Region Number and percentage rate...Our Secretary general will address this in more detail. I cannot...

International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims

1

IRCT Virtual General Assembly October 6-9, 2020

Report

The first-ever virtual IRCT General Assembly was conducted against the backdrop of the COVID-19

pandemic: high infection and death rates, travel restrictions, border closure, lock downs, a variety of

national response strategies, and overwhelmingly negative impact on torture survivors and torture

rehabilitation staff.

Session 1

Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020. 6:00-8:00 CET Zoom webinar format was utilized (recording available on fabo.org

GA site, please see appendix C.1).

Attendance

Of 136 registered/confirmed delegates, 102 delegates were present in the session, amounting to 65%

of global participation rate. Minimum participation per region recorded was 46% of European region

and maximum was 91% participation rate of Pacific region, fulfilling quorum requirement of 50% general

participation rate and of 33.3% regional participation. The participation rate per region was as

following:

Region Number and percentage rate

Asia # of 19 13

Asia % 68%

Europe # of 57 26

Europe % 46%

Latin America # of 10 8

Latin America % 80%

MENA # of 16 10

MENA % 63%

North America # of 23 18

North America % 78%

Pacific # 11 10

Pacific % 91%

Sub-Saharan Africa # 22 17

Sub-Saharan Africa % 77%


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NOT PRESENT # of 158 56

NOT PRESENT % 35%

The objectives of the session were:

1. Welcome and introduction

2. Achievements and challenges since 2016 General Assembly – Presentations by the President on

behalf of the ExCom, and by the Secretary General.

3. Questions and remarks by the GA Delegates

4. Closing remarks

The IRCT President Jorge Aroche opened the General Assembly and was approved to chairman of the

meeting. The president, who was also the chairman of the session, initiated the meeting by presenting

the agenda and objectives of the session. IRCT GA delegates had no objections. Delegates and the staff

were informed about the use of interpretation function for French and Spanish speakers. Delegates were

informed and had no objection to recording of the webinar for knowledge-sharing in Fabo.org. The

agenda was approved.

Delegates approved the content of the president1 and the general secretary2 speeches based on

consensus. Comments were monitored and presented by the technical support staff to the President

and Secretary General for further elaboration. Delegates requested to see the list of attendees and for

that purpose the screenshots of all attendees were taken and shared during the session.

The second objective, Q&M session, was designed so that GA delegates could raise their questions,

concerns, and issues. A couple of delegates mentioned that the Webinar format was not very functional

for GA, as it was not possible to see all delegates attending the webinar. Thus, the president and secretary

decided to change the format to Zoom meeting for the subsequent sessions.

One GA delegate asked how much IRCT was following negative developments and addressing the issue

of domestic violence. The President and Secretary General recognized that domestic violence is rising,

especially during COVID-19 and commented that it is necessary to contribute to raising awareness. The

Secretary General noted that in the 2019 IRCT Global Impact study information from member centers

showed that 19% of torture victims have been exposed to gender-based violence. She suggested having

webinars on the subject and strengthening the IRCT stance and response on this matter.

The Secretary General was asked what was being done to encourage and enhance membership

interaction. She responded that there has been a high rate of interactions to engage different member

centres both on regional and global level. It was pointed out that this is the core strategic plan of IRCT

to help member centres on matters, such as know-how sharing, providing support with

telecommunication, and Fabo.org interactive platform for professional linking and interaction.

1 To obtain more knowledge of the speech content by the president, please see appendix A. 2 To obtain more knowledge of the speech content by the secretary general, please see appendix B.1 and for the

PowerPoint presentation of her speech, please see appendix B.2.


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Another topic which was mentioned several times was related to the challenges and obstacles of

fundraising for torture rehabilitation. This issue has also affected the secretariat scope of activities

and the ability to continue the sub-grants scheme, although rapid response for COVID-19 grants were

implemented. The Danish government is the biggest source of funds to IRCT, but there is, as stated by

the president, a decreasing level of sympathy for torture area. Therefore, IRCT has been continuously

exploring different channels and methods to sustain its funds. It has also been among the IRCT core

strategies to work hard on helping member centres to access potential channels for funding.

Evaluation Poll

At the end of each session, delegates were asked to fill out the evaluation poll live to help us better run

the virtual meetings and meet their demands. The evaluation poll results for Session 1 are illustrated in

the following graph:


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IRCT General Assembly October 6-9 Report

Session 2

Tuesday, Oct. 6, 15:00-17:00 CET Zoom meeting was utilized (recording available on fabo.org GA site,

please see appendix C.2)

Attendance:

Of 136 registered/confirmed delegates, 84 delegates were present in the session. Minimum participation

per region recorded was 39% of European region and maximum was 100% participation rate of Latin

American region, fulfilling quorum requirement of 50% general participation rate and of 33.3% regional

participation. The participation rate per region was as following:


Asia # of 19 13

Asia % 68%

Europe # of 57 22

Europe % 39%


Latin America % 100%

MENA # of 16 7

MENA % 44%


North America % 57%

Pacific # 11 6

Pacific % 55%




NOT PRESENT % 47%

The objectives of the session were:

1. Welcome and Introduction

2. Presentation and Approval of Global Rehabilitation Standards

3. Closing Remarks

The main objective for this session was the presentation and approval of IRCT Global Rehabilitation

Standards (GRS). The session was initiated and facilitated by President Jorge Aroche. It started with the

presentation of the agenda of the session. IRCT GA Delegates had no objections. Delegates and the staff

were informed about the use of interpretation function for French and Spanish speakers. No objections

were expressed for the recording of the meeting intended for knowledge-sharing in Fabo.org.


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The President introduced the importance of Global Rehabilitation Standards (GRS) as a minimum global

standard for health professionals, survivors, and donors. The GRS evolved after a decision made at the

General Assembly in 2016. The process was led by the IRCT secretariat Director of Advocacy, Asger

Kjærum, who facilitated an extensive and inclusive exchange of ideas, drafts, and process involving

changes and compromises. Asger Kjærum worked closely under the supervision of Health Advisory

Committee members. The entire content of the GRS was read and shared on screen by the IRCT

secretariat management and staff (please open the link of the recording in appendix D) to ensure that all

GA delegates could appreciate, read and hear the proposed text in the 17 points.

After that, the president opened the floor for all delegates to discuss the intent and text of the GRS. The

delegates were informed that in case consensus is not reached, GRS would be presented for virtual

voting which was going to be monitored by the external chairwoman and auditor.

Given the conclusive explanation of the meaning and outcomes of ‘objection’ in this context, no

objections were raised but a series of questions and discussions intended and ensued which helped to

clarify issues and allowed for further membership engagement.

One of the main and initial comments was related to the first paragraph with respect to ‘commitment to

the victim’ and the use of word ‘promote’ in terms of promoting the wellbeing of the victims/survivors.

One GA delegate noted that they wanted a greater commitment from members than ´promotion´. The

president explained that initially these terms were intended to capture only the medical care aspect, but

as it was further expanded, the scope of terms includes the ethical standards and principles to ensure

that victims have voice in terms of how we run the services and promote their wellbeing.

Another opinion was expressed about the need for sustained attention to the issue of gender sensitivity

in the implementation of the GRS, and therefore, there was a request for more strongly worded text on

this issue. The President noted that the document did contain text which illustrate the importance of a

gender sensitive approach. He responded that it was now relevant to test out the GRS in order to assess

whether additional changes need to be made moving forward.

It was noted that the issue of compliance to every individual amendment of the standards may be

challenging for some countries. The Secretary General responded that the GRS are minimum standards

to which member centers should strive to achieve. And that the IRCT secretariat and the membership

were committed to sharing best practice and building skill sets across the movement.

The president stated that these standards are minimum accounts which can be used for different

purposes, including for the matter of advocacy, defining IRCT to external stakeholders and mutual

membership recognition.

Many delegates expressed the importance of adopting IRCT GRS and expressed their acknowledgment

for the long and inclusive process which generated ownership and endorsement of the document.

Based on consensus, the IRCT GRS was adopted.

The auditor Mikkel Mauritzen, BDO confirmed the presence of a quorum on IRCT members at the time

of the approval of the Global Rehabilitation Standards which were approved by consensus.


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The Auditor’s signature for the adaptation of IRCT Global Standards based on consensus:

Mikkel Mauritzen

BDO auditors

Date:

Confirmation Note by auditor:

Evaluation Poll

The results of the evaluation poll for Session 2 are illustrated in the following graph:


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Session 3

Wednesday, Oct. 7, 6:00-8:00 CET Zoom meeting was utilized (recording available on fabo.org GA site,

please see appendix C.3).

Attendance:

Of 136 registered/confirmed delegates, 79 delegates were present in the session, amounting to 50% of

global participation rate. Minimum participation per region recorded was 32% of Sub-Saharan region

and maximum was 90% participation rate of Latin American region, fulfilling quorum requirement of

50% general participation rate but not of 33.3% regional participation. The participation rate per region

was as following:


Asia # of 19 13

Asia % 68%

Europe # of 57 23

Europe % 40%


Latin America % 60%

MENA # of 16 11

MENA % 69%


North America % 61%

Pacific # 11 5

Pacific % 45%




NOT PRESENT % 50%

The objectives of this session were

1. Welcome and introduction

2. Brief presentations by the ExCom Members on challenges in their respective regions during Covid-19

3. Discussion - Lessons Learnt: Opportunities and challenges during COVID19 - IRCT Membership

Engagement fit for future

4. Closing marks


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The session was initiated and facilitated by the President Jorge Aroche. It started with the presentation

of the agenda of the session. GA delegates had no objections. Delegates and the staff were informed

about the use of interpretation function for French and Spanish speakers. No objections were expressed

for the recording of the meeting intended for knowledge-sharing in Fabo.org.

The ExCom members gave individual presentations on challenges in their regions during Covid-19 and

how these challenges/conditions impacted the member centres performance and implementation of

daily tasks with respect to torture victims and staff. Besides global knowledge-sharing, this session was

designated to capture the overall issues member centres face and identify common challenges. It was

a platform to members to gain more awareness of how the pandemic challenges rehabilitation centers,

their staff and torture survivors. It was also a session which allowed members to learn how others had

overcome challenges and to learn techniques which might possibly apply to them (to obtain more

knowledge of the presentations, please follow the link in appendix E to open PowerPoint slides of the

regional ExCom representatives).

The second part of the session was assigned to thematic breakout rooms. The delegates were allocated

to different thematic rooms based on their preferences. There were seven thematic rooms, which were

Covid-19 and detention (Spanish-English interpretation provided), Tele/online-based support,

Staff welfare/care for caregivers, Basic needs & livelihoods (French-English interpretation

provided), Survivor engagement, Displacement, asylum and migration, and Human rights

violations during pandemic. Each room was facilitated by a staff member in the secretariat. The

delegates had the opportunity to be their preferred room for discuss matters related to their centres.

Everyone had the chance to participate in the discussions. Delegates were active and would have liked

more time to discuss. After all breakout rooms were closed, each group presented the content, process,

and summary of the topics and issues which were brough up. Facilitators from the breakout rooms

reported back verbally and provided PowerPoint slides of the content of the discussions taken (please

follow the link in appendix F to open PowerPoint slides of each breakout rooms).

As suggested by the delegates and staff, longer time for breakout rooms were preferred. Technical issues

were faced but were solved during the session. The results of the break-out room discussions will be

studied by the IRCT secretariat in order to be addressed through webinars, thematic meetings and

linking different member centers together more specifically in future.


9/23

Evaluation Poll



10/23


Session 4

Friday, Oct. 9 6:00-8:00 CET Zoom meeting was utilized (recording available on fabo.org GA site, please

see appendix C.4).

Attendance:

Of 136 registered/confirmed delegates, 69 delegates were present in the session, amounting to 44% of

global participation rate. Minimum participation per region recorded was 28% of European region and

maximum was 90% participation rate of Latin American region. Given the objectives of the session, no

major decisions were to be taken. Thus, the rule of quorum did not apply in this context. The participation

rate per region was as following:


Asia # of 19 10

Asia % 53%

Europe # of 57 16

Europe % 28%


Latin America % 90%

MENA # of 16 8

MENA % 50%


North America % 30%

Pacific # 11 6

Pacific % 55%




NOT PRESENT % 56%

The objectives of this session:

1. Welcome and Introduction

2. Meet and greet new Executive Committee 2020-2023

3. Town Hall Meeting

The session took place one day after the election of new ExCom president, vice president and members.

The session was in the beginning initiated by the former president Jorge Aroche. The former president

presented the agenda to all delegates. No delegate raised objection to the agenda. Thereafter, the

former president introduced the newly elected ExCom president, vice president, and ExCom members

of IRCT, who are:


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Name Role Country Region

Lela Tsiskarishvili President Georgia Europe

Cristian Urbalejo Vice President Mexico Latin America

Debabrata Roy Laifungbam ExCom Member India Asia

Khader Rasras ExCom Member Palestine MENA

Kathi Anderson ExCom Member United States North America

Robyn Smythe ExCom Member Australia Pacific

Peter Kum Che Mebeng ExCom Member Cameroon Sub-Saharan Africa

The former president congratulated IRCT and the GA delegates for holding a successful and democratic

election of new ExCom president, vice president, and members. The former president Jorge Aroche

expressed his genuine delight and support to the new ExCom board, and henceforth welcomed the new

president Lela Tsiskarishvili as the chairwoman to facilitate the session.

ExCom board introduced themselves and gave a brief presentation about their missions in maintaining

IRCT’s global stance and overcoming the challenges ahead to move IRCT forward.

President Lela Tsiskarishvili introduced the new regional representatives and advisory board of IRCT,

who are:

Regional Representatives

Name Country Region

Suraj Koraila Nepal Asia

Metin Bakkalci Turkey Europe

Angelina Ospina Columbia Latin America

Suzanne Jabbour Lebanon MENA

Lin Piwowarczyk United States North America

Jorge Aroche Australia Pacific

Taiga Wanzanja Kenya Sub-Saharan Africa

Additionally, the advisory board were introduced to the delegates, who are:

COUNCIL MEMBERS FOR THE ADVISORY BOARD

Name Country Region Title

Hana Hamze Lebanon MENA Convenor - communications

Pradeep Agrawal India Asia Convenor - compliance

Michael Brune Germany Europe Convenor - health

Sebnem Korur Fincanci Turkey Europe Convenor - research

Mihiri Ferdinando Sri Lanka Asia Convenor - resources


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All present regional and council members from the advisory board gave brief presentation about

themselves and the work they do on the regional level.

The last one-hour of the session, Town Hall Meeting, was added to the main agenda during the virtual

GA as there was a growing preference of GA delegates to have an open space for discussions and cross-

regional interactions. Delegates participated actively in exchanging their ideas, suggestions, and

constructive criticism for IRCT going forward. The general secretariat appreciated the feedback from GA

delegates and thereby announced the arrangement of several webinars for knowledge sharing. The

secretariat, additionally, gave explanations/answers to the questions of delegates in the Town Hall

Meeting.

Evaluation Poll



13/23

Total participation of General Assembly

Given the aforementioned numbers and percentage proportions of participation, the total participation

at any point in General Assembly was 101 present delegates out of 136 registered/confirmed delegates,

corresponding to global participation rate of 64%. The figure and rate for per regions were as following:


Asia # of 19 15

Asia % 79%

Europe # of 57 27

Europe % 47%


Latin America % 100%

MENA # of 16 10

MENA % 63%


North America % 70%

Pacific # 11 7

Pacific % 64%




NOT PRESENT % 36%

Signature

President Jorge Aroche

Date:

Confirmation Note by President Jorge Aroche:


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15/23

Appendixes:

Appendix A:

The President Jorge Aroche Speech

Dear friends and colleagues,

I speak to you from the shores of Botany Bay in Sydney, Australia, the land of the Kameygal people,

whose Ancestral ownership an ongoing custodianship of this land I acknowledge as well as their history

of oppression and their ongoing struggle for social justice.

It is a tremendous pleasure and privilege for me to be addressing you today as president of the IRCT

and of behalf of my EXCOM colleagues. I wish I could be doing it face-to-face in Tbilisi, as we had

planned and worked towards, but of course, that was before COVID-19 became the most widely

recognized acronym on the planet and changed everyone’s lives. So Zoom will have to do on this

occasion, and I would like to thank our very enterprising and resourceful secretariat for making this

possible. I would also like to thank all of you, on behalf of the movement and what it represents, for

making the effort to be here. Some of you have woken up very early to join us. Others are staying up

very late. The pandemic might stop us from hugging each other, but not from coming together and

working together.

World view- IRCT adapting to a challenging & rapidly evolving new reality

It has been an amazing four years since our last general assembly when you entrusted this EXCOM I

preside with the stewardship of the IRCT. We have taken this task very seriously, and over the next half

hour Lisa Henry and me will attempt to provide you with a very short summary of what has transpired

during this period. An almost impossible task in the time we have, but one I trust will only serve as

reminder to the information we have been sending you all along.

Let me tell you… it has been a time full of challenges, full of successes, and certainly lots of hard work.

But it’s been worth it... every minute... The work that we all do, assisting people to have a life after torture

while working for a world without torture is crucially important... and incredibly inspiring. The more I get

to know all of you, to see and hear about the work that is done in often terribly difficult circumstances,

the more of a privilege it feels to serve this movement, our IRCT.

The pandemic of course it’s only the latest challenge that our movement has had to deal with since we

met at our last general assembly in Mexico in 2016, an assembly that just happened to coincide with

significant shifts in geopolitics. So much has happened since then! Our work has never been easy and

funds have always been scarce, but the last 4 years have added a whole new level of difficulty. We have

always worked in challenging environments, but the last four years have brought about a tremendous

array of new global challenges, as the world continues to move towards a less global, more inward

looking agenda, with some traditional donors placing less emphasis on human rights and slashing

foreign aid budgets.

Secretariat restructure


16/23

This situation had an important impact on many of our more vulnerable members, It also affected

the IRCT secretariat itself. Just after our first meeting as an EXCOM where we begun to make plans for

the reforms we felt were crucial to the movement we received news that we would not be

getting crucial funding we had been counting on. This precipitated a crisis that meant we had to

streamline the operations of the IRCT and reduce positions to ensure the secretariat could go on. It is a

tribute to the skills of our previous Secretary General, Victor Madrigal Borloz and his team, and the

decisive action by EXCOM that enabled us to fast track the streamlining project. Although it was painful,

the result was a restructured secretariat that is smaller, leaner but very skilled and fit for the purpose of

supporting our wonderful movement.

Changes in governance: Virtual GA- Streamlined Council- Regional empowerment- Advisory board

convenors- Ex Com

One of the key tasks we undertook as an EXCOM was to review and streamline the governance of the

IRCT to make it leaner, more effective and fit for purpose, while also tackling one of the most discussed

issues in the long history of the movement, that of ensuring there is a clear and empowered regional

voice in the strategic planning and governance processes of the IRCT. The changes to the governance

structure also allow for a better conduit of expertise on particular areas of relevance to the IRCT through

5 advisory boards whose conveners have a seat in council. This will allow Council, Excom and the

secretariat to have better access to expert advice on key decisions. Paradoxically, these changes will also

make it easier to have effective governance in this digital world we now inhabit...

Policy impact- Global Rehab standards

One of the other big tasks that were entrusted to EXCOM at our last GA was to build on the process that

led to the Mexico consensus, and complete the IRCT’s Global Rehabilitation Standards. I have been

deeply impressed with the dedication with which the Health Advisory Committee of Council tackled this

task, and the level of input from the membership as a whole when we consulted on the draft document.

The consultation process has been phenomenal, with some of the last amendments literally being added

days, if not hours ago. I have read and discussed this document with Asger and Lisa many times in the

last few days, and I think it is a fabulous document. I believe it is a tribute to the maturity of the

movement that we have been able to arrive at this in a truly consultative process. More on that in a

few hours time...

One of the other things we were tasked with at the last GA was to address what has been one of the

most pervasive challenges for the movement; funding to do our work. This has been a difficult task, and

one where we had failures and successes. Our Secretary General will discuss some of these in her

address. I am hopeful that the new structure will also contribute to strengthening our game plan in this

area, and that the resources and sustainability advisory board will be able to continue with the work

commenced by its precursor, the similarly named advisory group. A big thank you to everyone that

participated in this project. We have still much to do in this area, but we now have a better structure to

do it with going forward.

Relationship with donors

Membership engagement


17/23

Perhaps the most important area of our stewardship of the IRCT is the one epitomized by your very

presence at this virtual general assembly, your active participation and engagement with the movement.

We are a membership organization, and member’s engagement with the IRCT at every level, their stake

in their organization, their participation in governance, policy making, advocacy, member protection and

knowledge sharing processes are the real and most important measure of our success. The IRCT exists

because and for its members, to further our vision of a better world where torture doesn’t exist, and until

this is achieved, of a world where survivors of torture have a chance to regain their health and have a

life in dignity. It is our organization, and we need to own it.

The achievements in this area have been inspiring. Boosted by the Mexico face to face GA and

conference, the level of member participation has been steadily increasing, and paradoxically, has

received a big boost in the context of a world dealing with a pandemic, where we were all forced to

become more skilled in the ways of computers and digital communication. This was only possible

because we had a visionary strategy and so we were headed in that direction already, as developments

such FABO and Owl talks and other sharing spaces prove.

Another proof of our joint commitment to ensure the IRCT goes on, is the response to our call for

membership contributions in times of crisis, and more recently, to our call for a voluntary membership

fee contribution. For some time there has been an expectation from some of our donors that the IRCT

should have a mandatory membership fee structure. Our EXCOM thought it was neither ideal nor

necessary, and that a voluntary membership fee structure could achieve similar results. The fact that we

were able to reach and surpass the set target proved this point, and more importantly, provided

conclusive evidence of the value you place on IRCT membership. Another measure of success is the

steady stream of organizations wanting to join the IRCT.

Covid-19 period

And so we wind back to COVID-19. I can only praise the incredible work that all our agencies have

engaged in to ensure torture survivors continue to receive the assistance they need. I have had the

privilege to attend several regional session and what I have seen has been more than inspiring, We will

devote a full session to do this.

Of course, the last think to emphasize, is that while we worked to tackle this challenges, the IRCT kept

making steady progress in terms of refining its strategy and actually implementing it, on all 5 outputs,

with big achievements in crucial areas such as knowledge sharing, data gathering, financial management

and advocacy, to name a few. Our Secretary general will address this in more detail.

I cannot conclude without mentioning the challenges ahead, and my confidence in our capacity to

overcome them as a united, well-coordinated movement defined by solidarity and a shared vision of our

work.

There are many challenges ahead. They include ensuring the survival of members around the world who

are under extreme pressure in terms of finance and security. They include the survival of the IRCT as we

know it, and also ensuring that the changes we made to its governance and structure are fully and

gainfully implemented. They include continuing to advance the process of membership participation

and bilateral collaborations between members. They include exploring better ways to ensure the

survivor’s voice is loud and clear in how we structure and run our services. They include ensuring our

movement engages and plays a leading role in the big topics and challenges of our age, around racism,


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systematic gender discrimination, the rise of conservative extremism, and life in a world ravaged by a

pandemic that affects the most vulnerable groups the most. To name a few…

On the large scale, probably the biggest challenge resides in figuring out how to ensure that the work

that we do is adequately funded and can and does happen in the places where it is most needed. We

need to get better at communicating the importance of what we do, in a way that resonates in this new

age of digital communications. We need to learn from the successes of some of our members in this

area, so we can continue to progress in this big challenge.

I believe we are ready to tackle and overcome these challenges. We have a great strategy, a great

secretariat team, a sound and invigorated governance structure and a committed and engaged

membership. It will be hard work for the next EXCOM, but with everyone’s support and solidarity we can

do it!

I would like to end by thanking you for your support in joining us in cyberspace, and in particular by

thanking my fellow council members, who supported the most ambitious set of reforms ever undertaken

by the IRCT through a process that involves lots of consultation and discussion and a very thorough

scrutiny of the proposals by EXCOM. Of course, I would like to thank my wonderful EXCOM

colleagues, and of course, my Vice President, a group of incredible people who put in enormous

amounts of work to ensure the IRCT was well governed and the General Secretary was well supported

throughout this incredibly challenging period. On this note, I would like to thank the staff of the

secretariat, all those that remain and those that are no longer with the team. The IRCT is blessed with

the knack of attracting and retaining fantastically talented people whose commitment is legendary!

Lastly, I would like to thank Victor Madrigal Borloz, Lisbet Ilkjaer and Lisa Henry, the

three incredible people who occupied the post of Secretary General during our term, and with whom I

had the privilege to work with almost on a weekly basis during these four years. An enormous thank you

from all of us at EXCOM!!!

Thank you again

Jorge Aroche


19/23

Appendix B:

Appendix B.1

The General Secretary Lisa Henry Speech

Dear Esteemed Members, thank you for joining us for the first digital General Assembly of the IRCT

We, like yourselves and the rest of the world, have adapted to the circumstances of

today; a global COVID 19 pandemic, exposure of inherent and systematic racism and social injustice by

the George Floyd killing, documented sexual exploitation and abuse uncovered by a MeToo Campaign, a

growing acceptance of hate-speech, fear of religious fanaticism and inward-looking

nationalistic priorities which have obstructed refugees and migrants from achieving their basic human

rights, not least the Right To Rehabilitation.

We – the global community- have mourned the loss of almost 1 mio. loved ones, taken without

a proper goodbye; we have navigated new legislation and ever-changing messages from our leaders,

coped with dramatic increases in torture survivor caseloads, implemented new tele-health rehabilitation

modalities, and supported front-line human rights defenders and health workers who themselves have

demonstrated overwhelming commitment, compassion and courage. While I would prefer to STAND in

front of you on this day seeing your eyes, observing your body language, hearing the tone of your

voices when you were asking questions and enjoying the buzz of conversation in the breaks,

the circumstances just don’t allow that. We had to postpone the Scientific Symposium but I want to

praise the hard work of the Scientific Committee and the Chairs.

The ‘virtual’ reality which has been looming on the horizon, is now here to stay. And I must say

to each one of the member centers with whom I have talked since March 2020, you have jumped directly

into the future. You are obviously intelligent, resilient, risk-willing human beings, and you are doers. I

have not seen anyone pack up and quit. I have not heard of centers who have closed their doors and

refused to treat their clients. No, what I have seen instead has been a rapid pivot to a response mode

unlike any other in the history of IRCT. For health professionals wary of the ways of online treatment, I

have seen quick assessment and decision-making to move to Tele Health. I have seen health workers

turn into humanitarian response experts. I have seen human rights advocacy skills honed to call out

injustice. This resilience and stick-to-it-ness serves humanity, torture survivors and our climate well. It

brings a more even playing field. It allows us to reallocate funds. And it shows those who support us just

how creative and committed we are.

It has been challenging. But this crisis has brought us closer together. It has been crystal clear

that collaboration, solidarity and keeping connected- are necessary and that there is strength in working

together. We do, in fact, rely on each other. And that is, in essence, what IRCT is; we stand united as a

collective with the one vision of seeing a World Without Torture where justice, respect for human rights,

respect for the voice and agency of torture survivors and respect for Right To Rehabilitation are so much

more than spoken or written words but are actionable.

I have seen centers in Sweden reaching out to centers in SubSaharan Africa with telehealth

options. I have seen a center in Lebanon providing a “Care for Caregiver” manual to the global family.

An Australain center has made online Masters Classes available to upgrade professional skills

while centers have been in quarantine or lock down. Guidelines for protecting against COVID 19 in


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detention centers and protocols for forensic documentation of torture during violent human rights

protests have been shared.

This exchange has encouraged me and the IRCT staff at the secretariat. We believe we have provided

the glue to keep the connection among rehab. centers, leaders and staff alike, alive. We hope you have

been satisfied.

Our movement is effective and our numbers are a testimony of that impact: we are a network of over

158 torture rehabilitation centers in 75 countries. Let us please take a moment to welcome 3 new

centers to our global membership! Health Equity Initiatives, Malaysia, Mexican Commission for Defense

and Promotion of Human Rights (Mexico) and Women and Children Protection, DRC. The data collected

tells an interesting story: Half of the IRCT members are in the global south. Most of the member centers

are led by women. Our Council, our ExCom and our secretariat have equal representation of women and

men.

Speaking of numbers, in 2019 alone, over 58 thousand survivors of torture received treatment and

support from you, our member centers. Therefore, we can easily estimate that 275.000 persons benefit

annually from the rehabilitation work conducted by you, our member centers. But how

many people benefit from our international advocacy, our critical inputs to UPR processes, or follow up

on CAT review recommendations? Well this is what you told us-. Our inputs to new legislation in

Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria to name just a few, the 14 cases tried due to credible contributions by the

IFEG members, the ongoing trainings on the Istanbul Protocol? Well I can tell you we are well on the

way to knowing the answers to those questions.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s take a step back. In 2017 we unanimously adopted an

IRCT strategy for the period 2018-2020 , we ‘right sized’ the secretariat, we implemented sub-grants and

we started the governance reform process Jorge spoke about. Then that strategy was adapted in

2019 to extend to 2021 and include the Sustainable Development Goals.

On the program side, the Health Advisory Committee, Director of Advocacy and an inclusive process

allowed a healthy debate and development/ approval of the Global Rehabilitation Standards.

The Global Rehab Standards provide universal language to talk across regions about justice, redress

and reparition, and rehab centers about the content of our rehabilitation work with torture surviviors.

They will ensure that torture survivors have access to decision-makers and influence on their

rehabilitation journey. They invite construction criticism and space for improvement in our

own organisations, not least, they will ensure that our staff are well trained and protected from burn

out/stress and sexual harassment.

We consolidated and further expanded the global Anti-Torture Database. By 2019, we had finalized an

ATD app and had data from over 4500 survivors safely and securely stored - 88% showed improvement

in well-being. Facilitated access to wartime pensions in Kosovo.

We began work on a global Common Minimum Dataset to be collected by all members. This dataset

seeks to provide the membership with a single voice, which can describe torture globally, in the first-

ever national indicator frameworks on torture victims’ right to rehabilitation. An advisory group

comprised of 22 experts from IRCT centres in South Africa, Zimbabwe, the Netherlands, Poland,

Australia, the United States, India, Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Kenya, Palestine, Chile,


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Bolivia, Colombia, Iraq and Nepal contributed. This was the catalyst for 4 national stakeholder

consultation processes to develop national indicators Chile, Mexico, South Africa and Uganda.

We built a rehabilitation knowledge platform, and increased engagement with, and between members.

One of those initiatives is our interactive learning site on fabo.org, We published three issues of

the Torture Journal yearly, and the interest remains great, with over 18 thousand abstract views

through 2018 and ’19.

Given the political context of refugees and migrants moving across borders the pressure on

systems increased . To counter act the impunity and growing nationalistic tendencies, IRCT

developed, finalised and launched Copenhagen statement on Torture and Migration.

Our work to put an international spotlight on gender violence and sexual discrimination which started

with research and reports on Forced Virginity Testing and Forced Anal examinations resulted in WHO,

OHCHR and UN WOMEN issueing an inter-agency statement calling for a global ban on virginity

testing. IRCT/IFEG research on Conversion Therapy- Its Torture Not Therapy has been the most

viewed, liked and international media commented report from IRCT in years, (Side note: This has resulted

in an IRCT MOU with World Pride 2021 to be held in Denmark/Sweden where the IFEG and IRCT will

be providing medical analysis and forensic evidence on a human rights panel. It is clear to me that the

numbers of torture survivors suffering from gender discrimination will only be rising dramatically in

future.

As our campaign up to June 26, 2020 proclaimed: The World Stopped, Torture Didn’t. Not only did

the COVID 19 pandemic shock our systems but George Floyd/Black Lives Matter protests awakened new

awareness and new ‘rage’ at the systematic injustice and the public use of torture. Powered by

pandemic’s spotlight on inequality in the govt’ responses- with vulnerable populations almost invisible

to decision makers- IRCT responded with acute COVID 19 Rapid Response grants to ensure torture

survivors had the phone credit, the phones, the wifi access, the rent, the food money, bus fare to get to

the rehab center, etc.

The pandemic pushed us- hard- to work and think differently. Even IRCT governance got a wake-

up call! Hello Zoom! (This has been a catalyst within IRCT to be more climate conscious and cost

effective using virtual meeting facilities for all governance meetings.)

But we have more challenge ahead. Seeking justice, pursuing reparation, fighting impunity are

known areas of work for IRCT centers. Given our health-based data we excel at this. But re-igniting

indignation against torture and rekindling the flame of the anti-torture movement is another thing. The

word torture needs to be said out loud, more often. Torture survivors need to argue their case front and

center stage. The story of successful holistic rehabilitation which includes job training, resulting

in a sustainable livelihood, needs to be communicated more often, and more convincingly.

I am proud of you, the health, social and human rights workers at our member

centers. The combined effectr of data and stories from the centers and survivors allows IRCT to widely

share your experiences with a unified voice, whether those experiences are in Bahrain or

in Zimbabwe. We amplified them globally. We maintain our credible and

unique position, making health-based evidence/documentation a priority, conducting trainings and

reaching thousands- as we just did in Belarus.


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Thanks for your attention, I look forward to your questions.

The General Secretary

Lisa Henry

Appendix B.2

The Speech and Slides of PowerPoint Presentation as a link

https://fabo.org/pluginfile.php/59632/mod_resource/content/3/The%20Secretary-

General%20Speech%20and%20PP%20slides.pdf

Appendix C:

Link of the recorded virtual GA Sessions, accessible only to IRCT members and secretariat

Appendix C1

Session 1: Zoom webinar

https://fabo.org/irct/IRCTGA2020/page/19887-recording-of-session-1

Appendix C2

Session 2: Zoom Meeting


Appendix C3



Appendix C4



Appendix D

Link to video on IRCT Global Rehabilitation Standards

https://fabo.org/irct/irct/resource/19839-irct-global-rehabilitation-standards-vedio-audio

Appendix E

Link to PowerPoint slides from ExCom members

https://fabo.org/pluginfile.php/59633/mod_resource/content/3/ExCom%20PP%20Presentations.pdf

https://fabo.org/pluginfile.php/59632/mod_resource/content/3/The%20Secretary-General%20Speech%20and%20PP%20slides.pdf

https://fabo.org/pluginfile.php/59632/mod_resource/content/3/The%20Secretary-General%20Speech%20and%20PP%20slides.pdf





https://fabo.org/irct/irct/resource/19839-irct-global-rehabilitation-standards-vedio-audio




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Appendix F

Link to reports and PowerPoint slides from breakout rooms

https://fabo.org/pluginfile.php/59634/mod_resource/content/3/Breakout%20Rooms%20-

%20Session%203_Wed_Oct3_COVID19%20PP%20slides.pdf

Appendix G

Link to General Assembly 2020 platform in Fabo.org

https://fabo.org/irct/IRCTGA2020

https://fabo.org/pluginfile.php/59634/mod_resource/content/3/Breakout%20Rooms%20-%20Session%203_Wed_Oct3_COVID19%20PP%20slides.pdf

https://fabo.org/pluginfile.php/59634/mod_resource/content/3/Breakout%20Rooms%20-%20Session%203_Wed_Oct3_COVID19%20PP%20slides.pdf

https://fabo.org/irct/IRCTGA2020

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