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Online Resources for Working with Refugees, Victims of Torture, Detainees, & Asylum-Seekers
Ken Pope, Ph.D., ABPP
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In helping torture survivors and those who who have been officially detained, seek asylum, or find refuge in new countries, a major problem is quickly locating resources that fit the situation and the individual.
To help in this search, I've gathered over 130 links to resources such as:
- major centers (e.g., Program for Torture Victims, Los Angeles; Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture; Berlin Center for Treatment of Torture Victims; Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture),
- online courses (e.g., "Caring for Torture Survivors: A Free Online Course"),
- legal services (e.g., Lawyers Without Borders; Human Rights First),
- information about asylum and refuge (e.g., U.S. Asylum Network; Asylum Law Resources; Immigration Resource Directory; Scholars At Risk Network; Online Know Your Rights Manual for Detained LGBT Asylum Seekers),
- networks of torture survivors (e.g., Survivors of Torture International; Torture Survivors Network),
- human rights organizations providing information and services (e.g., Amnesty International; RefugeeNet; Women's Refugee Commission),
- guides to assessment (e.g., Health Professional's Guide to Medical and Psychological Evaluations of Torture; Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture), and
- other diverse resources.
Please follow these links to other pages on this web site presenting 4 articles:
1) "The Code Not Taken: The Path From Guild Ethics to Torture and Our Continuing Choices -- Canadian Psychological Association Member of the Year Award Address" published in Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne
2) "Psychological Assessment of Torture Survivors: Essential Steps, Avoidable Errors, and Helpful Resources" published in International Journal of Law & Psychiatry
3) "Are the American Psychological Association’s Detainee Interrogation Policies Ethical and Effective? Key Claims, Documents, and Results" published in Zeitschrift für Psychologie / Journal of Psychology.
4) "3 Cognitive Strategies That Deny, Discount, & Dismiss Torture: How Individuals, Groups, Governments, & Cultures Enable Torturers" published by Academic Press
Links to Online Resources for Torture Survivors, Asylum-Seekers, & Refugees:
- AMCHA Israeli Center for Holocaust Survivors
- American Association for the Advancement of Science Human Rights Program
- Americans for Immigrant Justice
- Amnesty for Women
- Amnesty International Australia
- Amnesty International Canada
- Amnesty International Online
- Amnesty International UK
- Amnesty International USA
- Assistance for Asylum Seekers in Australia (Fact Sheet)
- Association for Prevention of Torture
- Association for Services to Torture and Trauma Survivors
- Asylum Network
- Asylum Seekers Resource Centre for Australia
- Asylum Support
- Australian Government: School's In for Refugees: A Whole School Guide to Refugee Readiness
- Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture
- Berlin Center for Treatment of Torture Victims
- Boston Center for Refugee Health & Human Rights
- Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture
- Canadian Council for Refugees
- Caring for Torture Survivors: A Free Online Course
- Catholic Legal Immigration Network
- Center for International Human Rights, Northwestern Law School
- Center for Justice and Accountability
- Center for Survivors of Torture, Dallas
- Center for Victims of Torture, Minneapolis
- Center for Victims of Torture, Nepal
- Citizenship & Immigration Canada
- Combating Torture: A Manual for Judges and Prosecutors
- Community Legal Services & Counseling Center: Asylum, VAWA, U-Visa, T-Visa; Cambridge, MA
- Derechos Human Rights
- Detained Torture Survivor Legal Support Network
- Detention Watch Network
- Doctors Who Torture Accountability Project
- East Bay Sanctuary Covenant: A Board of Immigration Appeals Recognized Non-Profit Organization in Berkeley, CA
- Electronic Immigration Network, U.K.
- Episcopal Migration Ministry Serving Refugees & Immigrants
- European Committee for the Prevention of Torture
- European Council on Refugees in Exile
- Examining Asylum Seekers: A Health Professional's Guide to Medical & Psychological Evaluations of Torture
- Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project
- Florida Center for Survivors of Torture
- Foundation House: Victorian Foundation for the Survivors of Torture
- Freedom From Torture: Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture
- Geneva Conventions
- Global Lawyers and Physicians for Human Rights
- Guide to International Refugee Law Resources on the Web
- Guidelines for Detention Center Personnel Working with Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Minors--National Latina/o Psychological Association (NLPA)
- Guidelines for Mental Health Professionals Working with Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Minors--National Latina/o Psychological Association (NLPA)
- Heal Torture: Helping Torture Survivors Heal
- Heartland Alliance Marjorie Kovler Center
- Heartland Alliance National Immigrant Justice Center
- Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
- Human Rights First
- Human Rights Internet
- Human Rights Watch
- Huridocs Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems, International
- Immigration Legal Defense Services
- International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (Interights) International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (Interights)
- International Committee of the Red Cross
- International Detention Coalition
- International Federation of Action by Christians Against Torture (FIACAT)
- International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
- International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
- International Refugee Rights Initiative
- International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims
- International Rescue Committee
- International Service for Human Rights
- Irish Refugee Council
- Istanbul Protocol: Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
- Know Your Rights Manual for Detained LGBT Asylum Seekers
- Kwazulu-Natal Programme for Survivors of Violence
- Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
- Lawyers Without Borders
- LGBT Immigrant Rights Initiative Asylum Documentation Project
- LGBTQ Immigrant Rights Initiative
- Los Angeles Program for Torture Victims
- Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service
- Medact Refugee & Asylum Health
- Medical Evaluations of Asylum Seekers
- Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture
- Medical Justice: Seeking Basic Rights for Detainees
- National Center for PTSD
- National Consortium of Torture Treatment Programs
- National Immigant Justice Project
- National Immigration Law Center
- National Immigration Legal Services Directory
- National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
- North Virginia Family Services: Program for Survivors of severe Torture & Trauma
- North Virginia Family Services: Program for Survivors of Torture & Trauma (PSTT)
- Norwegian Refugee Council
- Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
- Organization for Aid to Refugees, Prague, Czech Republic
- Organization for Defending Victims of Violence
- Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center
- Physicians for Human Rights
- PILOTS: Searchable database of published literature on PTSD
- Preventing Torture Through Investigation & Documentation
- "Psychological Assessment of Torture Survivors: Essential Steps, Avoidable Errors, and Helpful Resources" (Pope, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry)
- Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI)
- Queensland Program of Assistance to Survivors of Torture and Trauma
- Redress
- Refugee Council, U.K.
- Refugee Immigration Ministry
- Refugees International
- Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims
- Responding to Victims of Torture: Clinical Issues, Professional Responsibilities, & Useful Resources
- Rights of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons
- Scholars at Risk Network
- Service Dogs For Victims of Assault (Note: Only survivors of specific types of torture will qualify)
- Shedding light on a dark practice Using the Istanbul Protocol to document torture (International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims)
- Sprog Center Denmark (language courses for traumatized refugees or survivors of torture)
- Survivors International: University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical School Trauma Recovery Center
- Survivors of Torture International
- Torture (chapter published by Academic Press)
- Tortura Nunca Mais
- Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition
- Torture & Its Neurological Sequelae
- Torture Reporting Handbook: How to document and respond to allegations of torture within the international system for the protection of human rights
- "Torture and War Trauma Survivors in Primary Care Practice" (article)
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
- U.S. Committee for Refugees & Immigrants
- U.S. Conclusions and Recommendations of the Committee against Torture
- U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
- U.S. Human Rights Network
- U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)
- U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
- U.N. Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights
- U.N. Human Rights: Office of the High Commissioner
- U.N. Principles of Medical Ethics relevant to the Role of Health Personnel, particularly Physicians, in the Protection of Prisoners and Detainees against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
- U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Unrepresented Nations & Peoples Organization
- Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture (VAST)
- Victoria Coalition for Survivors of Torture (VCST)
- Victorian Foundation for the Survivors of Torture
- Women's Refugee Commission
- World Legal Information Institute
- World Organization Against Torture
