A BRIEF REPORT
Human Rights Alert (HRA) and the Department of Clinical Psychology and the Psychiatry, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) observed the UN International Day in on 26 June 2009 at the Jubilee Hall. The observance commenced with a 5 day long workshop entitled Towards Restoring Lives: Practical Assessment of Torture Victims’ Profile and Intervention from 22 – 26 June 2009 where 12 torture victims, their care givers and resident psychologist and doctors participated in the workshop.
During the workshop, the resident’s psychologist and medical professionals used various assessment tools such as Presumptive Stressful Life Event Scale, Mental Health Inventory, STAI, Coping Chick List, Becks Depression Inventory, Acute Stress Disorder and Cognitive Retraining: Colour Cancellation or Digit Cancellation and Temporal Encoding. Each day of the workshop ended with a group interaction between the victims and the doctors. During the interaction, the victims shared their views about the workshop and the progress they experienced. Some victims wanted to continue the service provided by the psychologist even after the workshop ended.
The workshop formally concluded with the observation of the UN International Day in on 26 June 2009 with Dr N. Bijoy, Hon’ble MLA (also former vice chancellor of Manipur University), Dr. Th. Bhubon Singh, Additional Director, Public Health Directorate and Dr. L. Fimate, Director, RIMS as chief guest, guest of honour and president respectively. Around 300 invitees including 30 torture victims attended the observation.
During the welcome and keynote address Prof. Akshayakumar, Head of Department of Clinical Psychology shared the detailed findings of the workshop. He reported that five torture victims have been suffering from depression, 2 from anxiety, 1 psychological stress, 2 from psychological anxiety disorder and another 2 from acute stress disorder. Psychological interventions in the form of Jacobson Progressive Deep Muscular Relaxation Training, Electro Sleeper, Cerebral Stimulator, Cognitive Therapy, Coping Skill Training, Self-Help Group (Mutual Support) dedication and Cognitive Retraining were provided to the victims. He also reported that at the end of the workshop the victims experience improvement in sleep, elevate depressing mode and hope that they will be able to overcome the fear. He however felt that the intervention need to continue until the victims receive satisfactory results.
The chief guest released a sticker entitled ‘Fight against Torture’ jointly brought out by Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong and Human Rights Alert, Manipur.
Mr. Babloo Loitongbam, Executive Director, Human Rights Alert gave a power point presentation on Monitoring Torture in Manipur. He elaborated upon the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT) and present a vivid picture the phenomena of torture in Manipur and bemoaned the institutionalised insensitivity toward the victim of torture by the security forces, police, medical profession and judiciary in Manipur.
Torture victims Ms. Akoijam Chandrakala, who participated in the workshop, shared her painful experience of how her son was shot dead by security forces in an alleged encounter. She was grateful to the organizers for providing a platform to share and lighten her pain. Ms. Longjam (Ongbi) Meena Devi also shared her painful experience of being the witness of her son’s murder by the police in her own courtyard and the futile struggle for justice that she has been fighting for more than a year without any tangible result. She fervently urged the people to work together to stop such brutal killing.
Dr. Th. Bhubon Singh, the guest of honour of the function recalled the provisions of the CAT and Hippocratic Oath emphasized the role of medical profession in combating Torture. Dr. N. Bijoy, the chief guest of the function, taking stock of the gravity of the issue in our society, promised to push in the upcoming assembly session to ensure the availability of financial resources for the rehabilitation of the torture victims. In the presidential address, Dr. L. Fimate highlighted Tokyo Declaration of 1975 and cautioned the medical profession not to take part directly or indirectly in the practice of Torture.
The observation concluded with an inclusive vote of thanks by Miss. W. Rebecca, Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology.
Basantakumar Wareppa
Program Executive
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