Tajik specialists trained to investigate and document facts of torture

International experts from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) from the United States and Georgia are conducting training (September 18-21) in Dushanbe for primary care physicians, psychologists, forensic medical experts and lawyers on correct and efficient documentation of facts of torture.

The training is conducted by the Human Rights Center (Tajikistan) and PHR under support of the Tajik Branch of Open Society Institute/Assistance Foundation (OSI/AF-Tajikistan).

The training participants include forensic medical experts, physicians from city hospitals, psychologists, lawyers, physicians and officers from reformatories, etc.

“There are no legislative norms regulating the procedure of forming and conducting non-state forensic medical examination and there is an acute shortage of skilled physicians having experience to prove potential use of torture.  Therefore, it is necessary to train medical personnel to conduct primary medical exam of detainees in accordance with standards of the Istanbul Protocol that will give detainees or lawyers an opportunity to choose physicians or medical facilities for conducting medical exam,” Ms. Parvina Navrouzova, coordinator of the project on supporting introduction of the Istanbul Protocol principles to activity of forensic medical experts, said.

The Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, commonly known as the Istanbul Protocol, is the first set of international guidelines for documentation of torture and its consequences.  It became an official United Nations document in 1999.

The Istanbul Protocol is intended to serve as a set of international guidelines for the assessment of persons who allege torture and ill treatment, for investigating cases of alleged torture, and for reporting such findings to the judiciary and any other investigative body.

The Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment contains internationally recognized standards and procedures on how to recognize and document symptoms of torture so the documentation may serve as valid evidence in court.

As such, the Istanbul Protocol provides useful guidance for doctors and lawyers who want to investigate whether or not a person has been tortured and report the findings to the judiciary and any other investigative bodies.