[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 24, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E66]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING THE CONTRIBUTIONS AND DEDICATION OF A HUMAN RIGHTS CHAMPION: 
  DOUGLAS A. JOHNSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR VICTIMS OF 
                                TORTURE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 24, 2012

  Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr Speaker, I rise today to honor the inspiring career 
of Mr. Doug Johnson, an international leader and voice for human 
rights, on the occasion of his retirement from the Center for Victims 
of Torture (CVT).
  When the Center for Victims of Torture opened in Saint Paul, 
Minnesota in 1985 it was the first center of its kind in the United 
States and only the third torture treatment center in the world. Doug 
Johnson became its Executive Director in 1988 and served in this role 
for the next 23 years. Today, because of Doug's extraordinary 
leadership and commitment to eradicating torture, CVT is helping 
thousands of torture survivors from over 60 countries at centers in 
Minneapolis, Saint Paul, the District of Columbia, Sierra Leone, 
Liberia, Jordan, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
  Thanks to Doug Johnson's vision, CVT has become a global leader in 
the treatment of torture. Doug and CVT have received numerous awards 
for their pioneering work, including the National Crime Victims Service 
Award, which is the highest civilian honor awarded by the U.S. 
Department of Justice. CVT is also a leading advocate for torture 
victims. Doug worked closely with former Minnesota Senator Dave 
Durenberger to pass the original Torture Victims Relief Act in 1998, 
which authorizes federal funding for torture survivor rehabilitation 
programs in the U.S. and abroad. The United States is the world's 
largest donor to torture survivor rehabilitation thanks to leaders like 
Doug Johnson.
  CVT's central and steadfast conviction that torture is a crime 
against humanity--a crime against all of us--is one that I share. It is 
a weapon of terror, intimidation and cruelty that seeks to dehumanize 
its victims and traumatize their communities. Torture victims face 
debilitating and unimaginable physical, social, emotional and spiritual 
scarring. Unfortunately, thousands of our brothers and sisters around 
the world have experienced this horror and are struggling each day to 
live with its aftermath. That is why the work of the Center for Victims 
of Torture is so incredibly important.
  While it is easy for many of us to point fingers at foreign 
governments when human rights are abused and torture is used to coerce, 
silence, or intimidate, it takes the courage of one's convictions to 
stand up to one's own government when abuses are exposed. During the 
past decade, Doug was a voice for America's best and highest ideals of 
due process and respect for human rights. When the American people 
learned of torture as a sanctioned interrogation technique by our own 
government in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, or other clandestine 
prisons, it was Doug Johnson who spoke out loudly and fearlessly. He 
rallied human rights leaders and policy makers to condemn these abuses 
and sought to expose them for what they were--torture. Doug influenced 
the debate in Congress and helped elevate torture as an issue of 
national significance.
  CVT is a Minnesota treasure and it has been my pleasure to work 
closely with Doug Johnson over the past eleven years. The legacy of 
Doug Johnson will live on in CVT's work providing hope for survivors of 
torture around the world and bring us ever closer to a world free from 
torture.

                          ____________________