Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Giving Voice
“Using Testimony as a Brief Therapy: Intervention in
Psychosocial Community Work for Survivors of
Torture and Organised Violence”
Testimony Workshops
Three two-week training-of-trainers
workshops conducted:
1. May 2008: 12 human rights defenders from PVCHR
2. January 2009: 14 Human rights defenders from four states:
Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
3. February-March 2009: 14 Human rights defenders from
three states: Jharkhand, Manipur and Chattisgarh
Schedule of Workshops
Two parts:
1. First week:
Theory and exercises (through role plays)
2. Second week:
Practice: Participants take testimonies with
survivors under supervision
Testimonies collected
Period of data collection:12 months (May
2008 to April 2009)
On average the interview is held 1 year and
5 month after the date of the most stressful
event
Background of survivors
A total of 85 primary and secondary victims of
which:
Male: 65 (76 %)
Female: 20 (24 %)
Secondary Victim: 24
christian (7 %, n=6).
Background of survivors
Caste
Upper Caste: 9 % (n = 8)
OBC: 46 % (n = 39)
SC: 21 % (n = 18)
ST: 24 % (n = 20)
Background of survivors
Education
No education: 28 % (n= 24)
BA: 11 % (n=9)
Other 24 % (n =20)
Business: 6 % (n =5)
Household: 6 % (n =5)
Other 40 % (n = 34),
Activities:
Humanitarian/ Solidarity: 29 % (n =25)
Political: 6 % (n=5)
Religious: 6 % (n=5)
Trade Union: 2 % (n=2)
Press: 1 % (n=1)
No activities: 49 % (n=42)
Type of Violations
back 24 % (n =20)
face 13 % (n =11)
head 9 % (n =8)
chest/breast 8 % (n =7)
Survivor wants:
Legal:
Meta Legal: (Cases in Human Rights institutions, allied
system, police departments, policy makers and UN)
Legal: (which are in the court)
Aims of this Consultation
To increase the awareness of how torture engenders psychological symptoms
in survivors and how it affects their daily life. To discuss the experiences
gained after taking testimonies of 80 survivors of TOV.
To integrate testimony into political campaigns, contributing to the national
campaign for the ratification of CAT and the national domestic law against
torture.
To explore the possibility of creating alliances with different political
organizations and stake holders in India concerning the fight against TOV.
To promote the psycho-social well-being of the survivor of TOV.