THE MAJORITY of people in the west consider torture a thing of the past, a dreadful plague that we have managed to overcome, something that no longer happens in the civilised modern world.
According to the Unit for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture (URVT) in Cyprus, they could not be more wrong, and official statistics indicate their claims are true. Based on these figures, nearly one in five (17 per cent) refugees are torture victims.
Torture is defined by the United Nations Convention Against Torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a 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.”
Despite the complexity of such a definition, for the URVT things are much simpler. The fact is, torture is happening, and it is not that far away from us.
“It is widely known that neighbouring countries to Cyprus are committing acts of torture, this is a fact, not speculation. When this is happening so close to us, as a nation we need to be aware and sensitive to what is going on,” said Corina Drousiotou, URVT’s Legal Advisor.
According to Drousiotou, the Unit, made up of a number of specialists in various fields, has been set up in order to complement the work of the Interior Ministry in determining whether asylum seekers can be classed as torture victims.
“We are not taking over the role of the Asylum Service, we do not decide whether or not somebody fulfils the criteria for becoming a recognised refugee, we are simply responsible to decide, after a procedure defined by international standards , whether someone has been tortured or not,” she told the Sunday Mail.
Before the creation of the Unit, there was no government department specialisied in dealing with torture victims.
Anda Argyropoullou, a Sociologist working with the URVT, said that with the creation of the Unit, the situation had improved vastly from what it was prior to its establishment.
“There was an obvious need for an expert body to undertake this role,” she said.
According to the Medical Director of the Unit, bogus claims in order to gain asylum status were not likely to succeed.
“We do not base a decision only on physical evidence, the procedure is set by the Istanbul Protocol and includes meetings with psychologists, sociologists, doctors and others. But these are really sensitive issues, we try very hard not to pressurise the victims as many of the cases are traumatic,” Doctor Elias Papadopoulos said.
With the number of asylum applications still pending in Cyprus currently at 11,044 and with the percentage of torture victims from refugees at 17 per cent, the workload for the Unit is not likely to decrease in the near future.
The Unit does not simply pass judgement on whether or not someone can be classed as a torture victim, a lot is also being done on helping them out as well as raising general awareness.
“We are looking to aid their rehabilitation, generally help them get back on their feet. It must be mentioned that when a torture victim suffers, their whole family suffers with them; it is not something that can be taken lightly. The social issue has to be taken into account,” Argyropoullou maintained.
Despite a number of stories that show how immigrants and foreigners are being mistreated and discriminated against on the island, Dr Papadopoulos believes the Cypriot public is sensitive regarding torture-related issues.
“If you look at things in a round-about way, Cypriots can relate to such people. It was not more than half a century ago when there was a similar situation in Cyprus and a number of our compatriots were tortured. As long as they receive more information on such issues, there is definitely some empathy and understanding towards them because of our history,” he added.
Without help, torture victims often suffer from fear, insecurity, loneliness, loss of self-esteem, and anti-social behaviour, preventing them from moving forward. With assistance, most victims can become survivors and reclaim their lives.
“Despite our organisation being in its very early stages, we can claim to have had relatively positive feedback. In fact on the general question whether someone can actually truly recover after being tortured, there are great success stories throughout the world and in actual fact a number of torture victims that have recovered currently work in the filed of rehabilitation of torture victims,” Unit Co-ordinator Elia Petridou said.
In addition to this, the Unit can claim a good network of volunteers who became interested after attending a number of seminars held in September, while the URVT is on the lookout for a number of professionals because their workload already exceeds the capacity of their existing staff.
“We are on a good road for now, but there is plenty of work to be done, both in raising awareness and in expanding our organisation,” she added.
