, in its declaration of Tokyo, 1975, defines torture as "The deliberate systematic or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons acting alone or on the orders of any authority, to force another person to yield information, or to make a confession for any other reason."
The United Nations Convention Against Torture and Punishment, adopted on 10 December 1984, defines torture as:
"Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on the person for the purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or confession, punishing him for an act he or the third person has committed, or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating, or coercing him, or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by, or at the instigation of, or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to lawful sanctions.
This definition has an apparent deficiency because it does not include pain or suffering from, inherent in, or incidental to lawful sanctions in the sphere of torture. This defect is due to the compromise between different international protection concepts of human rights, on the one hand, and state sovereignty on the other. This loophole does not mean that we should also accept it. Pain and suffering arising from, inherent in, or incidental to lawful sanctions remains part of the torture, whether individual governments take it or not. Similarly, the absence or inadequacy of medical attention for prisoners and the use of drugs to paralyze human will, without inflicting any suffering, come within the sphere of torture. Governments often use national security as a pretext for torturing people; high-profile torture cases, such as the CIA secret detention program worldwide, have led to a common misconception that torture is generally confined to issues around national security and counter-terrorism.
The above definitions do not cover many other systematic embed forms of torture. For example, disrespect to fundamental human rights, be it right to the dignified living of the elderly and persons with a disability, decent living, and access to opportunities like health & education, non-discrimination on the ethnic or other bases in essence tantamount to torture, with consequent psychosomatic effects and In many countries’ vulnerable groups like LGBTQ* suffers violence and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Nature and Purpose of Torture
These definitions prove that torture is a purposeful and deliberate act and is even exportable. It is internationalized by providing experts, training, and equipment from individual governments to others in certain circumstances.
Like any purposeful activity, torture usually has dens operated both by the civil police and army authorities. Reports of extensive torture carried out on political activists, including women, are not uncommon.
Many of the death sentences are awarded. Some executed where trials are held in the military even though no legal evidence is available to prove guilty and challenging jurisdiction questions raised.
Political detainees, convicts are not treated per ordinary prison rules.
Refugees and Torture
Refugees: Refugees as those who have fled from conflict and persecution to seek protection in another country. As such, refugees are generally asylum who are granted the rights to asylum in another country and rule (refugee status) (UNHCR). Asylum seekers suffer high rate of mental illness in the form of different traumas.
The 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees defines refugees as someone unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin due to well-founded fear of being persecuted for race, religion, nationality, membership particular social group, or political opinion. (https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/refugees)
Canada has a long history of setter migrants; in 1775-83 after the American Revolution, many fled to Canada to avoid persecution for their political leanings, and in 1860 fugitive black enslaved escaped to Canada.
Abella, Irving and Petra Molnar. "Refugees to Canada. "The Canadian Encyclopedia, 26 October 2020, Historical Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/refugees. Accessed 16 February 2021.
In the 19th-20th Century, refugees continue to pour into Canada, including Chinese, Jews, Hungarian, Czechs, Ugandans, South Asians, Vietnamese, and Latin American refugees. In the 21st Century, modern-day Refugees and Asylum history include refugees from Syria and other Arab countries.
Types of Torture inflicted on Refugees: Torture practiced in widely diverse sections of the world, the methods and techniques employed are remarkably similar.
Physical Torture: Beating, shoving, squeezing pressure techniques, pinching, beating with a stick, Iron rod, leather straps, etc., Insertion of objects in bodily orifices, suffocation, electric, shocks, Exposure to extreme heat and cold, sexual torture-abuse and rape, flogging, nose torture, bright light torture, Falange (repeated blows to the soles of the feet) forced witnessing of torture, forced participation in the torture of others
After-effects of Physical Torture
Peptic ulcer, Diabetes, Hypertension, Migraine attacks,
Psoriasis Angina, Arthritis, Dysmenorrhea Vision impairment, Asthma, Frequency of Epileptic Fits, and surge in the eruption of overt signs and symptoms of earlier latent diseases like tuberculosis (TB) and other chronic diseases.
In some cases, this can become a precipitating factor in the disease etiology: Gastritis Peptic Ulcer, Tension, Headaches, Asthma-like attacks.
Psychological Torture
It is the psychological effects which, may, in the long run, be most damaging to the survivor. Whether it be recurrent nightmares, inability to sleep or the fear of sleep, flashbacks, chronic anxiety, feeling of betrayal, the inability to trust any other person, deliberate self-injury, violent behaviors, substance abuse, depression, paranoia, or anxiety, these psychological consequences are not only on survivors but on the families, friends, and communities as well and At times run in the generations because of their persistence- intergenerational trauma, like the one indigenous people in many parts of the world experience.
Given the separate identity of these two types of torture, body-mind connection leads to psychosomatic effects, which sometimes makes it challenging to bracket these into the types mentioned above torture.
Some of the commonly used methods of torture, stemming from disrespect to fundamental human rights include,
Humiliation by abuses,
Humiliation by stripping naked solitary confinement
Restriction on movement
Dark cell confinement with cockroaches, rats, and lizards.
Sleep deprivation, shame execution
Forcing to sign a confession
Threats of torture
Restricting the practice of one's own belief/religion
Restricting access to information including electronic media Restricting meeting with relatives
Restricting accesses to proper toilet and bath facilities
Witnessing others tortured
After-effects of Psychological Torture
Anxiety
Depression
Re-experiencing
Avoidance
Fear
Irritability
Disturbed memory
Headaches
Reproductive disorders
Lethargy
Introversion
Loss of concentration
Visual problems
Low self-esteem
Role of VAST Toward Rehabilitation of Torture Survivors
In 1986, due to the violence and militarization, many people were killed. Thousands were forced to escape to the USA and North America; at that time, a small number of human rights activists and mental health workers formed an organization and incorporated it as a no-profit agency named Vancouver Association for survivors of Torture (VAST). This dedicated group of volunteers built what would become BC's largest centre for refugee mental health.
VAST assists refugees and survivors of torture, trauma and political violence, and other forms of trauma by providing a range of services, including:
- Individual and group counseling
- Psycho-social support
- Drop-in centre
- Workshops
- Advocacy
- Referrals to the professionals and agencies
- Psycho-legal documentation
- Community kitchen
- Community Activities
VAST SUPPORT FOR LGBTQ*REFUGEES
For the last 30+ years, VAST has supported the Human Rights and psychological wellbeing of refugees arriving in BC, many of whom seek protection in Canada fleeing violence persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
VAST also offers support for LGBTQ* refugees and immigrants, advocates for stronger protections, and raises awareness of this vulnerable group’s violence, and persecution.
VAST Research and Documentation Centre (VRDC)
VAST is an interdisciplinary organization raising our voice against all types of torture and working towards rehabilitating torture survivors. We believe that when we achieve a better understanding of the violence that affects people and better understand how to heal from this violence. When we organize in a community to reduce this violence, we achieve a better, safer world for all. Since 1986, VAST has been supporting the healing of survivors while providing documentation of torture and advisory on torture prevention and awareness in Vancouver. VAST works with refugees, immigrants, doctors, medical students, lawyers, law enforcement, schools, and health professionals.
In 2018, VAST entered an exciting new collaboration with the founders of the RAHAT Medical Journal and the Voice Against Torture (VAT) Rehabilitation Center, Dr. Farooq Mehdi and Rahila Farooq, to consolidate our existing work and launch VAST Research and Documentation Centre (VRDC). In 2020 VRDC launched the semi-annual interdisciplinary journal Voices Against Torture.
Later, a former Editor of RAHAT Medical Journal, Dr. Wajid Pirzada, joined the head and hands of this team at VRDC as a Volunteer and Partner in Development.
The VRDC currently includes the following components:
- Repository/Library of Resources: An online and physical multidisciplinary collection of resources related to torture, trauma, and human rights, focusing on education, documentation, rehabilitation, healing, and community building among survivors. Collection of 1) Video (including VAST youtube channel) 2) audio 3) reference books 4) local & international news items 5) research articles 6) client data analysis 7) Country or Region-specific torture/human rights related context (to support more effective rehabilitation supports for groups from there).
- Training & Capacity Building: VAST offers training and professional development workshops on refugee mental health and recovery from trauma and torture for health, education, social service providers, law firms, and practicum students.
- Documentation: Counsellors and Psychiatrists do psycho-legal and psycho-medical documentation; we coordinate with Law Firms representing survivors. Tracking: types of torture, how many clients VAST is helping, the extent of VAST’s work. Coordinate with the IRCT for Global Data in the Fight Against Impunity Project.
- Research (measures of effectiveness). Partner with Universities supervises student projects—any Publications from team members.
- Advocacy for the prevention of torture and to raise awareness about human rights issues and violence affecting minorities, indigenous/native people, and refugees. We train/guide former clients to become spokespeople for refugees, refugee claimants, and mental health needs, and against torture. Newsletter containing some of them below. Direct links to Witness and Amnesty, etc. Social Media. Participate in walks, etc.
VOICES AGAINST TORTURE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Mission Statement
Voices Against Torture (VAT) is a semi-annual journal launched in 2020 as an organic extension of the education, advocacy, and community-building mandate of the Vancouver Association for the Survivors of Torture (VAST). VAT operates in alignment with the values and vision of the VAST community and hopes to lift the voices of torture survivors further to support resilience and dignity.
VAT aims to provide a platform for discussing torture prevention, improving awareness of and support for refugee and immigrant mental health, and highlighting global human rights concerns.
Focus and Scope VAT aims to critically inform readers and facilitate an open dialogue about key theoretical and practical issues in the fields of torture rehabilitation, refugee mental health, and trauma-informed healing. VAT will also be home to information about upcoming conferences, training opportunities, and other related activities in the sector.
As an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary journal, VAT invites submissions from a wide range of academic disciplines and actively seeks collaboration and conversation across disciplines. This approach intends to link theory and lived experience to social change, helping
to bring together academics, activists, educators, therapists and healers, and those directly and indirectly affected by torture.
VAT aims to publish new research, in-depth analyses, critical reviews of scholarly pieces, interviews with survivors of torture and specialists in the field of immigrant and refugee mental health, book reviews, creative non-fiction, and other non-academic submissions to encourage a plurality of voices.
The Editorial Board accepts general submissions on an ongoing basis. In the future, VAT may seek to publish special issues on specific themes, details of which will be provided on the VAT website.
While the Editorial Board seeks to ensure that the Journal aligns with the broader vision and mission statement of VAST, the written contributions to VAT express the views of their authors and not those of VAST. Written contributions to the Journal do not constitute medical or legal advice.
