With the campaign TOGETHER AGAINST TORTURE International Aid Network - IAN commemorated this year the 26th of June the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture . The campaign included a series of interesting events.

On Thursday, June 25th, an open debate was organised in the Cultural centre Rex entitled Treatment of persons in closed institutions - therapy or (and) torture.

• Vladimir Jovic , psychiatrist, IAN Executive director
• Milos Jankovic , Deputy Ombudsman for persons deprived of their liberty
• Aleksandar Dimitrijevic, psychologist, Department for psychology at the Faculty of Philosophy, Belgrade University
• Damir Joka, Head of the Department for treatment and alternative sanctions in Prison Administration within the Ministry of Justice
• Zikica Simic , psychologist, Deputy Head of the Special Prison Hospital
• Jovanka Petrovic, Director of the Special Hospital in Novi Knezevac
• Milena Jerotijevic, psychologist

On Friday, June 26 the a press conference was held where the speakers talked about the presence of torture in Serbia and in the world in general, physical and mental consequences of torture and the comprehensive IAN programs for supporting rehabilitation of victims. The speakers were:

• Jelena Bakalic , Director of IAN Centre for Rehabilitation of Torture Victims
• Pierre Dybman , Head of Operations I in the Delegation of the European Commission to Serbia
• Milos Jankovic , Deputy Ombudsman for persons deprived of their liberty

Press conference, Media Centre, June 26th, 2009

On the same day in the evening a concert was held in the Cultural centre The City under the slogan Together Against Torture with the excellent British band The Singing Loins, and the local bands Rough Blue, Ragman, Smajser, Corrosion and Popecitelji .

Concert TOGETHER AGAINST TORTURE, The City, June 26, 2009

The campaign is a part of the new IAN project Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program for Torture Victims in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina financed by the European Commission and co-financed by the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture (UNVFVT).

  IAN WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE CAMPAIGN AND THUS CONTRIBUTED TO THE JOINT FIGHT AGAINST TORTURE.