Every survivor of torture in the UK has a different story, which means their needs are different, too. That’s why they tailor the support they offer to suit each person who comes to them.
They provide counselling, group therapy and ongoing support.
They run groups like gardening, music, creative writing and cookery.
They provide expert medical assessments to support survivors’ asylum claims.
And they use their expertise and evidence to protect and promote survivors' rights and hold torturers to account.
Operating at first from a hut in the yard of the Amnesty International office, the six founding members of Freedom from Torture - then the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture – under Helen Bamber’s directorship began documenting evidence of torture through provision of consultation for survivors and campaigning against human rights violations.
The new organisation was granted charitable status on Christmas Eve 1985 and set out to provide survivors with medical treatment, counselling and therapy and to document evidence of torture. Moving to the National Temperance Hospital in late January 1986, it saw 45 clients that year. The organisation grew quickly, treating a peak of 2,000 clients in one year in the early 1990s. Every space available was used to see clients – even the stairs. It then moved on to premises in Grafton Road in Kentish Town, London.
The organisation expanded through the 1980s and 1990s, taking it onwards to fundraise for a place where torture survivors would have a real sense of care and calm. This was 111 Isledon Road, London. It is one of the few purpose-built treatment centres for torture survivors in the world. Following the then Government's dispersal policy implemented in the year 2000, the organisation opened four centres across the UK to offer services to torture survivors living outside of London, and to share its knowledge with practitioners.
What they stand for
Their vision is a world free from torture. While it remains, the human rights of survivors are restored through rehabilitation and protection. States responsible for torture are held to account.
Their charitable purpose (in brief) is to:
AIMS:
Aim One: Rehabilitation
Survivors of torture in the UK realise their right to as full rehabilitation as possible
Aim Two: Protection
Survivors of torture in the UK receive effective protection and are not returned to their countries of origin to face the risk of further torture
Aim Three: Accountability
States responsible for torture are held to account publicly and the human rights of survivors are guaranteed nationally and internationally
These aims are drawn from the legal document that underpins the scope of work which the charity undertakes; namely its Articles of Association, required by law for every UK charity, which are lodged with the Charity Commission (for England and Wales), the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, and Companies House.
