[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 135 (Thursday, September 26, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1708-E1709]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HEALING VICTIMS OF TORTURE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN EDWARD PORTER

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 25, 1996

  Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, the brutal and violent practice of torture 
is a critical issue; yet, there is little information on the subject 
and even less action in the fight against it. For some governments, 
torture is used as a matter of policy where low-level functionaries 
carry out high-level orders of state violence. During the mid-1970's, 
core-Communist countries such as China, Cuba, the Soviet Union and 
Vietnam relied on torture as a most effective tool against democracy. 
As recently as 1995, there were 72 governments who systematically 
implemented the practice of torture.
  For victims of torture, however, there is hope. Dr. Inge Genefke is a 
Danish doctor who has devoted her career to the treatment and 
rehabilitation of victims of torture. She began her career in this 
field in 1973 after Amnesty International issued a plea to physicians 
throughout the world to assist those who had been tortured. As director 
of both the Rehabilitation and Research Center for Torture Victims and 
the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims in 
Copenhagen, Dr. Genefke keeps an impressive schedule speaking in 
countries where victims of torture are receiving medical attention.
  Earlier this year, Dr. Genefke testified before the House 
International Relations subcommittee on international operations and 
human rights. Her testimony included basic information on the issue and 
stressed the need for increased American awareness of torture victims 
and their struggles. Dr. Genefke believes that through greater 
understanding and awareness, we can make gains in the fight against 
torture.
  I commend to Member's attention the following column on this 
remarkable woman by the respected Colman McCarthy which appeared in the 
Washington Post on September 3, 1996.

               [From the Washington Post, Sept. 3, 1996]

                     Fighting Torture With Medicine

                          (By Colman McCarthy)

       As a young physician earning her medical degree from the 
     University of Copenhagen in

[[Page E1709]]

     1965, Inge Genefke looked ahead to a conventional practice in 
     her home country, Denmark. She settled on neurology as her 
     specialty at the University Hospital in Copenhagen. Her 
     career path appeared to be set.
       In 1973 it veered sharply, in a direction that took Genefke 
     into what was then, and largely remains, one of the least 
     known branches of medicine: the examination and treatment of 
     torture victims.
       Earlier this year, Genefke, who is the medical director of 
     both the Rehabilitation and Research Center for Torture 
     Victims and the International Rehabilitation Council for 
     Torture Victims in Copenhagen, testified here before the 
     House International Relations subcommittee on international 
     operations and human rights. It was one of many stops this 
     past year, an itinerary that has taken this physician of 
     uncommon conscience to South Africa, Romania, Nepal, 
     Palestine, Sri Lanka, Croatia and other areas of the world 
     where survivors of torture are receiving medical care.
       Genefke's work began in 1973 when Amnesty International 
     issued a plea to the world's physicians for help in treating 
     people who were tortured. The first response, and one that 
     has proven to be deep and lasting, came from a group of 
     Danish doctors. They faced an epidemic. Governments--and not 
     only dictatorships--were using torture as a matter of policy. 
     Police forces, armies and death squads were the low-level 
     functionaries of dungeon brutality carrying out high-level 
     orders of state violence.
       The mid-1970s were years when China, Cuba, the Soviet Union 
     and Vietnam were the core communist nations relying on 
     torture. These were also years when such U.S.-backed military 
     juntas as Greece, Chile and Argentina were at work.
       Among the imprisoned was Maria Piniou-Kalli, a Greek 
     physician who joined Genefke's mission in 1989 by forming the 
     Medical Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims in Athens. 
     She wrote recently of the years following the military coup 
     in 1967: ``Though this might appear far in the distant past, 
     I dare say that the aftermaths of such a violent abolition of 
     democracy are still painfully felt even today. Twenty-two 
     methods of torture were employed as a means to repress every 
     opposition. Among them were rape, electric shocks, 
     psychological abuse and phalanga (beating soles of the feet), 
     which can be describe as our national way of torture.''
       Greeks, along with Chileans, were among the first victims 
     coming to Copenhagen for help. Other nationalities followed, 
     and inpouring so large that Genefke began traveling the world 
     to rally other doctors. She became known as the ``Florence 
     Nightingale'' of torture treatment. Today her own centers, 
     which have grown to a staff of 80, are linked with 60 similar 
     operations in 45 countries, including one in Minneapolis that 
     has treated more than 800 people since 1988.
       When I visited the Minneapolis center four years ago, 
     several staff members repeatedly mentioned Genefke and her 
     singular work. It was not a large leap to place the Danish 
     doctor in the company of other 20th century women--Jane 
     Addams, Maria Montessori, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Teresa--
     who not only had a vision but also the drive to organize it 
     into reality.
       At the House hearings, Genefke supplied the basic 
     information about her work in Copenhagen and the affiliated 
     centers around the world. Services range from psychological 
     supportive therapy to medical help to restore injured muscles 
     and limbs.
       Of the 72 governments that systematically used torture in 
     1995, Genefke told Congress: ``One of the most horrible 
     things when you hear about torture is . . . to realize that 
     so many governments use it with the purpose of staying in 
     power. Torture victims always tell us that we, who have not 
     been tortured, can never understand what happened to them. . 
     . . I do not think we should try to understand what happens--
     but we should know why it happens, the motive behind torture, 
     and then fight against it with all our strength.''
       Some of that strength is money. Here, too, Denmark leads 
     the way. Its government provides more than $5 million a year 
     to the Copenhagen centers, about $1 per Dane. The United 
     States contribution to the U.N. Voluntary Fund for Victims of 
     Torture is $1.5 million, about a half-cent per person a year.
       Genefke believes that few Americans are aware of that 
     paltriness, or who is being tortured or where. She plans to 
     return to tell us again. Information is the medicine for 
     indifference.

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