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Recognizing that victims of torture who apply for asylum in the United States have unique needs for protection and support, Senator Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) introduced legislation last month to expedite their entrance to the U.S. and ensure that they receive mental health care and other forms of support.
Wellstone's bill, the Torture Victims Relief Act, is cosponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). It is designed to implement in the U.S. the International Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which the U.S. government signed in 1994.
APA and more than 40 other professional, religious, and human rights organizations have lent their support to the legislation.
In addition to describing the types of protections and supports that must be available to victims of torture, the legislation does not ignore the peril in which psychiatrists and others who treat torture victims in their native countries often find themselves. Acknowledging the risks caregivers incur, Wellstone's bill states, "In many nations, even those who treat torture survivors are threatened with reprisals, including torture, for carrying out their ethical duties to provide care."
To address this predicament, the bill emphasizes that "both the survivors of torture and their treatment providers should be accorded protection from further repression."
The legislation calls for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to establish procedures for expediting asylum applications from torture victims "to minimize their insecurity and sense of danger." It also emphasizes the urgent need for the U.S. government to set up or make available rehabilitation services designed specifically to respond to the emotional and physical damage that victims of torture are faced with repairing.
Among the legislation's other provisions are a prohibition against the INS expelling or taking steps that could culminate in sending these people back to their home countries involuntarily. This clause would be invoked as long as there is "substantial evidence that a reasonable person in the circumstances of [the asylum applicant] would fear subjection to torture" in the country to which he or she may be repatriated.
These refugees will in fact be considered in a unique category defined by "special humanitarian concern. . .and shall be accorded priority for resettlement at least as high as that accorded any other group of refugees," the Senate bill states. It also calls for immigration hearing officers to postpone asylum interviews or removal proceedings when there is evidence that the immigrant, as a result of either physical or mental torture, is having difficulty recalling or relating to immigration officials the circumstances of his or her torture so that the individual has more recovery time before having to testify.
A crucial part of Wellstone's proposal requires the U.S. attorney general to provide training for immigration examiners and officers and the secretary of state to do so for consular officers so that they become proficient in identifying experiences of torture, understanding the long-term effects on its victims, and recognizing the "physical, cognitive, and emotional effects of torture and the manner in which these effects can affect the interview or hearing process."
The training must also include instruction for these individuals in interviewing techniques that can elicit important information about the refugee's circumstances while minimizing the risk that the questions will "retraumatize" the victims.
The Senate bill also proposes that in Fiscal 1999, 2000, and 2001 the President allocate $5 million, $7.5 million, and $9 million, respectively, for grants to programs and treatment centers outside the U.S. that are conducting projects "to treat victims of torture for the physical and psychological effects of the torture." These grants can be used as well for training programs that assist care providers in treating torture victims.
Similar programs in the U.S. would also be funded through grant money if the bill becomes law. This added emphasis on the mental health needs of torture victims will "go a long way toward increasing the number of psychiatrists who take advantage of the opportunity to be trained in this specialized area," said Ellen Mercer, director of the APA Office of International Affairs, and will "heighten the visibility of these services for refugees and the people in their support system. At this time there are not nearly enough treatment programs to service the needs of victims of torture," she noted.
In explaining the importance of enacting his bill, Wellstone stressed in a February 2 letter to his Senate colleagues, "Providing treatment for torture victims not only enables them to become productive and contributing citizens, it is also one of the most effective ways to show our concern for human rights around the world."