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

CVT 2025 Eclipse Award Honors the Caesar Files Team

The development department announced that this year’s annual Eclipse Award will be presented to the Caesar Files Team, a group of Syrian activists who worked to smuggle, copy and archive more than 50,000 photographs showing evidence of torture in Syrian prisons. Their work brought to light the extreme abuses of the Assad regime, providing critical evidence and ultimately helping thousands of Syrian families learn the truth about missing loved ones. Read more about the work of the Caesar Files Team in this article and register for the Courageous Voices virtual event here – June 26, 6 pm Central.

CVT Statement: National Guard and Marines Used to Intimidate, Not Protect

“President Trump’s effort to frame immigration and immigrants as a national security threat does not make America safer. The administration’s defiance of the rule of law puts protestors, immigrants, journalists, observers and all community members at enormous risk,” said Yumna Rizvi, senior policy analyst, in this statement on the president’s deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles to suppress protests being held in support of immigrants. She writes, “No American should view these developments with indifference – our values and laws are at stake.”

Dramatic Improvements in Mental Health Reported after CVT’s Care in Ethiopia

CVT issued this press release to announce a new evidence brief for our past work in Ethiopia, which underscores the important role of rehabilitative care in recovery among survivors. The brief covers programs in Amhara, Gambella and Tigray, with fully 99% of clients reporting significant improvement mental health symptoms. “The numbers illustrate the story clients have been telling us for decades: Healing is absolutely possible, and healing brings hope – to individuals, families and communities,” said Dr. Simon Adams, CVT president and CEO.

“The numbers illustrate the story clients have been telling us for decades: Healing is absolutely possible, and healing brings hope – to individuals, families and communities.”

-Dr. Simon Adams, CVT president & CEO

Commentary on the Need for Psychosocial Support after the Conflict in Gaza

Simon Adams appears midway in this segment of CNA Correspondent (at the 8:00 mark), in a section by Kate Fisher on the estimated costs to rebuild Gaza after the war. Simon comments on the need for mental health and psychosocial support, saying, “If we don’t rebuild and reconstruct Gaza in a way that addresses the psychological, psychosocial needs, the mental health needs, of people who have suffered so much over the last two years, Palestinian people in Gaza, and provide access for them to healing and hope, then we basically condemn another generation of Palestinians and Israelis to more war, to more suffering, to another round of pointless destruction and catastrophe.”

Travel Bans are Merely Punitive and do not Make U.S. Citizens Safer

“We extend care to survivors who were tortured in many countries around the world; we know where torture is being perpetrated, where human rights are being violated. Citizens of these countries are at risk of facing persecution, conflict and torture, not security risks themselves,” said Yumna Rizvi in this statement issued in response to the new travel ban announced by President Trump. “Citizens of these countries are at risk of facing persecution, conflict and torture, not security risks themselves,” Yumna said.

Commentary on Impacts of Travel Ban on Clients

Jill Davidson, targeted case management supervisor and social worker, is quoted in this KSTP story on impacts of the Trump administration’s new travel ban on clients and the Somali community in Minneapolis. Jill says, “My clients work on their asylum cases for many, many years to even be considered. Then it takes many, many more years for any family member to be approved to come and join them. Now, to see their home country on this banned list – it takes away that tiny bit of hope. When that goes away, what is left?“

Now, to see their home country on this banned list – it takes away that tiny bit of hope. When that goes away, what is left?“

-Jill Davidson, targeted case management supervisor & social worker

Explainer on Use of Wartime Authorities

Scott Roehm, director of global policy and advocacy, published this explainer titled “What are ‘Wartime Authorities’ and When Can the President Use Them? An Expert Q&A,” together with Tess Bridgeman, co-editor in chief at Just Security, and Rebecca Ingber, law professor at Cardozo Law School. The explainer provides information about a number of authorities being used by the Trump administration. The authors write, “We seek to foster understanding of what these authorities are (and aren’t) intended for, what they do (and don’t do) in practice, how (if at all) they are related, and why it is crucial to maintain a bright line between when wartime authorities apply and when they do not.”

Commentary on Challenges Facing the Afghan Community in Minnesota

Mahdi Surosh, CVT Raahat project manager, is quoted in this article by Maya Rao in the Star Tribune about challenges facing the Afghan community in Minnesota in the current climate as federal funding is pulled. Mahdi comments, “There is support available, but it’s not to the extent that it was in the past.” The article was picked up by more than 30 additional newspapers in the U.S.

CVT Expanding Support to Syrian Survivors of Torture

We issued this press release to announce our new project that allows CVT to work more closely with partners inside Syria to address the impact of torture, enforced disappearances and widespread human rights violations. While CVT has worked with Syrian refugees for many years, this new project allows us to expand inside Syria for the first time. “For generations the Assad dictatorship in Syria operated an industrial system of detention, torture and disappearance. Torture was used as a tool of terror and social control,” said Simon Adams. “CVT is proud to be part of rebuilding hope and working alongside Syrian partners as they build a better future.”

Saving Lives, Restoring Dignity: Why the Center for Victims of Torture Must Continue in Ethiopia

We published this article by guest author and former researcher at CVT Ethiopia, Koang Kay Keak, who worked in Gambella from 2021-23. He wrote this article of support for CVT in response to hearing of the U.S. government funding cuts that halted so much of our work in Ethiopia. He writes, “One client, a survivor of the Juba massacre who lost his entire family, told me, ‘With CVT, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel.’ That light must not be extinguished.”

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 this statement with 12 human rights organizations including Amnesty USA, Human Rights Watch, Middle East Democracy Center and others, calling on U.S. Secretary of State Rubio to change course in his proposed reorganization of the Department of State. The authors write, “For the last five decades, every administration has agreed that human rights and humanitarian protection not only reflect fundamental American values but also advance global peace, security, and prosperity, consistent with international law.”
• CVT joined this statement led by the Jordan INGO Forum to highlight deep concerns about impacts of U.S. and UN funding cuts to mental care services for refugees in Jordan. The authors write, “The abrupt and substantial defunding of mental health clinical services, and simultaneous deprioritizing of community-based mental health work, reflects a critical misjudgment of on-the-ground needs and systemic health gaps and is already resulting in immediate and harmful consequences for vulnerable individuals and their families.”
• CVT endorsed a resolution introduced by Rep. Jayapal, calling for immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. The authors call on the Trump administration “to urgently use all available diplomatic tools to bring about the release of the hostages, an immediate cessation of the blockade on food and humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians, and a durable end to the conflict in Gaza.”
• CVT joined more than 250 human rights and humanitarian organizations in signing this letter to senate leadership, urging them to reject the House Reconciliation Bill, which will add trillions to the national debt while cutting health coverage for families. The authors write this bill will “will plunge our communities into deeper food insecurity and deepen the poverty chasm for nearly 4.5 million children of immigrants, all to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and corporations and unprecedented, unaccountable funds for mass deportation.” The letter was covered in this article in Migrant Insider.