UNITED STATES: Human Rights Clinic
Each year, thousands of survivors of torture and other human rights abuses fleeing persecution in their homelands seek asylum in the United States, looking to the U.S. for freedom from persecution and the chance to begin anew. Those survivors who are able to reach the U.S. face further hurdles, beyond healing the mental and physical wounds of torture, as they struggle to navigate a complex immigration and asylum process in a foreign language and a foreign land.
Addressing human rights violations at home
Doctors of The World – USA (DOW) is committed to promoting and protecting health and human rights in the U.S. as well as abroad. In 1993, DOW founded the Human Rights Clinic (HRC), our longest running project, in collaboration with the Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, to work with survivors of torture and other human rights abuses applying for asylum in the U.S. DOW trains and deploys U.S. volunteer physicians and mental health professionals to provide clinical, medical, and psychological exams to survivors and to document and bear witness to the scars and signs of torture and abuse. An affidavit from a DOW-trained health care professional attesting to evidence of torture raises an asylum seeker’s chance of success from a national average of about 25 percent to over 80 percent.
A comprehensive training and support system
DOW mobilizes the health community to be aware of, defend, and promote the well being of asylum seekers who have survived torture or other serious abuse. The HRC provides physicians and mental health professionals with intensive training that enables them to evaluate the medical and psychological effects of torture and teaches them to write effective clinical affidavits. Once trained and screened, the volunteers join a network of professionals who evaluate those seeking asylum as survivors of torture and other human rights abuses. The HRC now operates in ten states and has served over 2,000 clients from more than 100 countries.
Mitigating the consequences of torture
While no amount of care can erase the mental and physical anguish caused by torture, DOW aims to mitigate the consequences of abuse and to protect survivors from further rights abuses. Comprehensive evaluations and clinical affidavits will save asylum seekers from being forced to return to a place where they face further persecution and torture.