[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 142 (Saturday, October 10, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H10447-H10450]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TORTURE VICTIMS RELIEF ACT OF 1998

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in 
the Senate amendment to the bill, (H.R. 4309) to provide a 
comprehensive program of support for victims of torture.

[[Page H10448]]

  The Clerk read as follows:
       Senate amendment:
       Page 6, strike out all after line 9, down to and including 
     line 21 and insert:
       (b) Funding.--
       (1) Authorization of appropriations.--Of the amounts 
     authorized to be appropriated for the Department of Health 
     and Human Services for fiscal years 1999 and 2000, there are 
     authorized to be appropriated to carry out subsection (a) 
     (relating to assistance for domestic centers and programs for 
     the treatment of victims of torture) $5,000,000 for fiscal 
     year 1999, and $7,500,000 for fiscal year 2000.
       (2) Availability of funds.--Amounts appropriated pursuant 
     to this subsection shall remain available until expended.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Gilman) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Clement) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman).
  (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)


                             General Leave

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
on this measure.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this important measure addresses a critical area of our 
efforts to combat human rights abuses, treatment of those individuals 
who have suffered the effects of torture at the hands of governments as 
a means of destroying dissent and opposition. I commend the gentleman 
from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), our distinguished chairman of the 
Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights, for 
introducing this resolution.
  The resolution rightly recognizes the importance of treating victims 
of torture in order to combat the long-term devastating effects that 
torture has on the physical and psychological well-being of those who 
have undergone this pernicious form of abuse.
  Torture is an extremely effective method to suppress political 
dissidence, and for those governments which lack the legitimacy of 
democratic institutions to justify their power, torture can provide a 
bulwark against popular opposition.
  It has been pointed out that for political leaders of undemocratic 
societies, torture is useful because it aims at destruction of the 
personality, to rob those individuals who would actively involve 
themselves in opposition to oppression of self-confidence and other 
characteristics that produce leadership.
  Fortunately, there are now able treatment regimes for the types of 
disorders that torture may induce. The resolution before the House will 
help ensure that these treatments are more readily available to torture 
victims in this Nation and throughout the world that are in need of 
them.
  Accordingly, I urge all of my colleagues to join in approving this 
legislation, the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CLEMENT. Mr. Speaker, yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4309, the Torture Victims 
Relief Act of 1998. I would also like to commend the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Smith) for his work on the bill, and on behalf of torture 
victims.
  I understand that the Senate has amended the bill to replace the 
original authorization language for the domestic treatment centers. 
This change impacts the jurisdiction of the Committee on Commerce. The 
provisions pertaining to the jurisdiction of the Committee on 
International Relations remain unchanged.
  This is an important bill that deserves our support. U.S. assistance 
for the rehabilitation and treatment of torture victims is an important 
first step in overcoming this terrible abuse of human rights.
  I would also like to commend the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Gilman), my chairman. As a relatively new member of the Committee on 
International Relations, I have watched him and observed him. He has 
always been fair, he is always focused, and he is one of the hardest 
working Members I have ever been around. He represents us well 
nationally and internationally.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. 
Clement) for his kind remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), chairman of our Subcommittee on 
International Operations and Human Rights.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I too want to thank the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) for his work on this important 
legislation and all of these human rights initiatives. He has been 
steadfast and I for one--and I know I speak for many--appreciate it 
deeply. I thank my friend for his kind words, and also thank the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), the principal cosponsor of this 
legislation, along with 30 other bipartisan Members who have 
cosponsored H.R. 4309.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a bipartisan bill. This legislation provides $31 
million over 2 years to help heal and to mitigate at least some of the 
agony and some of the suffering that is truly unfathomable, for those 
who have endured grotesque torture around the world.
  We have heard testimony time and time again that torture persists in 
many, many despotic countries. We have also heard from those who have 
suffered and their advocates on what steps the United States and other 
free countries ought to take to try to lessen some of that suffering.
  Those who suffer cruelty at the hands of these governments usually 
bear the scars, physically, emotionally, and psychologically, for the 
rest of their lives. For most, if not all, the ordeal of torture does 
not end when they are released from a gulag, a laogai or a prison camp.
  These victims, Mr. Speaker--and there are millions of them around the 
world and an estimated 400,000 survivors of torture living in the 
United States--need our help. To date, we have done far too little to 
assist these walking wounded.
  The Torture Victims Relief Act contains a number of important 
provisions designed to assist torture victims. First, Mr. Speaker, it 
authorizes grants for rehabilitation services for victims of torture 
and related purposes in both domestic and foreign treatment centers.
  Specifically, the bill authorizes $12.5 million, $5 million in fiscal 
year 1999, and $7.5 million in fiscal year 2000, from the Department of 
Health and Human Services for contributions to centers of treatment for 
victims of torture in the United States. There are currently 15 of 
those centers.
  I want especially to thank the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman 
Bliley) for working with us on this, because that money comes from a 
different spigot, not a foreign aid spigot, and he came forward and was 
very helpful. Also, I thank Senator Rod Grams on the Senate side for 
helping us get that money from that particular source.
  The legislation also authorizes an additional $5 million in 1999, 
$7.5 million in fiscal year 2000 for international torture victim 
centers. There are currently about 175 of those centers around the 
world.
  All of these centers, Mr. Speaker, both domestic and international, 
are seriously underfunded. As a matter of fact, the Denmark-based 
International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, the IRCT, 
estimates the worldwide need for assisting victims of torture to be 
about $28 million and only a small portion of that has been met.
  H.R. 4309 also authorizes a voluntary contribution from the United 
States to the U.N. Voluntary Fund to the Victims of Torture in the 
amount of $3 million in 1999 and another $3 million in 2000. I am proud 
to say that our bipartisan efforts have already had an effect, because 
we have been pushing this bill for a number of years now. In 1995, the 
U.S. contribution was $1.5 million, when we originally introduced this 
bill in the 104th Congress. The administration had proposed to cut the 
fiscal year 1996 contribution by two-thirds to $500,000. Eventually, in 
response to the bipartisan support for this initiative,

[[Page H10449]]

they put it up to $1.5 million. Now we will increase that to $3 million 
each fiscal year.
  Mr. Speaker, the bill also provides specialized training for foreign 
service officers in the identification of evidence of torture, 
techniques for interviewing torture victims, and related subjects.

                              {time}  1600

  Finally, the bill contains an expression of the Sense of Congress 
that the United States shall use its voice and its vote in the United 
Nations to support the investigation and elimination of practices 
prohibited by the Convention Against Torture.
  Mr. Speaker, I truly believe that whatever one's religion is--and I 
am a Christian, I am a Catholic, and others' sentiments come out of 
their deeply-held faiths--but one of the scriptures that motivates me 
is Matthew's gospel, the 25th chapter, when our Lord said, whatsoever 
you do to the least of my brethren, you do likewise to me. Whether it 
be the unborn or a persecuted believer, Baha'i, a Jewish person, 
whatever, at any given time he or she can be the least of our brethren. 
We need to stand up for those people.
  In keeping with that scripture, I really believe, Mr. Speaker, that 
this legislation helps those people after they have been abused to get 
through that crisis and come to healing and to reconciliation with the 
trouble and ordeal they have experienced.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to make one final point. Grover Joseph Rees, the 
chief counsel and staff director of the Subcommittee on International 
Operations and of Human Rights, is the reason this legislation is on 
the floor, and I do want to thank him for his steadfast work on it. He 
used to be the general counsel at INS. He knows the inside of that 
building, and that is why we hired him on the committee, but, more 
importantly, he knows what is going on around the world and has been 
absolutely invaluable in these kinds of issues, whether it be religious 
freedom or in the case of this assistance to the torture victims. So I 
want to thank Joseph for his excellent work on this legislation.
  Mr. CLEMENT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Bruce Vento), and I would just note that the State of 
Minnesota has more water than the State of Tennessee.
  (Mr. VENTO asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation and 
would commend the authors of this, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Smith), the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), and the others, 
other of my colleagues from Minnesota. I think about a third of the 
sponsors are from Minnesota. And the reason for that, of course, is 
because of our interest in this and the history of the Center for 
Victims of Torture, which is located in the Twin Cities.
  I would invite my colleagues, if they are traveling through the Twin 
Cities, if they have a deep interest in this, to stop by and visit. I 
am certain we would like to talk further with them about it. We have 
had it in place for nearly 13 years. It was instituted really at the 
request and response of Governor Rudy Perpich in 1985. The Center has 
treated almost 600 persons at this particular center to date.
  When we look at the problem throughout our country and the world, in 
terms of reaching out and extending political and religious amnesty to 
individuals in refugee status, and my colleagues well know my role with 
the southeast Asians and the resettlement in Minnesota of the Hmong 
community, we have 400,000 such persons in the United States, and there 
is precious little support available for them. Clearly, the existing 
social services that we offer are inadequate to deal with this type of 
problem.
  When we celebrated June 26 as international day in Minnesota, it was 
pointed out that there are 124 nations around the globe, 124 nations, 
that still practice various types of torture and intimidation of the 
civilian population. And so we are trying to respond to this with a 
dozen or so centers across the United States and around the world. And 
at the time this particular center was started, the United Nations only 
provided $100,000.
  So we began to look at this, and this center itself has grown by 
itself, on a nonprofit basis, raising nearly $1 million a year, 
treating these broken persons and trying to take away the nightmare. We 
call it rising from the ashes, in terms of these broken spirits and 
broken bodies that are delivered to our shores.
  So as we embrace these persons and give them the type of protection 
from religious persecution, from political persecution, I think we have 
to be cognizant of the fact that they are going to need more than just 
refuge in this country. They need a helping hand.
  We are doing research in Minnesota on this. Our health care 
facilities, Regents Hospital, as an example, in my district, has done 
much to treat these through special clinics, but it does cost a great 
deal. There is a lot of volunteerism and a lot of contributions that 
come in, but, most importantly, I think it is very significant that we 
are raising on the floor today and actually participating in helping in 
this problem, which is on overload.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this important human 
rights bill that protects and provides hope to survivors of torture.
  According to the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT), it is estimated 
that as many as 400,000 victims of torture now reside in the United 
States with an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 residing in my home state of 
Minnesota where CVT is located. The Center's clients have come from 
around the world--52 percent from Africa, 25 percent from South and 
Southeast Asia, 11 percent from Latin America, six percent from the 
Middle East and three percent from Eastern Europe. An estimated two-
thirds of CVT clients are seeking asylum from persecution at the time 
they first contacted the Center.
  Many torture survivors suffer from severe psychological effects such 
as fear, guilt, nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety and depression. The 
debilitating nature of torture makes it extremely difficult for 
survivors to hold steady jobs, study for new professions and careers or 
acquire other skills for a successful integration into our nation's 
culture and economy. Congress should provide hope for these talented, 
educated and productive people who were purposefully disabled by their 
countries governments.
  The Torture Victims Relief Act provides an important first step in 
healing the wounds of government-inflicted torture on individuals, 
their families and their communities. Specifically, this bill funds a 
total of $12.5 million for grants to centers and programs that treat 
victims of torture in foreign countries and centers and programs in the 
United States that aid victims of torture. Such funds will cover the 
costs of supporting torture victims, including rehabilitation, social 
and legal services and research and training for health care providers. 
Furthermore, this legislation expresses that the President request that 
the U.N. Voluntary Fund find new and innovative ways to support victim 
programs and encourage the development of new such programs. Finally, 
this bill provides training for foreign service officers to help them 
identify torture and its effects upon innocent civilians.
  Torture is a crime against humanity. It is the single most effective 
weapon against democracy. As Members of Congress, it is our 
responsibility to protect and shield the world from this strategic tool 
of repression. I urge all members to support this much needed 
legislation that will respond to the evils of torture and its physical 
social, emotional and spiritual consequences upon our communities.
  Mr. CLEMENT. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and 
I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise to speak on behalf of 
H.R. 4309, which provides assistance to the over 190 centers around the 
globe that help people recover from the painful and de-humanizing 
effects of torture.
  Torture is, under all circumstances, a heinous, cruel, and inhuman 
act that we must fight to prevent at each opportunity. It must be 
prevented whether it is the result of religious persecution, political 
reprogramming, organized intimidation, or simply because an individual 
needs to make another feel less than human. But there are times where 
we cannot prevent it. Torture happens. It happens in every region of 
the world--in Africa, the Far East, Central America, Eastern Europe, 
and Central Asia. We have well documented and shocking reports of 
torture in Sudan, China, Tibet, Mexico, and Kosovo.
  More intolerable is the fact that we must add the United States to 
that list where torture takes place. Just a few months ago, we saw the 
tortured slaying of James Byrd, Jr. in Texas. I do not believe I need 
to remind anyone of the details of that atrocity. And just yesterday, 
we had an incident in Wyoming where a young gay man was taken a mile 
outside of

[[Page H10450]]

the town and brutally bludgeoned and burnt, and then tied to a fence 
like a scarecrow. The young man's name is Matthew Shepard, and my 
prayers this afternoon are with him and his family. Shockingly, there 
are 15 torture treatment centers in the United States. I bet that few 
Americans knew that before today.
  This bill authorizes $5 million dollars for the next fiscal year to 
be given as grants to centers and programs that treat the victims of 
torture in foreign countries, and then authorizes another $5 million to 
be spent in this country, to aid similar victims to recover from their 
physical and mental injuries. The Centers, both near and far, provide 
rehabilitation, social services, and legal expertise to those victims 
who seek their assistance. All of these services are instrumental in 
the effort to make sure that these victims can move forward and lead 
lives that have some semblance of normalcy.
  Additionally, H.R. 4309 requires the Secretary of State to provide 
torture rehabilitation training to its foreign service officers. This 
training will improve our personnel's ability to identify torture 
victims and guide them through the necessary process of seeking help. 
The training also includes special gender-specific training, which will 
ensure that when our officers interact with torture victims who have 
been raped or violated, that they will not worsen the victim's delicate 
physical or mental state.
  Furthermore, this bill expresses the sense of Congress that the 
President, through our representative to the United States, should 
support humanitarian, anti-torture efforts throughout the world. That 
is to be done by advocating that the United Nations Voluntary Fund find 
new ways to support torture victim treatment programs; by supporting 
the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture and the U.N. Committee Against 
Torture; and by pushing for the expansion of those programs into 
countries where reports indicate that systematic torture is prevalent.
  I urge all of you to vote with me today, and reach out to those 
victims that have suffered at the hands of others unnecessarily.
  Mr. GILMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to 
thank the chairman of the Committee on Commerce, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Bliley), for his cooperation in moving this bill forward.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Emerson). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) that the House 
suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to H.R. 4309.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate amendment was 
concurred in.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________