Welcome to the July 2025 issue of CVT World, CVT’s periodic compilation of the latest news, stories and public activities from our team.

Dr. Paul Orieny Wins 2025 Excellence in Global Mental Health & Refugee Wellness Award

“This moment calls us to do more – not only to serve but to listen, to partner in communities, to ensure that mental health is not an afterthought,” said Dr. Paul Orieny, CVT senior clinical advisor for mental health, as he accepted the 2025 Excellence in Global Mental Health & Refugee Wellness Award from the African Mental Health Summit. This award honors individuals and groups who have shown innovation and leadership in care for refugees and displaced populations around the world, with a particular focus on cultural- and trauma-informed care. Dr. Orieny is shown at right, with Dr. Kingsley U. Chigbu, professor at Morrison Family College of Health, School of Social Work, University of St. Thomas. Congratulations! Watch his acceptance speech here.

Minnesota Can Lead Again on Refugees, Just as Mondale Did

Alison Beckman, CVT senior clinician for external relations, wrote the above-titled op ed for the Star Tribune, commenting on the legacy of the late Vice President Walter Mondale, a champion for the rights of refugees. Ally writes, “There is an overriding sense that in order to put America first, we must put everyone else last. In our state, we know that’s not true.”

The Torture of Kilmar Abrego Garcia was Preventable. His Rendition was Illegal.

Yumna Rizvi, senior policy analyst, issued this statement in response to reports that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was tortured during his time in CECOT prison in El Salvador. She writes, “Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s suffering was preventable. His rendition to CECOT prison was illegal. The Trump administration is transferring people to torture, and vilifying them in the process, to instill fear and pain among immigrants in this country.” Yumna’s comments were mentioned here in Day by Day, El Salvador.

June 26 – The UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

Each year, CVT commemorates the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture in a variety of ways. Here are some of the activities for 2025:

The Development team was very pleased with the success of their virtual Courageous Voices event, during which they shared a welcome from U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, a strong supporter of the rights of victims of torture, along with messages from survivors. The annual Eclipse Award was presented to the Caesar Files Team, the group of Syrian activists who helped smuggle, publish and analyze more than 50,000 photographs depicting torture inside Syria’s prisons, exposing the extreme abuses of the Assad regime to the outside world. Their work provided critical evidence, ultimately helping thousands of Syrian families learn the truth about missing loved ones.

Noura Aljizawi, prominent figure in the Syrian uprising, CVT board member and researcher at the University of Toronto, held a conversation with three members of the team about their work and what this award means to them.

Dr. Simon Adams, CVT president and CEO, said in our press release, “The Caesar Files Team risked their lives exposing atrocities and forever changed the way the world understood the industrial system of disappearance, torture and death in Assad’s Syria. They are heroes in Syria and to human rights defenders everywhere.” Watch the full event here.

The Caesar Files Team risked their lives exposing atrocities and forever changed the way the world understood the industrial system of disappearance, torture and death in Assad’s Syria. They are heroes in Syria and to human rights defenders everywhere.”

-Dr. Simon Adams, president & CEO

Yumna Rizvi (second from right, above) spoke on a panel called “From Guantanamo to CECOT: A Regime of Rendition and Suspension of International Law” in a UN side event in Geneva, Switzerland. Yumna spoke along with the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers and the ambassador to the Mission of Colombia, as well as other human rights defenders, in a conversation focused on the impacts of the U.S. impunity, including the contract with El Salvador’s CECOT prison. Yumna noted that we are seeing today “practices long prohibited under black letter international law—extraordinary rendition, indefinite detention, torture, and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment— being carried out in plain view, photographed, recorded, shared across media platforms, and even celebrated.”

A message from Simon Adams: “On this International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, we recognize that the future belongs to those with the courage to hope,” writes Simon Adams in this message to honor June 26. Writing to survivors, staff, supporters and readers, he comments on the difficulties survivors face as well as the challenges that CVT has met and worked to overcome. He adds, “Presidents, war criminals and governments come and go, but we will continue to work towards healing and hope.” Here are translations of Simon’s article in Amharic, Arabic, Farsi, Kurdish, Pashto, Spanish and Tigrigna.

St. Paul Healing Center: To honor survivors, the team at CVT’s St. Paul center hosted a special event for clients and their families. Guests enjoyed a fashion show featuring clothing styles from around the world, a show of brilliant talent, shared messages of resilience and courage, CVT’s hope bracelets, international decorations, and of course, great food!

Third Country Removals Violate the Convention against Torture

We issued this statement titled “Allowing the Trump Administration’s ‘Third Country Removals’ Defies the Convention against Torture and U.S. Law.” “This decision is abhorrent and will put people’s lives at risk,” said Scott Roehm, director of global policy and advocacy, on the Supreme Court’s ruling to allow these removals. He notes that “both the Convention against Torture, and relevant implementing legislation in the U.S., categorically prohibit such transfers. You cannot send a person to another country where they’re in danger of being tortured. That prohibition, and the protection it affords, is categorical: it applies to everyone, everywhere, and always.”

You cannot send a person to another country where they’re in danger of being tortured. That prohibition, and the protection it affords, is categorical: it applies to everyone, everywhere, and always.”

-Scott Roehm, director of global policy & advocacy

In addition, Scott is quoted in this article on the same topic in the Christian Science Monitor: “Speeding Up Trump Agenda, Supreme Court Allows Third-Country Deportations.” He comments that “’diplomatic assurances don’t satisfy’ the Convention against Torture,” adding, “They’re often sought from countries that are systematic violators of the prohibition on torture.”

Minnesota Political Violence Impacts CVT Clients

Sara Nelson, program manager for the St. Paul Healing Center, is quoted in this article in MinnPost titled “For Immigrants in Brooklyn Park, Political Violence Brought Added Dimensions to Fear and Confusion,” about impacts of recent shootings in Minnesota. Sara comments on how clients living in the affected neighborhoods reacted to the heavy police presence and lack of clarity about the situation, saying “The biggest piece for our clients was not being sure that the police had their best interests at heart and not being sure that this wasn’t ICE trying to pick up immigrants.”

The biggest piece for our clients was not being sure that the police had their best interests at heart and not being sure that this wasn’t ICE trying to pick up immigrants.”

-Sara Nelson, program manager

Stories from Minnesota Refugees to Honor World Refugee Day

Mahdi Surosh, program manager for the Raahat Afghan project, talks about his background in this series on refugees in Minnesota, published by the Minnesota Dept of Health to honor World Refugee Day. He comments, “As refugees who lost everything we built and starting from scratch, we often push ourselves hard to achieve better professional prospects and earn a stable income. But in this race, many of us tend to neglect our mental and emotional health, placing it at the bottom of a long list of competing needs and challenges.”

Working in Coalition with Partners

Working with partners brings strength to CVT’s policy advocacy. We regularly participate in organized coalition actions that support survivors of torture. Below are some of these coalition and partner actions.

• CVT joined 89 U.S. civil society organizations in signing this letter to Gianni Infantino, president of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), ahead of the 2025 and 2026 World Cup activities to take place in the United States. The letter warns FIFA that in addition to travel bans for numerous countries, additional Trump administration immigration policies have violated U.S. and international law and could impact non-citizens traveling to the United States, which includes fans, journalists, family members, not only players. The authors call on FIFA to use its leverage to urge the president to reverse these policies. The letter was covered here in the NY Times and here Sports Policy, Norway.
• CVT endorsed this letter to the Trump administration, organized by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and signed by 15 lawmakers. The letter calls for an immediate end to use of Guantánamo to detain migrants and for closure of the facility permanently. The authors write, “These detention facilities at Guantánamo should have been closed years ago. It is unacceptable that not only are they still operational, but they are being repurposed for yet another generation of unjust detention.”
• CVT endorsed this legislation reintroduced by U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal and congressional colleagues called the Health Equity and Access under Law (HEAL) for Immigrant Families Act. The law would remove onerous barriers to health care facing immigrants in the U.S. Rep. Jayapal said, “Health care is a human right that must be accessible to everyone — regardless of immigration status.”
• CVT endorsed this resolution recognizing World Refugee Day, introduced by U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who is ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with Congressman Ted Lieu. Senator Shaheen writes, “On this World Refugee Day, our resolution honors the resilient spirit of forcibly displaced persons globally and calls on the Trump Administration to recommit to supporting refugees and displaced persons.”
• CVT endorsed this war powers resolution introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine, which will require a debate and vote before the U.S. could begin using military force against Iran. Senator Kaine writes, “It is not in our national security interest to get into a war with Iran unless that war is absolutely necessary to defend the United States.”