“Restart centre”, for rehabilitation of victims of torture

With the support of the EU, Restart centre is providing rehabilitation services for 250 victims of torture and violence in Lebanon, taking into account victims’ individual needs as well as the cultural, social and political environment.

Bissan El Cheikh, Beirut - Al-Hayat

Contrarily to countries that, after civil wars, strive for building pathways for reconciliation and national forgiveness, both Lebanese governors and citizens have been dealing with Lebanon’s multiple conflicts and sociopolitical struggles as dark episodes to be forgotten, along with every political decision that prioritizes reconciliation. Hence, instead of building reconciliation from the base of the pyramid, Lebanese people always privileged the opposite path, which often take them back to the point of departure. Our objective is not to judge the Lebanese experience in war and peace, but rather to give particular attention to silent and all-forgotten victims of war and torture, apart from some initiatives carried out by civil society in order to build reconciliation between the Lebanese society and its past. In fact, torture is not limited to the imprisonment or the arrest period. To victims of torture, suffering continues after being liberated, due to social and official discrimination from their families and governmental institutions. Hence, resuming as full life as possible appears to be quite impossible.

Children whose parents have been incarcerated face unique difficulties. School age children exhibit school dropout and problems with peer relationships. On the other hand, many experience the trauma of sudden separation from their sole caregiver, and most are vulnerable to feelings of guilt, depression, sadness, anxiety and fear. They may be moved from caretaker to caregiver. Within this context, a family dysfunction occurs; the child takes over the parent role at a very young age, becoming very responsible and even decision maker. After the release of the parent, the latter tries to regain his role in the family, which leads to sever family and social problems.

It is to be noted that Lebanese society makes a great difference between one victim of torture and another, depending on which party made the arrest as well as conditions and history of detention.

Heroes or victims?
Liberated prisoners from Israeli jails are considered “heroes” and not “victims”. Consequently, it seems unacceptable for the society to treat them like persons who need rehabilitation. On another hand, prisoners in Syrian jails have a different status, as their imprisonment intervened in specific historical period during which their arrest was considered legitimate and necessary to control those who were opposed to a political regime, giving cause for concerns and disorder.

For its part, the state was constantly making discrimination against its citizens; while Israeli ex-prisoners benefited from salaries and indemnifications, other ex prisoners were exempted rights and compensations. On the other hand, it is abnormal to consider that victims of torture are only prisoners of war. Torture concerns also arrested refugees, prisoners in national jails and every person subjected to ill-treatment, especially in interrogation centers.

The situation seems to be completely gloomy, apart from actions undertaken by civil society actors to give a glimpse of hope by encouraging NGOs to defend the human rights of victims of torture regardless of their religion, nationality and color. From social awareness to pressure on decision makers, as well as providing medical attention and psychotherapeutic treatment to victims of torture: civil society actors endeavored to take in charge victims of torture.

A nationwide initiative
“Restart” is a centre that offers psychosocial, physical, medical and legal services for victims of torture, with lots of enthusiasm and determination. Established in 1996, the centre’s work was limited to the North of Lebanon, particularly the city of Tripoli. But in the course of time, he gained international recognition, increasing amounts of funding and extending its activities to Beirut and South of Lebanon, as well as expanding the number of its employees. In 2007, the European Union contributed to the funding of the “rehabilitation program for torture survivors”, implemented by Restart centre, with 348,600 Euros, which is 75% of the whole program budget. Thanks to other institutions’ help, such as UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, Oak Foundation Denmark, Oxfam and several embassies, the centre succeeded in ensuring the remaining 25% of the program budget.

The second EU-funded project launched beginning 2007 is the “Psychosocial intervention for prisoners and family members” project under “AFKAR II” program, with a budget amounting to 138,339 Euros over a period of two years.

The manager of Restart, Suzanne Jabbour, says that EU funding helped the centre develop its human and administrative resources and improve the quality of its services. Consequently, the number of beneficiaries increased, reaching 450 persons. A major step was also made on the administrative level: today, the centre possesses a personalized filing system for all the victims who received treatment. Jabbour adds that, thanks to this program, it is today possible to obtain detailed information about each of Restart beneficiaries, such as his name, the length of treatment and types of medicine given and the number of physical therapy treatment sessions. The manager of Restart points out that the centre is regularly evaluated by the European Commission in Brussels. It receives as well services from its partners, which are also listed in the filing and accounting systems.

Restart Center adopts a multidisciplinary approach engaging a professional multidisciplinary team, composed of 22 specialists (psychotherapist, physiotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, neurologist, orthopedist, psychomotor therapist, special educator, social worker, speech therapist, child psychiatrist). As for the challenges that the center encounters; Jabbour explains that difficulties occur with the identification of the victim of torture and the need for rehabilitation. According to Jabbour, it is commonly thought that some persons do not need rehabilitation services: they’re perceived as “heroes” who decided to get involve in military operations with complete consciousness about the risks of death or imprisonment.” Consequently, ex-prisoners receive hearty welcome; people around them refuse to see them as “victims of torture”. “And that’s what happened in the South of Lebanon. Unfortunately, it is fully damageable and can affect their treatment and their whole life. Even the joy of victory is limited to a short period. During one month or two, people visit regularly the ex-prisoner, expressing their happiness and celebrating his liberation, but then everyone goes back home and the ex-prisoner finds himself alone to deal with his fears, pains and bad memories.”

On another hand, prisoners deriving from the North of Lebanon “were not fighters defending their country, neither arrested during military operations, but they were kidnapped and separated from their family”, according to Jabbour.

Hence, the treatment involves both individual and family levels. Restart counselors chose not to separate the victim from his family, but to involve its direct environment in the rehabilitation process. Restart centre philosophy is to work with the victim of torture, within his environment and family context. In case the victim is married, both his partner and his children receive treatment. If the victim is single, then parents, brothers and sisters are involved to ensure a comprehensive and supportive environment.

Finding victims of torture and setting up priorities is another challenge facing Restart team. The first victim to call for Restart’s help was an Iraki refugee who fled his country in 1997 after being persecuted. Within this context, a Center in Badaro was established, in September 2007, under the “psychosocial and physical rehabilitation of refugees” program; funded by the UNHCR and targeted 800 refugees during the past three years. According to Jabbour, “the centre managed to establish a wide network of relations between former victims and associations of families of victims. Today the centre has a long waiting list.” Jabbour also points out that some victims need treatment throughout the whole life, depending on the torture they were subjected to, while others get over it rapidly and don’t feel the need of a long-term treatment.

Besides, Restart Center avoids discrimination among beneficiaries. The program sets a number of patients to be enrolled during a certain period (450 persons within the EU program). The team of counselors begins by ensuring that the person fits in the category of “victim of torture” (please see the box). Jabbour says that after evaluating the person’s situation, “Restart team works on verifying information. The team could find itself wasting money and time, when it appears that the person is not a victim of torture, but arrested then released after a short period. After ensuring that the concerned person is a victim of torture, the latter is transferred to the treatment section, without any discrimination in nationality, race and religion.”

Restart Center makes sure to mainly benefit victims of torture, traumatized people as well as people affected by armed conflicts, who are still in need for treatment and follow-up.

Official torture
“Afkar 2” program, carried out by Restart centre, allowed accessing national Lebanese prisons such as the prison of Kobbeh in Tripoli. This paved the way for carrying out training sessions to the benefit of security forces members about basic principles for human treatment of prisoners. Jabbour says that “at the policy level, officials showed a significant willingness to collaborate with Restart team; however, when it comes to practice, the fact is different. Restart team encountered many hindrances during the implementation of the projects inside the prison of Tripoli”.

Human rights violations are frequent but there are no national regulations that criminalize torture acts and the monitoring systems in the directorate of Internal Security Forces lack accountability.

According to Jabbour, this should be done on a long term basis in order to give time for the culture of human rights to take roots in prisons.

Within the framework of the “Psychosocial intervention for prisoners and family members” project, implemented under AFKAR II program, and based on the data collected from the project activities, Restart conducted a study about the situation and conditions of prisoners in Tripoli prison. The latter pinpoints the prevailing needs of prisoners as well as the violations and challenges they are facing as said by the prisoners themselves. Thus, in order to protect the beneficiaries, ensure the sustainability of the services, and respect the professional ethics for social work; the study was not published to the mass. Yet, it will be shared and discussed with concerned decision makers for concrete improvements. In case of absence of concrete results, the center will adopt other measures within this context.