June 26

26 June 2022

ETHIOPIA

The CVT Ethiopia Gambella team held a day full of events and activities to commemorate the UN Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The team welcomed officials, partners, clients and hundreds of community members in the Nguenyyiel camp for a day of awareness-raising, speeches, dance and community. They wrote about the day, “The day of commemoration was a great success: for sharing information and learning, for community and fellowship, and for taking time to acknowledge victims of torture and to honor all the progress being made to bring them effective support and care.” Read their article here and check out photos from the day here.

JORDAN

To honor the UN Int'l Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the CVT Jordan team held creative activities and designed messages of hope for survivors of torture – check out photos from the events. The team displayed the messages on this Tree of Inspiration.

KENYA

To commemorate 26 June, members of the CVT team in Nairobi and Kakuma reflected on their work and on what healing means to survivors. Justine Chepngetich, physiotherapist, Amrita Chudasama, psychotherapist, Winnie Gacheru, psychotherapist trainer, and Samal Geoffrey, psychosocial counselor, share insights on how they see clients persevere and begin to rebuild their lives after care. As Winnie writes, “At CVT we root for a world without torture . . . and we support victims of torture.” Read their article here and watch a slide show of photos here.

UNITED STATES

For 26 June, Dr. Simon Adams, CVT president and CEO, wrote this article, stating “On this International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, we express our deepest solidarity with, and ongoing support for, all torture survivors, their family members, and their communities throughout the world. We will continue to work with those who have endured the unimaginable. And we will continue to speak out against the unspeakable.” PDFs of this article are available in Arabic, Kurdish Sorani and Tigrigna. The article is also running on Medium here.

“It’s time to start envisioning a new normal for policing, incarceration, and accountability; not just in our country, but globally,” wrote Ta’Mara Hill, CVT policy officer, in this op ed article for Teen Vogue. In honor of 26 June,she wrote to “uphold a group of survivors who are often forgotten in the global conversation about torture and degrading treatment: U.S. citizens and residents who have been tortured or abused during interactions with law enforcement or while incarcerated or jailed.”

On June 25, CVT Georgia hosted a World Refugee Day Celebration in conjunction with the Coalition of Refugee Service Agencies. The event featured community performances, local vendors, advocacy opportunities and guest speakers such as Senator Jon Ossoff and Congressman Hank Johnson. During a time of war and conflict across the world, the event brought together guests with a shared goal of advancing peace, justice and acceptance. Attendees reaffirmed Georgia's commitment to being a welcoming home for refugees, including the many who have survived torture and conflict-related trauma.

The 2022 Eclipse Award: Over the harrowing years of the deadly Syrian conflict, Sednaya Prison has become known to the world as the scene of torture, unspeakable cruelty and profound suffering. In a virtual event, CVT presented its annual Eclipse award to the Association of Detainees and the Missing in Sednaya, an organization founded by former detainees and dedicated to discovering the truth and bringing justice for detainees. The organization works to find those who were disappeared, to help detainees bring forward their stories and their voices, and to support and bring healing to former detainees and families. Read the release here.