Part II of our conversation with Steve Miles and Rosa Garcia-Peltoniemi about health care professionals’ involvement in torture, including a conversation about how terrorism is used to create fear and to rationalize torture. Read Part I here and 

One of the more shocking revelations after the United States government authorized torture post-September 11, 2001 was the involvement of health professionals. Doctors, nurses and medics were silent when prisoners were abused, physicians and psychologists helped design abusive interrogations, and interrogations were monitored by health professionals.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations will hold a hearing today on "Syria After Geneva: Next Steps for U.S. Policy." CVT submitted written testimony to the committee with recommendations for Congress to pass the Syrian humanitarian resolution of 2014, to increase U.S. contributions to the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, and to provide funding for mental health and psychosocial support through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department.

With the Syrian refugee crisis expected to reach 4 million by the end of this year, the Center for Victims of Torture joined other groups urging the Senate to pass a resolution to increase support, including mental health counseling, to Syrian civilians and victims of the conflict, particularly children.

Last November, the United Nations refugee agency and the governments of Somalia and Kenya signed an agreement to support the voluntary return of Somali refugees. According to the UN, Kenya hosts 470,000 Somali refugees, the majority of whom live in the Dadaab refugee complex.

Today, we are very excited to announce the launch of our new blog, Healing & Human Rights.