Delegation from International Council for rehabilitation of torture victims in Morocco
Morocco, Culture, 6/27/2002

A delegation from the International Rehabilitation Council for torture victims (IRCT) is currently visiting Morocco for talks with Moroccan officials and civil society activists on ways of extending assistance to torture victims.

The delegation, led by honorary secretary general and founder member of the IRCT and of the Rehabilitation and Research Center for Torture Victims (RCT), Ms Inge Genefke, conferred with minister of human rights, Mohamed Aujjar, and with health minister, Thami El Khyari.

The delegation was briefed on the progress made by Morocco to consecrate the rule of the law and on efforts in legislative matters, through the reform of the penal code, and in the promotion of human rights in general.

Inge Genefke expressed satisfaction over the progress scored by Morocco in matters of human rights in general and with regard to the rehabilitation of torture victims in particular, through the adoption of legal implements for the struggle against torture. The fact that these implements provide for sanctioning torture is likely to secure fair trials, she said.

She hailed the initiatives made by the human rights department and paid a special tribute to the civil society for its endeavors to assist and rehabilitate torture victims. She equally lauded the spirit of dialogue and cooperation existing between public authorities and civil society organizations in Morocco and stressed the importance of the orientation center for torture victims set up by the IRCT in Casablanca in 1999.

The delegation which is visiting Morocco June 22-28 is also scheduled to meet Moroccan physicians having treated directly torture victims.

The Rehabilitation and Research Center for Torture Victims (RCT) was set up in Copenhagen in 1982 with, as medical director Dr Genefke who had formed the first Amnesty International medical group in Denmark, in the early seventies. The pioneering investigations of Genefke's group on the destructive influence of torture on the victim's physical and psychological health, resulted in the establishment of more medical groups the world over.

In 1986, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) was established by RCT as a private, humanitarian, nonpolitical organization. The most important task of IRCT is to contribute to the establishment and operation of rehabilitation centers worldwide. Several times a year it hosts international training seminars for health professionals, both in Denmark and abroad.

Today, almost 100 centers and programs in 75 countries provide treatment for thousands of torture victims every year.

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