June 26 is the International Day of Support of Victims of Torture.  In conjunction with this day, our ESL and interpreter volunteers planned an event to help raise over $3,000 to purchase Metrocards for clients to use for travel to classes and appointments at the program. Thanks to everyone who came out to make it a successful event.  Thanks especially to our organizers Sarah Benckart, Inbal Samin and Nicole Deutsch who pulled together an excellent party and brought in so many attendees. 

On December 12th, 1997, the UN declared June 26th the International Day of Support for Victims of Torture. This day, guaranteed within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, emphasizes the right of security and personal dignity to all individuals around the world. The main objective of this day is to create solidarity between torture victims, to remind the general public that torture ranks among one of the most heinous and blatant violation of human rights, and to draw attention to the widespread torture still present in the world today. For this reason, every year on June 26th, people take the occasion to announce their opposition to torture.

Misconceptions and distortions about torture by former Vice President Cheney and other former Bush administration officials are, if nothing else, impressive for their hubris. In a speech last Thursday, Mr. Cheney asserted that "tough" or "enhanced" interrogation methods were legal, essential, effective, and were not torture. Click here to read the rest of Dr. Keller's article on the Huffington Post.

Tis the season. Santa had his naughty or nice gift list and checked it twice. President Bush is still working on his list-the one granting pardons. And while a Brooklyn developer at the center of a fraud scheme has already been scratched, will those who conceived and implemented this administration's torture policy make the final cut? As a physician who evaluates and cares for torture victims the prospect of such pardons is chilling to say the least. They would be pre-emptive pardons since no one responsible for torturing detainees in U.S. custody with the exception of 'a few bad apples on the night shift at Abu Grhaib' have ever been prosecuted. The pardon may be quite general-covering anyone, including the president himself, who fought the good fight in the war on terror. Click here to read the full text of Dr. Keller's article on Huffington Post.

The daily TV/radio news program, Democracy Now interviews Dr. Allen Keller on the report he co-authored for Physicians for Human Rights which has, for the first time, found medical evidence corroborating the claims of former prisoners who say they were tortured while in US custody. Teams of medical specialists conducted physical and psychological tests on the former prisoners, including exams intended to assess if they were lying. Click here for the transcript and to listen/watch the show.