Introduction
The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture
Victims (IRCT) and Restart Center for Rehabilitation
of Victims of Violence and Torture (Restart) hosted
a two-day conference on the right to rehabilitation
for torture victims. Over 100 participants, including
health and legal representatives from IRCT’s global
network of torture rehabilitation centres from 44 countries, academic experts, government representatives,
intergovernmental organisations and civil society,
attended the conference. The main objective of the
conference was twofold: firstly, to explore the ways
in which rehabilitation is provided to torture victims;
secondly, to consider how states can be encouraged
to strengthen their implementation efforts in ensuring
provision of holistic and victim-centred rehabilitation
services. The interlinked themes provided a platform
to share examples of models for the delivery and
funding of rehabilitation and explore ways in which
rehabilitation providers and other key stakeholders
Main objectives
of the conference:
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can assess and evaluate the services provided in
their national context. The conference also provided
an important platform to address the immediate situation in the Middle East, which is facing particular
challenges with regard to the provision of rehabilitation services to torture victims, many of whom are
refugees from the Syrian crisis.
This report outlines the key themes discussed at the
conference, including different models for delivery
of rehabilitation and the challenges faced by IRCT
member centres on the ground, in the context of the
Committee against Torture’s General Comment No. 3
in 20121 on Article 14 of the UN Convention against
Torture.
1. General Comment No. 3 (2012): Implementation of article 14 by
State Parties, CAT/C/GC/3, 13 December 2012.
Explore the ways in which
rehabilitation is provided to torture
victims.
Consider how states can be
encouraged to strengthen their
implementation efforts in ensuring
provision of holistic and victimcentred rehabilitation services.
Right to Rehabilitation for Torture Victims, Beirut, Lebanon – 27/28 June 2013
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