Center For Victims Of Torture

Capacity development:cvt's capacity development (cd) department supports organizations and individuals to strengthen their capacity to engage in torture and trauma prevention and rehabilitation work, including advancing justice and accountability.through training, mentoring, coaching, consulting, and peer exchange, cd initiatives support other organizations to achieve improvements in advocacy, job performance, security, and organizational functioning (including improved service quality for torture survivors). Programs within the cd portfolio of services are diverse. Several projects are highlighted here to underscore the breadth and depth of the cd portfolio. The national capacity building (ncb) project organizes technical assistance for a large u.s.-based network of 43 torture survivor centers and programs in 25 states, along with other refugee and immigrant service organizations, to strengthen the delivery of integrated, sustainable care for survivors across the united states. In 2024 ncb provided training, webinars, meetings and consultations benefitting from 16-131 organizations for each event, representing an average of 21 to 105 attendees per event.the helping survivors heal (hsh) project works with 12 torture rehabilitation organizations outside the u.s. To expand access to appropriate evidence based mental health and psychosocial services to survivors of torture. In 2024, hsh partners provided mhpss services to an estimated 10,016 beneficiaries across 11 countries. Organizations benefiting from working with cvt/hsh range in size, providing mhpss services to anywhere from 130 to 3,549 individuals annually. From the end of 2023 through mid-2024, hsh provided 18 formal trainings to a total of 255 attendees (non-unique). This is in addition to significant ongoing mentorship and support.the new tactics in human rights program promotes enhanced strategic and tactical planning and action among the human rights community around the world and online with thousands of training participants from 89 countries. The idream project supports human rights defenders (hrds) around the world, who have been forced into exile due to their human rights advocacy work, by providing capacity development services in these three areas: mental health resilience, effective advocacy, and integrated security; other projects provide similar support to hrds in their home countries. The adaptive resilience for civil society at risk (arc) project measurably and sustainably fosters the holistic security and resilience of human rights groups, using a strengths-based and adaptive approach in the face of dynamic threat environments and closing civic space. It builds safety, enhances contextualized and accessible resources, and supports peer collaboration.the survivors of torture initiative (soti) supports syrian civil society to advance inclusive justice and heal trauma. With a network of about 100 syrian organizations as well as institutions like the international, impartial and independent mechanism (iiim) and the independent institution on missing persons in the syrian arab republic (iimp), soti provides critical support to groups rebuilding syria. It focuses on detainees, torture survivors and their families, providing resilience and rehabilitation services to victims as well as the human rights defenders who support them. Its therapeutic model for documentation of violations supports advocacy, litigation, and investigation efforts.

U.s. Client services:responding to the lasting physical and psychological damage done by torture, cvt's us client services programs (csp) annually benefit over 1,800 torture survivors and family members. The u.s. Clinical programs offer services in minnesota in st. Paul and st. Cloud, in the greater atlanta, georgia area, and in arizona. As an example of csp services, the two afghan programs in minnesota and georgia, raahat and arman, work in collaboration with afghan community partners. These initiatives served 210 clients in 2024, providing specialized intensive services. Additionally, in arizona, through a project entitled proyecto mariposa, cvt provides destination case management to asylum-seeking families with complex physical and psychological health needs. As a core component of cvt's work on torture prevention and response in the u.s. And beyond, cvt provides direct service programs that include: case management - social work - referrals psychotherapy and counseling services psychoeducational workshops and support groups physical health services legal and documentation support services community engagement programswhile each service program is adapted to meet the needs of the particular community and setting, the core intervention at all domestic sites is psychotherapy and counseling services in addition to case management, social work and referrals to connect survivors with resources available in the community. Physical health services include a range of offerings such as physiotherapy, and in minnesota specialized massage therapy has been added to the care tools that we offer to our clients.

Evaluation and research:building a movement of healing and justice requires a spirit of innovation and proven effectiveness. Measuring outcomes resulting from cvt's direct service and capacity development portfolio is an integral component of the organization's approach to service delivery. Cvt has integrated monitoring, evaluation and applied research into its programming for more than three decades and has continued to incorporate new and innovative approaches as programs have evolved. The global evaluation and research department include staff from diverse backgrounds, education, training and experience, including familiarity with a variety of methodological approaches to monitoring, program evaluation and applied research. Cvt evaluation and research staff have experience adapting measures and data collection approaches to diverse cultural contexts and complex environments.

Public policy :policy advocacy primarily aims to maintain - and where feasible increase - both u.s. And other governments' funding for torture survivor rehabilitation programs in the u.s. And abroad; preserve access to asylum and refugee resettlement for survivors of torture seeking protection in the united states; ensure humane detention, interrogation, and prisoner treatment policies in u.s. Counterterrorism operations; and ensure states' adherence to - and seek to strengthen - the prohibition on torture more broadly.cvt's work on u.s. Appropriations to torture survivor rehabilitation work results in funding of $39 million annually: $19 million for domestic torture survivor programs through the u.s. Office of refugee resettlement; $12 million to programs worldwide through the victims of torture fund at u.s. Agency for international development; and $9 million in funds for torture survivor programs worldwide through a state department contribution to the united nations voluntary fund for victims of torture.