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RCT11 

Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims Annual Report 2011 

“TorTure musT 

always be foughT ”

ehabilitation and research Centre for Torture Victims (rCT) 

CONTENTS 

Torture must always be fought 3 

rehabilitation 2011 6-7 

a year with spring sensations 8-10 

rCT behind a great deal of new research 11-13 

a year of fighting against torture 14-16 

hr as a strategic ally 17-19 

rCT Publications 2011 20-21 

Donations and pledges of support 2011 22 

accounts 2011 23 

ANNUAL REPORT 2011 

Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims (RCT) 

borgergade 13 

P.o. box 2107 

DK-1014 Copenhagen K 

Phone.: +45 33 76 06 00 

fax: +45 33 76 05 10 

e-mail: rct@rct.dk 

www.rct.dk 

se-nr. 69 73 51 18 

giro bg bank nr. 1199-0007383940 

Dansk bank nr. 3001 4310821209 

Direction 

Karin Verland (editor-in-chief) 

anders bernhoft 

simon Kratholm ankjærgaard 

Layout 

Cadwalk 

ISBN: 978-87-90878-43-6 

ISSN: 2245-4608 

annual report 2011

TorTure musT 

always be foughT 

By Karin Verland, Director General 

The terrorists have won a giant victory. They 

have succeeded in bringing division into our 

own home. They have succeeded in making 

democratic countries use torture in the fight 

against terrorism, thereby turning good into 

evil. we who still believe that torture does not 

solve any problems have been dealt a blow. 

we who meet the victims of torture every 

day know what it does to human beings to 

be placed in a powerless position and then 

have so much pain and anxiety inflicted on 

them that they either lose their lives or never 

become whole human beings again. 

3


TorTure musT 

always be foughT 

DebaTe in DenmaRk 

last year, the issue of torture was again debated in 

Denmark. The debate emerged from a uN report on 

systematic torture in afghan prisons to which the Danish 

army hands over prisoners and from a case concerning the 

Iraq war where Denmark is accused of having handed over 

prisoners to torture. both cases show that a long road still 

lies ahead, even for a country that wants to be exemplary 

in its observance of human rights. rCT participated 

actively in the domestic debate, in the media as well as 

through in-person meetings with politicians and ministers. 

Too many Danes aRe pRo-ToRTuRe 

on the occasion of the human rights Day on 10 December, 

rCT had commissioned an opinion survey among the 

Danes. we wanted to get an idea of the population’s view 

on torture. we were not surprised to learn that almost 

one in four Danes found that torture in certain cases is 

acceptable. since then, this figure has grown to 31 percent 

in a new opinion survey; something which cannot merely 

be ascribed to statistical uncertainty. when our politicians 

are hesitant, uncertainty is created among the Danes. 

This proves that if standards are good, double standards 

are twice as good. we need to have courageous politicians 

with guts enough to say no to torture. If they don’t, they 

contribute to undermining the fight against torture and 

to defeating the intentions of the uN Convention against 

Torture. The Convention calls upon Denmark to prevent 

torture and to always uphold the absolute prohibition 

against torture. 

annual report 2011 

WhAT IS TORTURE? 

Not so long ago I spoke to a politically active man 

from Zimbabwe. shortly before our meeting, someone 

had poured boiling oil on his face with the purpose of 

disfiguring him for life. This way the torturers would 

always be able to recognise him if he returned to his 

village. It is my experience that Danes do not know what 

torture is. They do not know that persons subjected to 

torture are beaten up, kicked in the head, jumped on, have 

the soles of their feet beaten with metal pipes, are tortured 

with electric shock to their genitals, are raped with 

truncheons or broken glass or hung by the arms causing 

their shoulders to dislocate. 

They do not know that torture destroys tendons and joints 

and inflict life-long chronic pain on the victim of torture. 

They do not know that it causes nightmares, concentration 

difficulties, learning difficulties, anxiety and depression. 

They do not know that it causes fear of authorities and 

distrust and that the trauma is often “passed on” from 

mother and father to son and daughter. Torture destroys 

people completely, physically as well as mentally. 

A TICkINg BOmB 

when torture supporters are asked to explain why torture is 

a good way of getting information, they use examples from 

hollywood movies. That is what we call “the ticking bomb” 

scenario. so far there is no evidence that an imminent terror 

attack has been prevented through the use of torture. and 

if torture really is that effective, how come it took ten years 

to locate osama bin laden? we know from our research 

that torture is an extremely ineffective tool of investigation 

and we are supported by i.a. present and former directors of 

military intelligence. but why is torture such an ineffective 

tool? well, there are five very good reasons: 

1) Victims of torture cannot give reliable information due to 

dissociation, i.e. they cannot distinguish between reality 

and fantasy in the torture situation 

2) Victims of torture will say anything to avoid torture 

3) hardened terrorists and fanatics purposely give false 

clues to gain time and to inform on enemies 

4) Innocent victims give a lot of information, which wastes 

the authorities’ time 

5) The torturers do not know when the information given by 

the victim is correct. so when should they stop torturing 

the victim?

moDesT pRogRess 

even though we do experience progress in the 

fight against torture and organised violence, we 

still have far to go. It is still rCT’s assessment that 

approx. 60 percent of the world’s population live 

in countries where there is a risk of torture. even 

though there are a lot of countries where torture 

is rare, torture is still a widespread tool. Just look 

at syria where torture is practically increasing 

exponentially with the opposition against the 

regime. In many asian countries torture is a part 

of everyday life. 

noRTh afRiCa 

rCT has launched a major prevention and 

rehabilitation project in North africa. The arab 

spring has brought hope to those who had none. 

but the road to societies without torture and 

organised violence is long and winding. even 

though the dictators are gone, the new regimes 

adopt the bad habits of the old regimes. It is 

reported that the situation in egypt is worse now 

than under hosni mubarak. 

inequaliTy 

In fragile states with inequality among the 

citizens we see how assaults from the state lead 

to violence in the population as well. This is a 

vicious circle that makes it even more dangerous 

to live in guatemala now than during the actual 

civil war. rumour has it that in honduras they 

are trying to solve the problems by burning down 

prisons with the prisoners still inside. at rCT we 

work to prevent these assaults. we do research in 

the prevention of organised violence and we use 

our research results to take active initiatives to 

help make everyday life safer for the citizens. 

ToRTuRe is The pRoblem, noT The soluTion 

If we are ever going to succeed in putting an end 

to torture, we need to start by putting our own 

house in order and set a good example. we must 

not stoop to the dictators’ and fanatics’ level 

and use torture. Nor must we use information 

obtained through torture in legal proceedings 

in Denmark or deportation cases. we must set 

a good example and lead the way. Torture is not 

part of the solution. It is part of the problem. 

“Torture is the problem, 

not the solution” 

5


rehabIlITaTIoN 2011 

By Gordon Wildschiødtz, Consultant Psychiatrist and Director of the Rehabilitation Department 


The central work in the Rehabilitation Department continues to 

focus on the interdisciplinary rehabilitation of victims of torture and 

severely traumatised persons. Rehabilitation is an intensive and longterm 

process, which imposes natural limits on the patient flow. The 

department has focused on shortening the treatment processes so that 

the treatment is completed within approx. ten months. 

RCT’s new referral procedure with preliminary assessments involving 

the physical presence of the client within a few weeks has proven to 

be highly effective when it comes to identifying the clients who do 

not need the full interdisciplinary treatment offered by RCT. A natural 

consequence of this procedure has been that we receive a larger share 

of severely traumatised clients, which is in line with RCT’s unique 

function as a national centre in Denmark specialising in rehabilitation 

of traumatised refugees with particularly complex problems. Thanks 

to the new referral procedure, those who do not need interdisciplinary 

rehabilitation can now move on to alternative treatments more quickly. 

The new procedure means that RCT has succeeded in cutting the waiting 

list from 146 to less than 50 clients. And as the annual client flow is 

now approx. 125, we expect that no one will have to wait more than six 

months for treatment in the future.

speCial foCus on uRgenT neeDs 

In order to meet a need for urgent treatment we 

have established an urgent treatment option 

where the client can get treatment within two 

to six weeks. This group of clients particularly 

includes persons who are absent from work due 

to an industrial injury or clients who have lost 

their job in connection with a worsening of e.g. 

PTsD (Post Traumatic stress Disorder) symptoms. 

we have also accepted clients for urgent 

treatment when children in the family have been 

at risk. The urgent treatment is provided by our 

individual teams and in more complicated cases 

by our family team. 

inCReaseD moniToRing 

Throughout the years, rCT has worked with 

very meticulous medical, psychological, 

physiotherapeutic and social diagnosing of the 

individual client in order to assess her or his 

individual need for treatment. Various monitoring 

systems have been developed to enable us to 

monitor the effect of the treatment provided. 

as several of these computerised monitoring 

systems have now become outdated, we chose 

to review our entire monitoring programme. 

Through finetuning and optimization, at the 

start of 2012, the rCT will be able to introduce 

a new monitoring procedure which means 

that monitoring starts with the preliminary 

assessment and ends when the treatment is 

completed ten months later. The monitoring data 

are secured in generally used and recognised 

database systems so that they can be used in the 

day-to-day rehabilitation work at the clinic. In 

addition, it will enable us to assess the effect of 

the rehabilitation. In parallel with this monitoring 

of effects, the research Department has launched 

a project that also focuses on evaluating the work 

performed by the department. we will have the 

first results within a year. 

ConTRibuTes To inTeRnaTional woRk 

finally, the rehabilitation Department also 

contributed to the international work in e.g. 

Jordan and Cambodia by sending psychologists 

and physiotherapists with a view to sharing our 

pain school and physiotherapeutic programmes 

with our partners. building capacity with our 

partner organisations constitutes an important 

part of rCT’s development work as we can 

transfer competencies to local people this way. 

with these competencies they will be able to 

carry out the work without foreign assistance in 

the future. 

“The new procedure means 

that RCT has succeeded in 

cutting the waiting list from 

146 to less than 50 clients” 

7


a year wITh 

sPrINg seNsaTIoNs 

The arab spring played a big role for rCT in 2011. among other things, 

rCT opened a new office in Tunis. unfortunately, the positive developments 

in the middle east and North africa form a sharp contrast to the negative 

developments in Central america. 

By Jan Ole Haagensen, Director of the International Department 

annual report 2011

for RCT, the year 2011 was very much devoted 

to north africa where especially young people 

lead the way in revolutions in Tunisia, egypt 

and libya. This development spread in everwidening 

circles to the rest of the north african 

and middle eastern regions. in some countries, 

the rulers have succeeded in keeping the fire 

under control, but the fire is still strong in 

bahrain and yemen and hopefully it is only 

a question of time before the regime in syria 

falls. 

Torture was part of everyday life under the 

previous regimes so considerable future efforts 

will be needed to ensure rehabilitation of the 

victims of torture as well as to strengthen the 

state structures so they won’t use torture in the 

future. The latter takes place in close dialogue 

with police, prison authorities and legal system. 

Therefore, rCT has entered libya, Tunisia and 

egypt with the support of the Danish ministry of 

foreign affairs. To begin with, our activities are 

coordinated from our newly established office in 

Tunis. This is a daunting task so we collaborate 

with other international organisations in the 

field, including our umbrella organisation IrCT. 

we want to draw on arab experts and especially 

to document what has happened with a view to 

subsequent prosecution of those who authorised 

the torture as well as those who performed it. 

This will have a significant preventive effect in the 

future. our work also centres on contributing to 

the development of legislation and institutions to 

ensure that torture stops and that the practice of 

torture is not resumed. 

all this requires unambiguous political support 

from the rulers, but unfortunately this support 

is not always forthcoming. Hondurasreports 

from egypt 

Guatemala 

suggest that torture is now even more widespread 

than under hosni mubarak. In libya, the libyan 

people first need to gather and build a state 

with an efficient Ecuador and democratic government. In 

Tunisia, the development is more promising. 

inCReaseD RegionalisaTion anD 

souTh-souTh CoopeRaTion 

In the arab regions, they seem to become much 

better at finding local solutions to local problems; 

rCT is a partner in the work to monitor the 

treatment of prisoners as well as in the work to 

train health professionals in the rehabilitation of 

torture survivors. 

In africa, we draw on local resources more often 

and we use their experience. In asia, rCT supports 

the asian human rights Commission in its efforts 

to involve the elected representatives of the 

people in order to achieve the necessary political 

support. In this region, certain countries have 

spent vast resources on educating and training 

people in the legal sector, but if the political will 

is absent and torture is accepted in all spheres of 

society as a necessary means, it is an uphill battle 

because we will need to focus on creating political 

will. This is, for instance, the case in India where 

we work with the People’s Vigilance Committee 

for human rights to create public pressure. This 

is quite a challenge considering the fact that the 

country has a population of more than 1.2 billion. 

It sounds like a difficult task and it may take 

some time, but it is not impossible. 

Sierra Leone 

Tunesia 

Liberia 

Denmark 

Albania 

Kosovo 

Gaza 

Zimbabwe 

Jordan 

India 

Sri Lanka 

9 

Ba


a year wITh 

sPrINg seNsaTIoNs 

DisinTegRaTing CenTRal ameRiCan sTaTes 

In Central america, honduras seems to be 

heading for a meltdown and things are not 

looking much brighter in guatemala, el salvador 

and Nicaragua. In honduras, state institutions 

have degenerated to such an extent that the 

citizens can no longer tell the police from 

criminal gangs. 

last year the country had the dubious honour of 

being proclaimed the most dangerous country 

in the world. In 2011, the murder rate was 86 

murders per 100,000 inhabitants. In a Danish 

perspective this corresponds to more than 4,700 

murders a year in Denmark, instead of the 44 

murders we had in 2010. The majority of people 

killed are adolescent boys and young men. 

Inspired by the world health organisation’s 

(who) global Violence Prevention alliance - of 

which rCT is a part - our partners work to find 

practices and strategies that have proven effects 

in other, preferably latin-american, countries and 

which can be reproduced locally. The next step 

in the process is to get the local decision-makers 

to support these strategies so that they achieve 

legality as well as legitimacy. 


pRogRess in The balkans 

The balkan region is also struggling with huge 

challenges and do not always develop as planned, 

but we can see that the countries are making 

some progress. rCT’s partner in albania, albanian 

rehabilitation Centre for Trauma and Torture 

(arCT), has consequently helped support the 

albanian ombudsman during a period where 

the political system was not working and the 

parliament was not able to agree on much. 

arCT has made formal agreements with the 

ombudsman and the albanian prison services, 

which have lead to noticeable improvements, 

particularly in the health area. for instance, 

prison doctors now have access to medical 

records that can be used to document torture and 

to ensure that the prisoners get the necessary 

treatment. moreover, arCT has played a key 

role in amending a number of prison acts 

concerning the treatment of prisoners. with its 

medical expertise and huge commitment, arCT 

contributes to ensuring that albania’s national 

visiting mechanism works and continues to 

develop for the prevention of torture. arCT’s 

work has been recognised at highest levels; at the 

beginning of 2012, the country’s president, bamir 

Topi awarded the medal of gratitude to adrian 

Kati, executive director of arCT.

CT behIND a 

greaT Deal of 

New researCh 

In 2011 rCT left an important mark on the research in torture and 

organised violence. several new projects were launched – and a 

number of results were published. 

By Edith Montgomery, Director of the Research Department 

in terms of health and social sciences 2011 

was an exciting year for RCT. The Research 

Department initiated a number of new projects, 

while other projects were completed and the 

results published. This way RCT maintains its 

position as the leading expert and knowledge 

centre in the world within research in torture 

and organised violence. 

In the area of rehabilitation, the research 

Department commenced and completed a 

qualitative interview study of the expectations 

of 15 victims of torture with regard to their 

participation in a rehabilitation programme. In 

addition, a study was initiated comparing torture 

victims’ experiences and the physiotherapist’s 

objective assessment of functional capacity with 

chronic pain. also a pilot project with objective 

measurement of the patients’ walking pace was 

launched. 

Chronic pain continues to be an important focus 

area in rCT’s research. a study completed in 2011 

in collaboration with the linköping university 

indicates that central pain mechanisms are 

involved in clinical, chronic neck-shoulder pain 

conditions. more intensive symptoms such as 

anxiety and depression and a higher degree 

of impairment of functional capacity were 

associated with increased response to pain in 

connection with an experimentally induced 

pain in the lower leg and increased prevalence 

of the clinical neck-shoulder pain. sensory 

hyper sensitivity was seen in an area far from 

the clinical pain area. most of rCT’s patients 

experience pain in large parts of the body so this 

phenomenon probably also applies to this group. 

an important intervention in case of chronic pain 

is pain relieving treatment. In collaboration with 

the lund university rCT is doing further work 

in this area in the form of a study of the effect 

of acupuncture on chronic pain, which may help 

improve the treatment of torture survivors’ pain. 

The work of identifying relevant indicators for 

rehabilitation processes continued in 2011, i.a. 

by means of a large database from the umeå 

university with 20,000 patients who have 

undergone pain rehabilitation. 

11


rCT behIND a greaT 

Deal of New researCh 

populaTions anD CommuniTies 

a number of new activities were implemented under 

our populations and communities strategy in 2011. 

In this regard particularly the following two projects 

should be emphasised; an eu-funded research 

project focussing on narratives from Kurdish torture 

survivors in Denmark and a research project with 

funding from the Danish Council for the humanities 

which focuses on narratives and healing among 

genocide survivors in Cambodia. 

In a number of countries we continued our data 

collection and field work with the purpose of 

examining the biopsychosocial consequences of 

torture and organised violence. In addition to field 

work in connection with the above projects in 

Cambodia and Denmark, we also continued our work 

with “Crime prevention among traumatised refugee 

families in Denmark” and “Psychosocial interventions 

for survivors of torture and organised violence in 

latin america.” 

The work with an epidemiological survey of 

torture continued with preparations for field work 

in Kurdistan and Kosovo, and in North africa in 

collaboration with the birzeit university in Palestine. 

a number of research results were published in 

various ways, of special importance are a doctoral 

thesis presenting 20 years of rCT research on children 

and young people exposed to torture and organised 

violence, a monograph in Danish concerning Danish 

soldiers on missions in the balkans and Iraq and a 

publication regarding the mechanisms used to give 

words to, normalise and tone down violence. 

peRpeTRaTion anD RefoRm 

a grant from the Danish social science research 

Council enabled us to start a new project under the 

research programme ‘Confinement, violence and 

reform’ which deals directly with one of rCT’s central 

research areas; the study of practice in prisons and 

detention centres. The project involves three of rCT’s 

international partners and has ground-breaking focus 

on the prison as an institution that practices violence 

and Ngos as reforming institutions. The project 

is very much at the cutting edge of international 

research on prisons in the south. 


Consolidation of the work with the global Prison 

Network continued and a thematic issue of the 

journal focaal has almost been completed. 

we have also continued to work on developing 

the army as a future, strategic focus area. In this 

connection we have done some analytical work aimed 

at establishing a dialogue between various conceptual 

frameworks regarding torture and the army. 

The research programme ”Violent organization of 

political youth” was formally completed in 2011, and 

three doctoral theses are almost completed as well. 

each project makes its own unique contribution to a 

deeper understanding of the underlying dynamics of 

violence in bangladesh, Nepal and Kenya. 

In the Philippines a formal collaboration agreement 

was concluded between rCT, balay and the university 

of the Philippines to support a research unit 

comprising up to four ma students and focusing on 

violence, suffering and human rights. 

DoCumenTaTion 

The most prominent development in the 

Documentation Centre’s work in 2011 was the 

intensified and formalised collaboration with 

rCT’s Communication Department where the 

Documentation Dept. has played a central role in 

relation to rCT’s new website as a supplier and editor 

of information about important new publications 

and bibliographical data in general. 

at the same time the Documentation Centre and 

the Documentation Department made an ongoing 

effort to increase the synergy between the Centre’s 

database and rCT’s website. and it works. a 

comparison of the last four months of 2010 and 

2011, respectively, shows an increase in the number 

of visitors of more than 100 percent in 2011. at 

the same time the number of visitors where the 

user does not just read one page and then leaves 

the website has increased by almost 40 percent. 

The Documentation Centre’s thesaurus project 

“Thesaurus of terminology related to torture and 

organised violence” reached the implementation 

stage in 2011. Data files with the contents of the 

thesaurus were sent to the Centre’s system provider, 

reindex, at the end of 2011, and the preparatory 

technical work of incorporating the thesaurus in 

the Centre’s database was commenced.

esearCh ProJeCTs 2011 

REhABILITATION 

Mechanisms and treatment of symptoms after torture and 

organised violence 

falanga torture, disability, pain mechanisms and 

behavioural consequences 

mechanisms for chronic muscular pain 

stimulation treatment for chronic pain 

sleep disturbances in victims of torture and organised 

violence 

Effects of rehabilitation programmes on activity and 

participation after torture and organised violence 

Indicators for rehabilitation processes 

expectations of victims of torture in relation to the 

rehabilitation process 

monitoring instruments for rehabilitation processes 

effect study of interdisciplinary rehabilitation of 

victims of torture and organised violence 

Controlled trials of psychotherapeutic intervention 

POPULATIONS AND COmmUNITIES 

Refugee families 

Psychosocial stress factors in refugee mental health - 

family perspectives 

health and well-being of asylum-seeking children and 

refugee children in the Nordic countries 

attachment narratives in refugee children - a method 

study 

Crime prevention among traumatised refugee families: 

Implementation of network meetings in Danish 

municipalities 

Prisons and refugee families: youth crime and 

traumatised refugee families and their meeting with 

the system of justice and social authorities 

Violence in local communities 

Influence of violence on social and gender identity in 

latin america 

epidemiological study of public violence and access to 

justice in guatemala 

epidemiological study of torture and political violence 

in conflict settings 

living in limbo? an ethnographic study of institutions, 

interventions and poor black Zimbabwean migrants in 

south africa 

symbolic reparation for victims of human rights 

violations in Cambodia 

Violence and everyday life in Columbia 

Kurdish torture survivors in Denmark 

Long-term effects of extreme stress 

Danish sailors – the war sailor syndrome 

PERPETRATION AND REfORm 

Institutions that practice torture and human rights abuse 

state and non-state detention practices in sierra leone 

state and non-state violence in south africa: Policing, 

vigilantism and gangs 

asymmetric armed conflict – the profound 

transformation of global conflict and violence on the 

military institution and its soldiers 

Confinement and violence in India 

mobilisation of young combatants in the mano river 

region 

Networks that practise torture and organised violence 

The violent organisation of political youth 

youth mobilisation in manila: electoral politics, crime 

and authority in bagong silang 

mungiki in Nairobi, Kenya. between violent youth 

politics and traditionalist sect 

mobilisation and social navigation in student politics at 

Dhaka university, bangladesh 

Political activism in the context of Nepal’s democratic 

transition: mobilisation, hope and survival among 

youth in Kathmandu 

13


a year of fIghTINg 

agaINsT TorTure 

By Dorrit Rée Akselbo, Director of the Communication Department 


2011 was an exciting and at times busy year for the newly 

established Communication Department. In the first months of the 

year, much of the work in the Communication Department focused 

on Denmark’s first examination by the UN Human Rights Council, 

Universal Periodic Review (UPR). In this connection RCT met several 

times with representatives of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 

which represented the Danish government in the examination, and 

worked closely with 11 other NGOs to make a joint submission on the 

human rights situation in Denmark. The examination produced 133 

recommendations from the Human Rights Council. Unfortunately, the 

government only accepted a disappointing 84 of the recommendations. 

RCT was particularly disappointed that Denmark would not stop 

using diplomatic assurances as a way of circumventing the absolute 

prohibition against deporting people to countries where they risk being 

subjected to torture. 

minister of Defence Nick hækkerup

sTop hanDing oveR pRisoneRs 

in afghanisTan 

The wars in Iraq and afghanistan still cause 

scandals that have led to a public debate with 

rCT as an eager contributor. In october it was 

revealed that prisoners were systematically 

tortured in a number of prisons and detention 

centres run by the afghan police and the afghan 

security service, National Directorate of security 

(NDs). Together with the Danish Institute for 

human rights and amnesty International, 

rCT demanded that Denmark stop handing 

over prisoners to afghan authorities as this is 

contrary to the uN Torture Convention, a demand 

Denmark’s minister of Defence, Nick hækkerup, 

refused to meet. rCT continues to work actively to 

ensure that Denmark does not try to circumvent 

its state responsibility by resorting to similar 

sharp borderline practices. 

one in eveRy fouR Danes in 

favouR of ToRTuRe 

at the end of the year rCT polled the Danes 

on their attitude towards torture. The torture 

barometer did not indicate stormy weather, but 

the acceptance of the use of torture in certain 

cases was worrying; a total of 23 percent on a 

country-wide basis. This discouraging result has 

prompted rCT to demand increased focus on 

human rights in our educational institutions and 

a clear prohibition against torture in the Danish 

Criminal Code. as the legislation is today, torture 

is not per se a specific offence. Instead torture is 

packed away as an aggravating circumstance in 

connection with sentencing. 

“as the legislation is today, torture 

is not per se a specific offence” 

15


a year of fIghTINg 

agaINsT TorTure 

new websiTe 

2011 was also the year when rCT launched its 

new website, which is available in Danish and 

english. The website is intended to contribute 

to the global fight against torture and inhuman 

treatment through knowledge sharing and 

exchange of experience. we want to ensure 

that the knowledge available in the area, 

e.g. regarding research and proven methods, 

is collected and shared. Therefore, rCT has 

aimed to make the new website more dynamic, 

relevant and ensure that its content is easily 

accessible. one of the functions of the new 

dynamic website is rCT’s electronic newsletter, 

which is so far only published in Danish. we 

are still giving the website the finishing touches 

and the Communication Department will 

be very pleased to receive positive as well as 

negative feedback from the users. 


one of the reasons why Karin Verland was 

chosen for the position as rCT’s new Director 

general is that rCT’s board wants to enhance 

focus on external and internal communication. 

shortly after taking up office as Director 

general, Karin Verland chose to make the 

communication unit under Planning and 

support an independent department reporting 

directly to the management. The department 

consists of a director, a head of press and a web 

consultant.

hr as a 

sTraTegIC ally 

By Lene Jelbert, Director of the HR Department 

at the end of 2011 the human Resources (hR) Department got the 

role as a strategic ally in RCT. The function was previously a purely 

administrative support function in connection with drawing up 

contracts, salary grading, recruitment, etc. The function is now an 

independent department on a par with the other departments in the 

organisation and also participates in the management work on an 

equal footing with the other departments. furthermore, hR functions 

as a sparring partner and consultant in all staff-related issues. 

17


hr as a sTraTegIC ally 

PROfESSIONAL AND PERSONAL COmPETENCIES 

rCT is a knowledge intensive organisation entirely 

dependent on the many professionals who 

have widely differing backgrounds in terms of 

education. 

In order to live up to rCT’s vision and objective 

of a world without torture, it is of decisive 

importance that the employees always have the 

competencies required to achieve this objective. 

This requires a target-oriented development 

of competencies. rCT will now be expanding 

the competency concept from being only about 

professional skills to also include social and 

personal competencies. rCT solves many tasks 

in collaboration with other organisations and has 

partners at many different levels in the societies of 

many different cultures. a good employee needs to 

be able to form part of these relations and have a 

personality conducive to creating good and lasting 

relations and results. 


NEW TOOL fOR EmPLOyEE 

DEVELOPmENT INTERVIEWS 

During the past months hr has focussed on 

developing and implementing a new tool for 

employee development interviews, which 

couples future target areas with target-oriented 

development of competencies. The interview is 

conducted on the basis of a mind map where 

focus is on present as well as future tasks, job 

satisfaction, relations, etc. The targets for the 

coming years are coupled with the need for 

competency development. success criteria are 

agreed on, thus enabling manager and employee 

alike to keep track on whether or not the targets 

are achieved. a midway employee development 

interview is also introduced to ensure a close 

dialogue as well as to be able to act and 

reprioritise if required considering the everchanging 

world we live in.

PROgRAmmE fOR fUTURE mANAgERS 

another of hr’s projects is a programme for new 

managers. This programme has been developed 

for professionals, who go from being experts to 

also having managerial responsibilities, to help 

them balance professionalism and the need for 

management and leadership. The programme 

will be structured around various theoretical 

inputs that are linked to practice. we expect the 

programme to be launched sometime during the 

coming year. 

NEW WELCOmE PROgRAmmE 

feeling welcome as a new employee is very 

important. we have developed a new introduction 

programme which is based on a buddy system 

where the buddy takes the new employee through 

the introduction programme, offering assistance 

and advice on anything and everything. 

The overall introduction to the entire organisation 

is now planned as two half-days where the 

department directors each present their own 

department. 

fOCUS ON jOB SATISfACTION 

Job satisfaction and working environment remain 

important focus areas. Particular focus has been 

placed on stress prevention. we have had theme 

days and reflection fora that have i.a. focussed on 

stress, conflicts, etc. we will keep working with 

this important target area in 2012. 

19


rCT PublICaTIoNs 2011 

PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES 

harlacher U, Persson AL, Rivanofischer 

m, Sjölund Bh: using 

data from multidimensional Pain 

Inventory subscales to assess 

functioning in pain rehabilitation. 

International Journal of 

rehabilitation research, 2011, 34 (1): 

14-21. 

jørgensen PS, Leth I, montgomery 

E: The Children’s rights Convention 

in Denmark: a status report on 

implementation. early education 

and Development, 2011, 25 (2): 839- 

862. 

kold C: The repeated glimpse 

of a military ‘vivid present’: 

methodological implications of 

intertwining things and bodies with 

minds and words: findings from a 

Danish field study. res militaris: 

european Journal of military studies, 

2011, 1 (2): 25 p. 

montgomery E, Patel N: Torture 

rehabilitation: reflections on 

treatment outcome studies. Torture: 

Journal on rehabilitation of Torture 

Victims and Prevention of Torture, 

2011, 21 (2): 141-145. 

Nyberg V, Novo m, Sjölund Bh: Do 

multidimensional Pain Inventory 

scale score changes indicate risk 

of receiving sick leave benefits 1 

year after a pain rehabilitation 

programme? Disability and 

rehabilitation, 2011, 33 (17-18): 1548- 

1556. 

Nyberg V, Sanne h, Sjölund Bh: 

swedish Quality registry for Pain 

rehabilitation: purpose, design, 

implementation and characteristics 

of referred patients. Journal of 

rehabilitation medicine, 2011, 43 (1): 

50-57. 

Persson AL, garametsos S, 

Pedersen j: Computer-aided surface 

estimation of pain drawings: intra- 

and inter-rater reliability. Journal of 

Pain research, 2011:4: 135-141. 


Prip k, Persson AL, Sjölund Bh: selfreported 

activity in tortured refugees 

with long-term sequelae including 

pain and the impact of foot pain 

from falanga: a cross-sectional study. 

Disability and rehabilitation, 2011, 

33 (7): 569-578. 

Sjörs A, Larsson B, Persson AL, 

gerdle B: an increased response to 

experimental muscle pain is related 

to psychological status in women 

with chronic non-traumatic neckshoulder 

pain. bmC musculoskeletal 

disorders, 2011, 12:230: 26 p. 

BOOkS, REPORTS AND BOOk 

ChAPTERS 

Birkeland SA: Danmark i krig. 

Copenhagen: gyldendal, 2011. 

fernando B: gyges’ ring: the 

1978 Constitution of sri lanka. 

hong Kong: asian human rights 

Commission (ahrC); Copenhagen: 

rehabilitation and research Centre 

for Torture Victims (rCT), 2011. 

gonzales m (coord.), modvig 

j, Ronsbo h, Dinesen C (RCT 

investigators): Violencia en 

guatemala: estudio estadístico en 

cinco departamentos: Chiquimula, 

guatemala, Petén, Quetzaltenango y 

san marcos,. Ciudad de guatemala: 

oDhag, 2011. 

jakobsen Sf, jensen S: fra 

bekymring til handling i arbejdet 

med unge og radikalisering. 

Copenhagen: rehabilitation and 

research Centre for Torture Victims 

(rCT), 2011. 15 p. 

jefferson Am: Comparisons at 

work – exporting ‘exceptional’ 

norms. In: ugelvik T, Dullum J (ed.): 

Penal exceptionalism?: Nordic 

prison policy and practice. london: 

routledge, 2011: 100-117 

jensen S, Polatin P, Naidoo D: 

Violence and community activism 

in Vrygrond, south africa: study 

report (rCT International Publication 

series; no. 1). Copenhagen: 

rehabilitation and research Centre 

for Torture Victims (rCT), 2011. 

modvig j, Bøvith I: socialmedicin. In: 

Kristensen JK, lippert e, mørkeberg 

C, Vahr s (ed.): sundhedsdansk. 

Copenhagen: munksgaard Danmark, 

2011: 91-96. 

modvig j, jensen BT, Nielsen CV 

(ed.): Klinisk socialmedicin og 

rehabilitering. Copenhagen: faDl’s 

forlag, 2011. 

modvig j, Nielsen CV: Torturofre. 

In: modvig J, Jensen bT, Nielsen 

CV (ed.): Klinisk socialmedicin og 


forlag, 2011: 213-225. 

modvig j, Nielsen CV, jensen BT: 

Journalen i klinisk socialmedicin 

og rehabilitering. In: modvig J, 

Jensen bT, Nielsen CV (ed.): Klinisk 

socialmedicin og rehabilitering. 

Copenhagen: faDl’s forlag, 2011: 

43-51. 

montgomery E: Langtidsfølger. 

In: Vitus k, Nielsen SS (ed.): 

asylbørn i Danmark: en barndom i 

undtagelsestilstand. Copenhagen: 

hans reitzels forlag, 2011: 125-136. 

Nielsen CV, modvig j: 

funktionsevne. In: modvig j, 

jensen BT, Nielsen CV (ed.): Klinisk 


Copenhagen: faDl’s forlag, 2011: 

22-31. 

Nielsen CV, modvig j: Klinisk 


In: modvig J, Jensen bT, Nielsen 

CV (ed.): Klinisk socialmedicin og 


forlag, 2011: 11-21. 

Nordin L: Refleksioner over et 

vellykket terapiforløb: ”Jeg har ikke 

tænkt mig at tale om mine traumer”. 

In: svennevig m: bag de blå bjerge. 

Copenhagen: epigraf, 2011: 73-76. 

Six-hohenbalken m, Weiss N 

(eds.): Violence expressed: an 

anthropological approach. farnham: 

ashgate, 2011.

Social- og Integrationsministeriet, 

RCT: 14 cases on handling 

radicalisation. (Preventing 

extremism: a Danish handbook 

series). [Copenhagen]: ministry of 

social affairs and Integration, 2011. 

Social- og Integrationsministeriet, 

RCT: 14 eksempler fra arbejdet 

med radikalisering. (forebyggelse af 

ekstremisme : en håndbogsserie). 

[Copenhagen]: social- og 

Integrationsministeriet, 2011. . 

DOCTORAL ThESES 

montgomery E: Trauma, exile and 

mental health in young refugees. 

Doctoral thesis, university of 

Copenhagen, faculty of health 

sciences, 2011. acta Psychiatrica 

scandinavica, 2011, 140 (suppl. 440): 

1-46. 

CONfERENCE PRESENTATIONS 

AND PAPERS 

Agger I: Culturally adapted 

approaches to healing of trauma 

for torture survivors in Cambodia. 

human rights and Traumatology: 

12th european Conference on 

Traumatic stress, 2011, June 2-5, 

Vienna, austria. 

harlacher U, jacobsen L, Nordin L: 

single subject design as research 

tool in exposure treatment for 

complex PTsD. human rights and 

Traumatology: 12th european 

Conference on Traumatic stress, 

2011, June 2-5, Vienna, austria. 

jefferson Am: Confining institutions 

and practices in sierra leone. 39th 

annual Conference of the european 

group for the study of Deviance and 

social Control, 2011, september 3-7, 

Chambéry, france. 

kold C: Iterations of fire. The ‘local’ 

in global understandings of war and 

peacemaking. anthropological and 

inter-disciplinary perspectives: 

PaCsa-PrIo Cyprus Centre Joint 

Conference, 2011, september 1-2, 

Nicosia, Cyprus. 

kold C: words of peace – practice 

of war. 11th ergomas Conference, 

european research group on 

military and society, 2011, June 13- 

17, amsterdam, Netherlands. 

montgomery E: Coping with 

trauma and exile : the role of 

social relationships. 15th european 

Conference of Developmental 

Psychology, 2011, august 23-27, 

bergen, Norway. 

mouritsen T: Towards an 

interdisciplinary approach: 

family therapy and community 

empowerment through processual 

network meetings in cases of 

refugee parents suffering from 

complex PTsD. human rights and 

Traumatology: 12th european 

Conference on Traumatic stress, 

2011, June 2-5, Vienna, austria. 

Persson AL, Prip k, Sjölund Bh: 

Three sensory profiles in the 

foot soles years after torture - a 

controlled QsT study. 7th Congress 

of the european federation of IasP 

Chapters (efIC) - Pain in europe VII, 

2011, september 21-24, hamburg, 

germany. 

Rønsbo h, Paniagua W: harm 

and remedy: the psycho-socialist 

movement and the effects of failure. 

• American Anthropological 

association annual meeting, 2011, 

November 15-21, montreal, Canada. 

• Anthropological and interdisciplinary 

perspectives: 

PaCsa-PrIo Cyprus Centre Joint 

Conference, 2011, september 1-2, 

Nicosia, Cyprus. 

• The clinic and the court: 

understanding harm and remedy. 

anthropology of health and Illness 

seminar, university of edinburgh, 

2011, may 26-27, edinburgh, scotland 

Wang, S.j.: multi-country 

epidemiological study to assess 

organized crime and political 

violence (oPV) and human rights 

violations at the household and 

population level. Isshr Capacity 

building workshops and Conference, 

2011, october 6-9, Tbilisi, georgia. 

Weiss N: marks on bodies, traces 

on souls: testimonies of Kurdish 

torture survivors. workshop ‘Traces 

of violence and legacies of conflict: 

combining material evidence 

and narrative exchange for an 

anthropology of violent encounters’. 

american anthropological 

association annual meeting, 2011, 

November 15-21, montreal, Canada. 

Weiss N: Public suffering, private 

pain: constructions of victimhood 

among Kurdish activists at home 

and in exile. fafokonferansen, 2011, 

march 2, oslo, Norway. 

ARTICLES IN PROfESSIONAL 

jOURNALS AND SPECIALIST 

mAgAzINES (NON-PEER- 

REVIEWED) 

Engberg m: Tvangsindlæggelse fra 

almen praksis. Practicus, 2011, 35 

(204): 15-17. 

jakobsen Sf: how to behave: advice 

from IDPs. forced migration review, 

2011, (37): 23-24. 

jensen BS, Nordin L, harlacher U, 

Sjölund Bh: hvordan er kvaliteten i 

de danske mTV-rapporter? (Debate / 

feature article). ugeskrift for læger, 

2011, 173 (23): 1676 

magnussen T: mubaraks bødler. 

Nyhedsbrev: Partnerskab for Dialog 

og reform, 2011, march: 8-9. 

Rasmussen j: Domesticating 

vigilantism in africa. T.g. Kirsch, T. 

grätz (eds.). oxford: James Currey, 

2010 (book review). Journal of 

modern african studies, 2011, 49 (4): 

685-686. 

Wendt E, Rytter T: a unique regional 

initiative: the asian alliance against 

Torture and Ill-Treatment. article 2, 

2011, 10(3): 2-5. 

Østlie j-E: Å bygge opp igjen et 

menneske (Interview with bente 

midtgaard). fontene, 2011, (9): 38-41. 

21


DoNaTIoNs aND 

PleDges of suPPorT 2011 

RCT has gratefully received the following donations/ 

pledges of support from Danish foundations and 

endowments: 

Where no purpose is specified, the amount has been 

donated to RCT’s general work. 

BHI Fonden 

DKK 40,000 for a revised, global field manual on 

rehabilitation of torture victims 

Aase og Ejnar Danielsens Fond 

DKK 100,000 

Danske Banks Fond 

DKK 25,000 

Lillian og Dan Finks Fond 

DKK 20,000 for publication of the thesis ”Trauma, exile 

and mental health in young refugees” 

FLS Industries A/S Gavefond 

DKK 20,000 

Fonden af 17.12. 1981 

DKK 50,000 for “Crime prevention among children 

and young people in traumatised refugee families 

and implementation of network meetings in Danish 

municipalities” 

Hagens Legatet 

DKK 5,000 for legal counselling for RCT’s employees 

(primarily doctors and social workers) and users 

Hotelejer Andreas Harboes Fond 



Ernst og Vibeke Husmans Fond/ 

Frantz Hoffmanns Mindelegat 

DKK 20,000 for a revised, global field manual on 

rehabilitation of torture victims 

Generalkonsul Einar Høyvalds Fond 

DKK 25,000 for the research project ”I kamp for 

Danmark” 

Lauritzen Fonden 

DKK 40,000 for furniture and equipment for treatment of 

torture survivors 


Novo Nordisk Foundation 

DKK 85,000 

The Obel Family Foundation 

DKK 25,000 

Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Gavefond 



Else og Andreas Simonsens Fond 

DKK 5,000 

Sports good fonden 

DKK 10,000 for the research project ”I kamp for 

Danmark” 

RESEARCH CONTRIBuTIONS 

Centre for Aftrican Studies, university of Copenhagen 

DKK 24,948 

OTHER GIFTS 

Christianshavns KFuM 

DKK 5,500 

Danish Nurses Orgainization (DNO) 

DKK 10,000 

WILPF, Denmark 

DKK 1,000 

Lærerstandens Brandforsikring 

DKK 7,500 

Contributions from private individuals 

DKK 122,327 

Although much of RCT’s national and international 

activity in 2011was funded by Danish Regions and the 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one of the criteria for the 

receipt of public funding is that other RCT activities must 

be privately funded. The donations listed above have, 

therefore, been invaluable to the work of RCT, and RCT 

would like to express its gratitude to the donors for this 

financial support as well as for all other support. It is of 

great importance to our clients, the torture victims, that 

RCT enjoys the financial support of the Danish people.

aCCouNTs 

Resultatopgørelse, RCT 1. januar - 31. december 2011 

Total income (in 1.000 DKK) 81,360 

Expenditures: 

RCT’s policy and organisational development 590 

Rehabilitation 18,916 

Prevention and advocay 3,265 

Information and Communication 2,883 

Research and documentation 18,735 

TOV and research projects in the South 34,376 

Planning and support 3,962 

Total Expenditures 82,727 

Total Income 81,360 

Total expenditures 82,727 

Result operations -1,367 

Income financing 533 

Expenditures financing -5 

Net result financing 528 

Net result of the year -839 

Project Expenditures in 2011 (in 1.000 DKK) 

Individual projects 

Rehabilitation, Jordan 3,642 

KARAMA, Jordan 1,433 

MENA, North Africa 1,101 

Human Rights, Sri Lanka 675 

6,851 

Projects in the South, within the framework 

agreement with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs 

CSVR, South Arica 1,863 

Zimbabwean torture survivors, South Africa 1,253 

CAPS, Sierra Leone 1,467 

Prison Watch, Sierra Leone 903 

Others, West Africa 310 

CPTRT, Honduras 2,106 

ODHAG, Guatemala 1,250 

CaPreVi, Latin Amercia 1,742 

GCMHP, Gaza 2,013 

Human Rights, Sri Lanka 207 

AHRC, Hong Kong/Sri Lanka 2,053 

BALAY, Philippines 

OPCAT, Asia 

1,672 

PVCHR, India 739 

Øvrige, India 58 

TPO, Cambodia 332 

Prgramme work, Cambodia 33 

ARCT, Albania 224 

KRCT, Kosovo 203 

18,428 

Total Expenditures 25.279 

23

Rehabilitation and Research Centre 

for Torture Victims (RCT) 

borgergade 13 

P.o: box 2107 

DK-1014 Copenhagen K 

Phone.: +45 33 76 06 00 

fax: +45 33 76 05 10 

e-mail: rct@rct.dk 

www.rct.dk

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