JOIN THE FIGHT AGAINST TORTURE

We thank everyone who is working to help torture victims – particularly children – recover & reclaim their lives and rights. We are humbled by the selfless heroism of this life-changing work. The torture of children is an unbearable reality, particularly in countries in conflicts such as Syria, where the Commission of Inquiry has repeatedly excoriated the torture of children. Even very young children are spared no suffering – including the use of specific machinery to inflict pain; mock executions; the obligation to witness pain being inflicted on other children or family members; and sexual mutilation and

Author: UN Human Rights

Tekst: www.un.org

We thank everyone who is working to help torture victims – particularly children – recover & reclaim their lives and rights. We are humbled by the selfless heroism of this life-changing work. The torture of children is an unbearable reality, particularly in countries in conflicts such as Syria, where the Commission of Inquiry has repeatedly excoriated the torture of children. Even very young children are spared no suffering – including the use of specific machinery to inflict pain; mock executions; the obligation to witness pain being inflicted on other children or family members; and sexual mutilation and assault. Indeed, children are often targeted because they are children, as a way of intimidating entire communities, or to leverage additional pain onto their parents.

If the thought of this is unbearable, how much more unbearable must it be to work, daily, with the children who have been treated thus. But it is vital to assist them to recover, as best we can. Networks of physicians, psychologists, social workers and lawyers assist child survivors of torture to deal with the trauma they have suffered. Much of their work is supported by our UN Torture Fund, which provides direct assistance to around 50,000 victims of torture and their family members every year. If you know any professionals working on this issue, please share this link with them about our Fund: http://ow.ly/10r7u6

You will be moved by powerful testimonies from refugee and migrant children in our new booklet here: http://ow.ly/10r70S . The story of Jana, a 10yo Syrian girl, is especially haunting: http://ow.ly/10r7em . Many of them have endured severe trauma and ill-treatment before leaving their homes – in some case, already amounting to torture. In addition, children caught up in large-scale migration movements are also at high risk of violence during their journeys, including sexual violence at the hands of traffickers and criminal gangs. A shockingly high number of child migrants suffer detention at borders, and may suffer very harsh physical abuse in detention by agents of the State. It is absolutely vital that States attentively protect the rights of all migrants, and most especially all child migrants.

These children must know that they are uniquely precious in the eyes of the world; that they have rights; and that what has been done to them is illegal and wrong. We must demonstrate that we are committed to tracking down the perpetrators and holding them to account. And we must do what we can to help them develop the resilience and wisdom to free themselves from the physical and emotional pain they have endured.