Addressing Torture and it’s Consequences in South Africa

Country: South Africa

Contact person: Anne Bay Paludan

Partner: Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR)

Project description: The objective of this prevention and rehabilitation project is to create knowledge and methods of improving the health and legal conditions of torture survivors. The project is committed to improving the quality of and access to rehabilitation.

RCT contributes to the development of monitoring instruments and works to encourage knowledge and experience sharing with other organisations and resource persons.

So far, a system has been developed that monitors and evaluates the current rehabilitation at the clinic. The results have subsequently been shared with other treatment centres. This initiative will undergo further development. The main activities of the clinic will also be extended and the objective is to develop a referral system that permits referral to other types of treatment and health professions. Furthermore, CSVR works in the local communities (the townships) where the torture and violence are committed; this work concerns identification and documentation of the extent and characteristics of the problem.

Partner presentation: CSVR was founded in 1989. CSVR is committed to securing fundamental social and political human rights for persons who are particularly vulnerable or marginalised. CSVR fights against all forms of TOV and works for long-term peace and reconciliation.

CSVR creates and communicates knowledge about how torture survivors can be rehabilitated physically and psychologically in order for them to strengthen their survival mechanisms. CSVR does studies of rehabilitation, prevention and advocacy. The organisation has a cross-disciplinary approach and attaches weight to gender and cultural aspects. The organisation has a trauma clinic in Johannesburg where people who have previously been victims of or refugees under the apartheid regime can get treatment and be referred for legal assistance.

Read CSVR's 2011 annual report here.

Context: For several decades the South African society has been characterised by internal tension and extensive violence, which has created fear among the civil population. This had led to a demand for more severe punishments and has contributed to a broader acceptance of torture in certain circumstances. There is an obvious need for advocacy against torture and for rehabilitation of torture victims.