On June 26th we remembered the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. This date was chosen as it marks the day when the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) was implemented as a legal instrument in 1987.
History of torture prevention
In 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly states in Article 5:-
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Then in 1975 the General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, condemning torture and providing methods to prevent it.
Progress was made in the following two decades and eventually in 1984 the CAT was published, coming into force in 1987. This prohibits torture in all its forms and declares it cannot be justified under any circumstances.
How we support victims of torture
Regardless of whether they are signatories to national and international humanitarian laws forbidding ill-treatment, interrogation methods are brutal in many parts of the world both rich and poor. Rule of law may not prevail. And cultures of inter-prisoner violence (IPV) are often ignored or even encouraged by the authorities.
I signed my confession because I knew I would be beaten until I did. It was an easy decision.
(Detainee with strike marks on torso)
We utilise our expertise & advocacy in the detection and prevention of torture & ill-treatment. Patients, clinicians, relatives and legal representatives contact us for expert advice and advocacy. We also cooperate with the embassies of countries concerned that their citizens detained overseas are being torture or ill-treated.
The Gerry Serrano Centre is an institution based at Integritas House Olongapo in the Philippines. It provides healthcare, expert witness, advocacy, research and training for and about detainees past and present, especially those who have been tortured or ill-treated within the Western Pacific and South-East Asia.
The Gerry Serrano Centre is named in honour of the late Mr Gerry Serrano who was a long-term detained patient we were proud to know, care, and advocate for. He spent more than two decades behind bars facing many challenges but eventually, after 22 years, he was found innocent and released. He was free but his body could not recover sufficiently and he sadly died a year or so after release. Before he died, Gerry agreed that his story should be used in our work - promoting offender healthcare and opposing ill-treatment. And so we decided to preserve his memory by naming this centre after him.
Our advocacy and expertise work are needed more than ever to oppose ill-treatment and torture. In Spring 2021 we highlighted the many forms that torture and ill-treatment may take and how, despite international legal standards, torture still continues to this day. If you have been moved to support victims of torture and you’d like to support our anti-torture & ill-treatment work, we welcome donations towards the Gerry Serrano Centre.
