On May 14, 1985, the Center for Victims of Torture filed articles of incorporation and officially opened its doors to survivors of torture living in Minnesota, U.S. Today as we observe this 40^th anniversary, CVT has a distinguished legacy of helping tens of thousands of survivors and family members rebuild their lives after torture and other extreme conflict-related trauma.

However, events of early 2025 have dramatically impacted CVT’s story of global growth and healing.

For nearly two decades, the organization’s largest, though by no means sole, funder had been the United States government. With large programs in Ethiopia and Jordan serving more than 18,500 survivors and family members in 2024 alone, CVT had grown to having offices in six countries and projects in additional global locations.

Only four days after Donald Trump was inaugurated as U.S. president, CVT began receiving suspension notices halting 75 percent of our international work. In the final days of January, our teams were forced to end clinical care abruptly and put hundreds of esteemed colleagues on furlough.

Only four days after Donald Trump was inaugurated as U.S. president, CVT began receiving suspension notices halting 75 percent of our international work.”

Over the next two months, staff who were still employed at CVT worked to secure new funding, close programs as ethically as possible under these cruel conditions, talk to the global media about the devastating impact on our clients, and mobilize and engage our supporters. This process was painful; clients were in the middle of care after having survived unthinkable trauma. Turning away a survivor of torture who shows up for counseling can send a terrible message that, once again, no one cares. A 14-year old girl in Ethiopia asked her counselor, “Are you leaving me alone like the others? Am I going back to how I was before I met you?”

But the teams worked through the process. We were heartened to see our supporters join us in voicing their opposition to the callous freezing of foreign aid and in filling gaps left by the loss of funding. We did everything required by the U.S. government, filled out every form, completed every questionnaire, met every deadline, in hopes of restoring our funding.

However, by the end of April the United States had slashed the vast majority of its humanitarian funding globally, including grants provided through USAID and the Department of State. Decades of global good will – as well as the safety, health and wellbeing of the populations CVT serves – were cast aside.

On May 2, CVT joined a lawsuit against the U.S. government, challenging the foreign aid cuts. We hope this effort will result in the court, which has already held that withholding Congress-appropriated funding was likely unconstitutional, ordering the U.S. to reinstate grants it terminated.

CVT first expanded our healing programs to outside the United States in 2000 with a program for refugees in Guinea; we know well that psychosocial care for survivors of torture is a lifeline for healing and hope. As one client in Jordan said, “I came to CVT in million pieces and CVT fixed me to one body . . . you saved my life.”

We also know that U.S. foreign policy “soft power” objectives were well served for all those years as communities were strengthened through healing.

And so on our 40^th anniversary on May 14, the Center for Victims of Torture is much smaller than we were on January 23, but we are actively working to define our future and support survivors of torture around the world.

We have already secured new, non-U.S. government funding for projects in Tigray, Ethiopia, as well as a new program in the Middle East. Our talented staff in these regions have extensive experience serving these populations of survivors of torture and other atrocities, and the need continues to grow. Our centers in the United States are unchanged, and although our international project sites are smaller, we still have a healing presence in Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya and Uganda. In addition, we have a small project in Burma and are looking at new opportunities to bring care to displaced people living on the Mexico side of the U.S. Southern border.

“Presidents come and go, but we will keep doing our work until the last torturer faces justice and the last refugee camp is empty,” said Dr. Simon Adams, CVT president and CEO. “We believe in the power of hope because survivors tell us about its importance in their lives and the lives of their loved ones.”

The Next Stage for CVT

From our humble beginnings in 1985, CVT grew from a single healing center in Minneapolis with a budget of $335,000 up to $36 million before the U.S. government suspended or terminated most foreign aid in January 2025.

For 40 years CVT has accumulated a deep knowledge of specialized healing interventions, critical training needs and effective policy advocacy to advance human rights and the rights of survivors. We are confident that the next chapter in the CVT story will be one where survivors continue to find hope and where human rights activists find new ways to rebuild and thrive.

CVT recently hired an agency to help us chart our new strategic path forward, bringing in outside expertise to assess the landscape of opportunities. The executive team is leading the project, and staff will have opportunities to participate during the process. By the end of June, CVT will have a new roadmap for our future, one that aligns with our mission to heal the wounds of torture and end its use forever.

We will reemerge strong and ready to do everything it takes to make this world a better place for our clients and their communities.”

-Dr. Simon Adams, president & CEO

“CVT has just been through an extremely difficult time, with loss and turmoil on a near-daily basis. We never imagined we would be forced to tell people who’ve survived torture that we would be forced to close the doors of some of our clinics,” Simon said. “But we are the Center for Victims of Torture. We have worked for 40 years every day with people who know the true meaning of loss, pain and resilience. We will reemerge strong and ready to do everything it takes to make this world a better place for our clients and their communities.”