Mental Health and Human Rights

Torture and politically-motivated violence are illegal under several International Law instruments. These include the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) (1984), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

At their annual conference in 1975, as a preamble to the Declaration of Tokyo, members of the World Medical Association agreed on the following definition of torture:

"…..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, to make a confession, or for any other reason." (World Medical Association, 1975)

The United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984) defines 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 her] or a third person information or a confession, punishing him [her] for an act he [she] or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him [her] 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 any other person acting in an official capacity."

Mental health and human rights are inextricably linked, on a variety of levels. Politically-motivated torture and violence are, in particular, gross human rights violations that are expressly designed to break down and eventually destroy individual and collective mental health in the target community. According to Gavagan and Martinez (1997), torture can be understood as "…the methodical destruction of personality, family, formal and informal institutions and community in order to control persons and communities that a government considers a threat to its interests". Professionals working with torture survivors agree that, while much emphasis has traditionally been put on the individual torture victim, the depth of the true nature of the problem is often not addressed: i.e., that its purpose is also to destabilize and shatter families and communities and, ultimately, to quash moves towards democracy and the respect for human rights. The purpose of torture is to humiliate, subjugate and engender feelings of helplessness and impotence - and to cause the resulting loss of identity, purpose and structure - not only in the individual but in the target community as a whole.

It is estimated that for every person tortured in captivity, five are being psychologically tortured (Martinez, 1993). Torture is, by its very nature, a psychological assault both on direct and indirect victims, with the physical attacks serving only to have the desired effects on the individual and collective psyches. Generally speaking, the physical damage of torture heals relatively quickly, however the psychological damage is usually deep and long-lasting. Research carried out on torture over the past 15 years attests to the fact that between 70% and 90% of torture survivors experience enduring psychological problems, and that nearly 100% of children of torture survivors experience symptoms of psychological disturbance (Basoglu, 1998). Torture has as its goal the total disruption of family and community dynamics, trust and the ability of people to relate to each other, and to struggle for their basic human rights. Thus the impact of a regime of systematic torture on the community as a whole is evident.

It is thus clear, therefore, that improving mental health, both individually and collectively, will improve a community's ability to provide necessary support systems to those suffering from the effects of human rights abuses, and will foster a return to effective levels of functioning and relating, thus further improving mental health. In addition, improvement in mental health augments an individual and a community's abilities to legitimately struggle for justice and basic human rights. Conversely, improvement in a community's human rights situation will result in improved mental health overall, and the prevention of avoidable future mental health problems.

TRC strives to approach this issue from both directions. Its principal objective is to improve the mental health of victims of torture and politically motivated-violence through psychosocial services, training, public awareness, outreach and crisis intervention activities. In addition, the Center takes part in a variety of activities concerned with education and awareness-raising surrounding the promotion of human rights and the prevention of human rights violations. Some of these include:

·        Organizing a range of activities surrounding the June 26th UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture and the April 17th Palestinian Prisoners Day.

·        Testifying before various different human rights groups and committees.

·        Publishing articles and conducting interviews both locally and abroad.

·        Providing mental health and human rights training to members of the Palestinian Security forces. (Unfortunately, TRC is currently not in a position to easily influence Israeli policy and practice - which are the source of the vast majority of human rights violations in the occupied territories. Therefore, in order to accomplish as much as possible in the current difficult circumstances, TRC instead works with the Palestinian security forces - 60% of whom have previously been imprisoned and tortured by the Israeli authorities. TRC's interventions are designed to sensitize this group, now in positions of power vis a vis the public and prisoners, so that they do not themselves become sources of violence based on their previous experiences.

References:

Basoglu, M. (1998) (Ed.) Torture and its Consequences: Current treatment approaches (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.    

Gavagan, T., & Martinez, A. (1997). Presentation of recent torture survivors to a family practice. Journal of Family Practice, 44(2), 209-213.

Martinez, A. (1993). The empowerment model for the treatment of survivors of torture [monograph]. Chicago: The Institute for Survivors of Human Rights Abuses.