Projects Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program for Torture Victims in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina Posted on 31. December 2008. 3 min read 0 0 122 Project is based on the yearlong work of IAN and the identified needs of people who have been using the services of IAN centre for rehabilitation of Torture Victims (CRTV) since 2001. The CRTV provides free psychological, psychiatric, medical and legal assistance as well as the education to all victims of torture, among whom the most numerous are victims of war torture. This three-year project that was officially launched on the 1st of December 2008 was focused on provision of comprehensive psychotherapeutic, medical, psychosocial and legal assistance to torture victims and members of their families. The services were provided within IAN Centre for Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (CRTV) in Belgrade as well as in two specialised centres that were established through the project in two partner organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina – Health Centre “Sveti Nikola” Milici and General Hospital Trebinje. Those two new Centres for Rehabilitation of Torture Victims in BIH were equipped with adequate technical devices, while the professionals working with torture victims attended a specialised professional training related to psychiatric, medical and legal assistance to the victims of war or police torture. The Centres in BiH started providing assistance to clients in December 2009, and in the meantime IAN mobile team organized regular field visits and provision of services in BiH in Trebinje and Birac region. Thanks to the project, more than 1000 persons, mostly ex detainees – torture survivors from the wars in former Yugoslavia during the nineties and their family members, and current victims of police torture and ill treatment in Serbia and BiH received necessary services and assistance in order to overcome the devastating impact that the torture causes to physical and mental health. Besides this, numerous project activities were focused on raising awareness among general public and decision makers in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina on issues related to torture. Within this goal around 120 general practitioners in BiH were educated on how to recognise consequences that torture inflicts to physical and mental health, to apply adequate treatment and refer clients to appropriate experts for further treatment. Donor: European Commission Project duration: December 2008 – November 2011 Contact person: Jelena Lončarević jbakalic@ian.org.rs
