Assisting survivors with obtaining compensation

The right to reparation is an important part of the healing process for torture survivors. By pursuing action against the perpetrators of torture, survivors are able to transform feelings of pain, isolation or stigmatisation through a public process that may result in a public acknowledgement that a wrong was committed and that those responsible will be punished. 

One result of this process may be the award of compensation to those affected by torture. In Paraguay, many persons were tortured during more than three decades of dictatorship under Alfredo Stroessner. As part of a truth and justice process, the Paraguayan authorities passed legislation first to compensate primary victims of the dictatorship and – in September 2008 – to compensate their relatives. The law required, however, adequate medical and psychological documentation of torture as a prerequisite for receiving compensation.

ATYHA Mental Health and Human Rights, an IRCT member centre, is the leading organisation in Paraguay trained to handle documentation of torture. Following the announcement of the new decree, ATYHA staff were overwhelmed with requests from persons seeking medical and psychological certificates to pursue their right to reparation.

Physicians and psychologists at the centre translated and adapted the Medical Screening Format – an auxiliary instrument to the Istanbul Protocol that assists with the documentation of torture sequelae. Thanks in part to resources provided by the IRCT, the ATYHA team screened more than 1,500 secondary torture survivors.

Now in possession of the required documentation, many of these persons will benefit from compensation for their ordeal. While financial reparations cannot erase the scars of torture from bodies and minds, by acknowledging the pain and suffering of families they can bring Paraguayans one step closer to making torture a thing of the past.